Gold Coast Travelog Part 2

Our flight to GC was in 21st May 2015, 9.35pm. Flight kitorang malam, tujuannya supaya senang budak2 boleh tido throughout the 8 hours journey.

Before that, budak2 memang kitorang dh bagitahu diorang awal2,

1st, dorang kena pakai car seat kat sana (kat KL takmo pakai car seat).
2nd kat GC skrg tgh nak masuk winter, so sweater kena pakai always.

Rayyan memang excited teramat. He's so eager to see koala, kangaroo, to travel here & there. Rayyan love beach, he always love new adventure. Cuma, kita kena prepare his ipad, toys and etc utk menghilangkan kebosanan dia along the journey nanti. Kalau tak, haaaaa time tu mmg dia buat perangai sangat. 
Adik pulak masih tak faham apa, adik asal abang yeay, dia pun yeay je jugakk :D

We will be GC for about 6 days tak termasuk travelling day......

Note: AustraWhite ColalgenB17 kita tak lupa bawakkk uolsss. Ikottt sekali tuannya ke mana2 :D

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Day 1

We arrive @ GC around 7am. Alhamdulillah budak2 tak buat perangai dlm flight. Semua tido je dgn aman.

Tips: Better Select Your Seat kalau naik AA, sebab kalau tidak mak, anak, bapak semua merata2 di letak nya. So kitorang memang dh Select Seat awal2 utk flight pergi & balik, so that we can minimise masalah dlm flight nanti. Al- maklum, travel dengan budak2, all must well taken care.

Selesai hal dekat imigresen, kastam, food declaration...we are free!! Hoyeahhhh....Gold Coast, here we are!

First, kitorang pickup kereta dgn Europcar counter which is dalam GC Airport jugak, dekat nak 40mins jugak husband settlekan urusan semua dgn insurance, car seat, upgrade kereta drp Mitsubihsi ASK kpd Toyota RAV4 sbb Europcar bagi better offer plus RAV4 lebih spacious berbanding ASX (naik 4 beranak je pun nk spacious lah sgtt :P) and hal2 yg berkaitan dengannya. Budak2 buat hal dh lah pun kat airport tu sbb masing2 pun letih sbb tido kurang selesa dalam flight tadi agaknya. So lepas dapat kereta, on gps, kitorang pun terus menuju ke hotel.

Perut dah berkeroncong lapar lah pulak....Erkk!

After around 30mins driving, maka sampai lah Chateau Beachside Resort, selesai check in berkobar2 nk masuk bilik terus, hehehe..tak sabar..

Bila dh masuk, terkesima sekejap. WOW!!

Alamakkkkk cantiknyaaa bilik ni  (apartment). Betul2 menghadap beach, seluas2 lautan tu depan mata dengan toilet pun menghadap beach, rayyan & sofea terlompat2 seronok..hehehehe.

Okeh kekanak, jom pergi mandi! Lepastu kta boleh MAKAN!

 Budak2 terkesima tengok view kat luar

 Lautan yang seluas mata memandang

 Toilet dia...mau tido dalam toilet ajerlah malam ni... heeeee :D

Eksaited ler tuh kekanak tuh...

Tips: Sampai je kat apartment,saya trus samak all the cutleries & cooking utensils menggunakan Sabun Taharah. Sabun ni memang Jakim dah approve boleh digunakan utk samak. Dah samak, baru la lega kan nak memasak semua :D

Day 1, ktorang xde activity specific sgt. Lebih kpd activity santai, berehat & going around surfers paradise, memahamkan jalan2 di sekitar.

We had lunch @ Charis Seafood. Bestttt sbb budak2 leka main dgn burung2 yg banyak di sekitar restaurant sambil makan fish n chips. Cuaca agak windy, tp tak ada lah sejuk melampau. Ok la...

 

Seafoods!!!

 

Cute tiny lil creature

We had joy, we had fun...

  

This lil man had lottsss of fun!

Lepas makan, ktorang singgah Pacific Fair Mall beli grocerries and intai2 Corelle kot2 ada jual kat sana.
Tapi hampa sbb xde Corelle.

Tips: Corelle biasanya ada jual kat Big W. So korang kena cari mana2 tpt yg ada Big W.

Lepas habis shopping kt Pacific Fair hari pun dh gelap, so kitorang decide nak balik berehat and get enough proper sleep. Esok ada banyak aktiviti nak buat nih.


