Such a lovely holiday we had last week at Gold Coast. We have been very excited about this trip. We didn't go on a holiday during the year-end break and Lani and I have been terribly stressed out the past few weeks, so this really was a welcome relief. It's been 2 years since we last went there. Erin was still a baby then and couldn't enjoy the theme parks yet.
17 Apr (Sunday)- left Sydney at around 9:30pm after performing all our church duties.
- had few quick stops at Petrol stations for toilet breaks, nappy changes, and quick snacks.
- around 1am, we reach Kempsey and stopped at the Puma Service Station.
- 3 hours of sleep then we continued our drive to gold coast
- arrived at Gold Coast before 10am. The airbnb apartment we booked wasn't ready for check-in until 2pm so we decided to go straight to Movie World
- we went to the 4D cinema, ate ice creams and salads, rode kiddie roller coasters and carousels
- around 1:30pm, we went back to the apartment to check in and rest
- around 9pm, Denmark, Irene and family arrived. We went out to stroll around Surfers Paradise Shopping centre
- We all spent the whole day at Wet n Wild Sydney
- Kids enjoyed it but unfortunately the Serrano's had to leave at 2pm for their trip back to Brisbane to attend worship service.
- We left at around 5pm and were already too tired to do anything else.
- Went to Seaworld to watch dolphins and stunt drivers, got soaking wet on a silly kids' boat ride.
- I managed to convince Ethan to go on a couple of thrilling rides
- Lani and Erin enjoyed their time watching Dora and going on the kiddie rides
- Oh and the kids had lots of Churos.
- Went home around 5pm in time for the 7pm worship service
- Had take-away thai food dinner on our way home
- We decided it would be rest day so we stayed in for most of the day
- We went out to the beach for a quick dip (beach was just in front of the apartment)
- Then the kids and I went for a swim in the apartment pool
- We had lunch at Hurricanes Grilll. I was quite disappointed that they didn't have BBQ platters and that the ribs were not tender. I usually enjoy Hurricanes but didn't like it this time.
- Strolling in the shopping centre after, followed by 2 hours of play at Timezone.
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| Ready for worship service |
- We went back to Movie World to enjoy the other attractions. We watched the stunt drivers show, Ethan and I went to the scooby doo roller coaster, joined the kids on the carousel again, and then they played in the waterpark area.
- We headed back to Surfer at 3pm to stroll on the beach-side night market.
- There weren't much in the night market so the kids and I went to swim on the beach.
- Dinner at one of the local vietnamese shops
- Then went for 2-hour play at Time Zone to cap the night
- Checked out of the apartment at 10am
- Headed to eat-all-you-can breakfast just down the road.
- Rested for a bit at the shopping center while Lani buys souvenirs
- then we meet with Bogs and Ems Tarroja for lunch at the famous Fish n' Chips shop
- We then started our journey back to Sydney at around 2pm
The trip home was fast. We did have a few short stops for toilet. And then a longer one for dinner at Kempsey.
While it was fun and relaxing, there were a couple of casualties. One, I lost my Rayban specs that I just had repair the week before we left. I had Ethan wear it while we were on the beach because the sun was too bright (it had transition lenses). A big wave came and Ethan went tumbling down. When he got up, the glasses were gone.
And the
second, we were about 10mins away from reaching home when papa (who has
driving at the time), hit the kerb causing two of the tyres to blow up.
As in unrepairable damage to the tyres. Luckily no one in the car got
hurt and the car itself has not damaged. It was a relatively minor hit
but because we have been travelling more than 12hours, the tyres were
already too hot. The sad part is that the tyres are fairly new. Bought
them less than 2 months prior. Anyway, we only had 1 spare and 2 busted
tyres. So at 2am, Lani, myself and the kids, too a cab to get home. I
then got the other car at home, disturbed ka Marcel's sleep to borrow
his spare tyre, and went back to where Mama and Papa were stranded.
Managed to get home around 3:30am. Went to Costco in the afternoon to
buy myself new tyres.
