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!
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