Day 2

Harini we'll be going to Seaworld. Hip hip horay! We know Rayyan & Sofea would love this very much. Rayyan love animals while sofea ikuttt je apa abang dia suka/buat :D

Tix utk Themepark2 di GC ni, ktorang dah beli online siap2 kat KL lagi. Boleh refer kat 

https://myfun.com.au/theme-parks-passes
http://www.experienceoz.com.au/gold-coast/theme-parks

Kitorang beli yang pakej terus sbb pakej lagi murah. Walaupun tak semua Theme Park tu nak pergi sbb kesuntukan masa, still the price is lots cheaper than beli kt kaunter kt sana.

Before going to SeaWorld, we tapau food sebab rayyan kuat makan, sejuk2 ni sure dia cepat lapar. 

Remember, travelling with kids we need all aspects to be taken care of? :D

 

 Dolphin Show

Ada macam2 menda menarik dalam SeaWorld, really worth going. Antara yang saya suka ialah Penguin. They are really2 cute. Teringin nk pegang......tp tk boleh..sobs...

Dah penat jalan2, budak2 pun dah lapar..kitorang cari port, bukak bekal & makan. Dont worry, kat sini mat saleh semua pun bawak bekal masing2 for lunch. Di sini tak sama mcm di Malaysia whereby we are not allowed to bring outside food. 

After lunch, we continue jalan2 dalam SeaWorld, banyak lg tempat tk singgah ni.

Dalam SeaWorld ni juga ada disediakan ruang utk solat -- Prayer Room. So tk perlu terkejar2 masa, boleh berjalan2 dengan relaxxx, bila masuk waktu solat boleh terus pergi tpt solat. Since GC sekarang ni dh nk masuk winter, so jarak waktu solat tu memang sekejap2. Cth, Zuhur pukul 11.30am, Asar pukul 2.30pm then Maghrib pukul 5.30pm, Isyak pukul 6.30pm. So timing masa memang kena agak2 lah.Disebabkan ktorang travel lebih drp 3 hari, so tk dapatlah nk jamak solat.

Ablution Area pun ada disediakan

Last before we going off, husband kata dia nak naik Heli Ride. Price kat sini lebih kurang je mcam kat Malaysia (kalau tk silap saya lah). Charge dikenakan, AUD99 utk dewasa, AUD79 utk kanak2 for 10mins ride around Surfers Paradise & Seaworld. Lebih kurang macam kat Malaysia jugak kan?

View from above, cantik susunan yatch tu

Nerang River

Ok, semua pun dh letih. Budak2 pun nak tido dah tu. Around 4pm kitorang keluar drp SeaWorld, mummy ada misi lain nak diselesaikan. Iaitu misi mencari Corelle! heheheh....masa tk cukup utk spend cari Corelle whole day so mummy curi2 masa lah :D

Orang kata usaha tangga kejayaan kan, hasil bantuan GPS, dapat jumpa Big W. Budak2 dh letih, so mummy pergi shopping Corelle sensorang :D

Whoaaaaa.....letih dah! Misi Day 2 tercapai semuanya except for mencari kedai ayam halal. Tak apalah, kita balik berehat dulu then boleh cari kedai kebab area Surfers Paradise for dinner.

Nyumsss...nyumssss!

ZZZzzzzzzzzz....tido dulu. Nnti sambung Travelog Day 3 & seterusnya pulak ya...bubbye!

Gold Coast Travelog - Part 1

Hello!

Am back with this a lil bit story about our journey to Gold Coast, Australia recently. Harap cerita ni bermanfaat utk reference/panduan korangs2 bila nk holiday ke Gold Coast, Australia nanti okeh? :)


Travelog RayyanSofea: Part 1

Saya start Part 1 dgn persiapan sebum travel dulu. The story would be about foods, visas, flight tix, pre-booked hotel & car...….

Idea untuk bercuti datang drp saya. Memandangkan Sofea pun dh besar sikit, and our last long hours flight journey was back in 2011. That time we went for a big family holiday to Chiang Mai. Sofea pun tak ada lagi time tu. Masa tu pun flight hours cuma 2jam je. Tak ada lah lama sgt. Tp sbb time tu Rayyan ugh tantrum phase, yg 2 jam tu pun rasa mcm 12 jam lah… :D

So begitu begini segala, memandangkan saya dh lama tk jejak ke negara omputih, rindu UK sebenarnya, so diskas punya diskas dgn husband, ktorang setuju our next holiday would be in Australia. Yippieee!! Aussie, here we come :)

Australia ni BESARRRR. Sangattt BESARRR. Lebih besar daripada UK. Kecik sikittt je daripada USA. So kami kena pilih, which area nak pergi. We can't cover the whole Australia. It might take monthssss!

So, apart from banyak destinasi2 menarik di Aussie, kami pilih Gold Coast sebab Gold Coast banyak jugak attractive place to go and ada few theme park to visit. Destinasi yang lain2 mcm Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide (ramai student malaysia kat sini) semua tempat kami teringin nk pergi tapi, some other time, insyaallah. Aminnn….

I love exploring new place. Love seeing their culture. It helps me a lot in so many ways. In the other hand, saya percaya Bumi Milik Allah SWT ini adalah untuk diteroka. Supaya kita lebih memahami kebesaranNya. Supaya kita faham kerenah manusia & supaya pengalaman mematangkan kita. 

I might be too late in comparison to Lieutenant James Cook in my travelling journey around the world but late doesn't mean I can't achieve it. Huh! Tinggi cita2 mak jemah nih…muahahhahaa. Cuma James Cook belayar, saya naik kapal terbang ajelah, cepat sikit sampai, hahaha ;)


Ok, lets talk about our Gold Cost, holiday sebelum kita termemalalut sampai ke cerita sejarah dunia pulak eh :)

Ticket

We flew with AirAsia. We do lots of reading and alhamdulillah we have enough time to do our visa, survey hotel, survey rental car, attractions kat sana, theme park tix (online purchase) and do's & dont's sepanjang kat sana, jadi tak adalah terkelam kabut sangat.

Survey kat mana?

Saya banyak membaca dari cari forum, blogs and tripadvisor. Haaa gigih baca dr sehelai ke sehelai page, khatamkan satu persatu sbb tak nk miss any important points hahaha….

Ok, ticket flight dah beli. Whats nexxxtt…?
Survey hotel/apartment!

Hotel/Apartment

We browse thru in detail apartments yg available di sekitar Surfers Paradise. Kenapa Surfers Paradise? Sbb tpt tu SYURGA lah! Ngeh ngeh ngeh :D

Ok, sebenarnya…sebab Surfers Paradise yg plg convenient utk muslim traveller. Sebabnya? Senang dpt makanan halal & senang to those yg plan nk travel via public transport. Kat sini mmg laluan bas & trams. So nak pergi mana2 from Surfers Paradise mmg senang giler bak ang……!

Tp ktorang tak plan nk naik public transport sbb ktorang travel dgn 2 org budak kecik yang sorang tgh dlm fasa hyperactive berlari ke sana sini ikut sesuka hati dia, n yang sorang lg tengah dlm tantrum phase. So xpayahlah kta bercita2 tinggi sgt nk travel naik public transport. Kalo ktorang pergi berdua je, yupsss mmg ktorang hayuk naik public transport aje. Cool ~~! :D

Antara lokasi2 lain yang korang boleh pilih utk menginap ialah Burleigh Heads or Byron Bay. Byron Bay ni serioussss cantik! Tempat dia agak terpencil, just a small town & view mmg shantekkk sgt2 tp senang @ susah nk dpt makanan halal, wallahualam. Ktorang tak survey.. Burleigh Heads nearby Surfers Paradise tp Byron Bay jauh sikit. 1 hr journey from Surfers Paradise and ktorang tk nampak any train connecting to Byron Bay. Mungkin juga ada tp kami yang tak perasan.

Antara hotel/apartment yg famous di kalangan Malaysian di Surfers Paradise ialah Islander, Mantra on Cavill, Vibe Hotel & many more. 

Kitorang decide nk pilih Chateau Beachside Resort sebab husb nak yg beachfront & saya nak yang ada cooking facilities lengkap with utensils. So Chateau Beachside Resort meet our wants & budget :)
Chateau offer few type of rooms, tp yang ada kitchen facilities + utensils cuma 1 type of room je which is "1 room apartment, beachfront view".  Ok, we agree then, the deal is on!

Tak sabarnya rasa lepas dh settle all the bookings haritu. First time nk bercuti jauh ber-empat. Sofea's first long hours journey :)

We booked the apartment via booking.com tapi sebelum booking kami tanya details via email, direct to Chateau Beachside Resort. In our case, beli through booking.com lagi murah berbanding beli direct dgn website diorang, so that's why we all proceed dgn booking.com.

Tips
You guys, do email direct the hotel/apartments utk dapatkan actual details about the package included in the offer. Type bilik, view, how many people can get in that room (AUS impose strict law on how many people can be in 1 room) . Do compare the price with their websites and price kat agoda.com or booking.com before decide.

Kitorang request utk 1 baby cot & 1 sofa bed additional utk rayyan & sofea. There are additional price on top of the room price but we are already prepared sebab diorang dah explain via email before that.
Dalam email, jangan segan nk bertanya. Tanya je semua benda, kena extra charge kt tak ke n bla bla bla..

Chateau pool view from our room. Just a walking distance to the beachside on the right.

Ok done that. Nexttt nak survey apa? 
Car rental……! Jomssss…..

Car Rental

Antara link utk car rental, pickup place di gold coast:

http://surfersrentacar.com.au
http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/locations/gold-coast
http://www.cutpricecarrentals.com

Yang paling mural ialah cutpricecarrentals, tp feedback yang kami jumpa dlm forum & trip advisor, servis diorang teruk. So cancel lah cutpricecarrentals. Survey punya survey last2 ktorang pilih Europcar Car Rental, booked via http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/locations/gold-coast 

Antara vroomvroomvroom & surfersrentacar, dr segi pricing both ada pros n cons. Ada yang murah kt gps & car seat tp mahal kt bhg lain. Lebih kurang mcmtu la. So last2 husb pilih Europcar sbb dia dh pernah guna servis Europcar masa di UK so hati dia lebih berat kpd Europcar.

Tips
Ok, kat sini masa do the booking ada tricky sikit. Lepas buat booking, vroomvroomvroom ada offer utk insurance package (insurans package ni wajib beli cuma yg mmbezakan ialah which package yang korang nk beli ). Husb dah terkena masa kt UK dulu tp dia tetap proceed jugak (tu la tak nk follow instinct). Dia beli jugak insurans online tu. 

Akibatnya, masa ktorang nk claim kereta kat airport, Europcar kata insurans yang husb beli tu dia xde link direct dgn Europcar so nanti akan jadi payah. Dia kena beli insurans from Europcar sendiri utk memudahkan claim if anything bad happened. Haaaaa….kann dah terkena. Kan dh lebur duit. Dalam RM200 jugak lebur tu!

So korang nanti hati2 ok….

Tips
If you are travelling with kids, below 7 years, make sure you rent a car seat together with the rented car (unless korang sanggup nk angkut car seat from KL :D) Sbb rules di AUS agak ketat berkenaan car seat. Its a MUST. Kalau tak, tak memasal je kena kompoun. Dengar2 mahal jugak kompoun dikenakan.

Ok whats next??

Food apa nk kena bawak ?

Foods

Haaa….meh nk explain…

• Barangan basah mcm fresh chic,beef, fresh kangkung, sawi mmg tak bleh bawak
• Barangan kering sahaja dibenarkan
• No meat tak kira dry or fresh meat. Semua tk boleh. Unless canned. So kari ayam/daging dlm tin, Brahim's pre-packed food, boleh. Serunding daging, rendang ayam letak dlm plastic & bekas, tak boleh. ----lg strict drp UK!
• Ikan bilis boleh, tp yang dh siap kopek shj dibenarkan (info cari forum). Apa rasionalnya? Saya pun tak faham…hahahhha

Nak mudah, korang buat senarai food yang korang bawak. Smpi kt pegawai yang berkenaan, bg saje list tu pada mereka. Settle! 

Tips

Be honest, jgn tipu2 main sorok2 makanan n etc. 

Makanan balance drp dlm flight cth mcm Nasi Ayam, Nasi Beriyani semua tu adalah tak boleh dibawak masuk. 

Foods kitorang. Muahahahaha…penuh 1 beg kecik! Beratt wooo beg ni, ada nk cecah 10kg dh..hahahaha

Tips

Apa food yg korang tk perlu bawak?

Beras - kat sana ada jual. Cari dekat Coles/Woolworth, even kt small grocery shop pun ada jual

Minyak masak - pun bole cari kat sana. Cari Vegetable Oil, memang ada jual. 

Oklah….dh habis cter pasal food. Nk cter apa lagi??

Visa!

Visa to Australia

Haaa ok. Cter pasal visa, senang saje. Visa boleh buat online. Google je visa to Australia mmg senang giler. Byk link jumpa. Cumanya, harga jerla yang membezakan. So cari punya cari hampir putus asa, kebetulan ada saudara baru balik drp Melbourne, so tanya dia. Dia bg email address, contact org tu dlm masa 1 hari siap! Haaaa..senang giler kan? Fee charges pun murah giler. RM20 per person. So ktorang 4 org, RM80 in total.

Nak tau lebih lanjut, korang email dia ni:

eta.australia@yahoo.com

Huh…lg apa lg nk cerita eh? Kita stop sini dulu lah…nnti lain2 kita cerita kat part 2 ya! Dah panjang sgt dah saya membebel nih. Kang bosan pulak baca…ok guys, till then….

Bubbye!