::ok.. here's the update to my trip to Australia you've all been waiting for.. just to warn you first, its a massive post, with lotsa pics.. but its only a tiny fraction of the total pics I took.. filled all 4 cards, so total damage: 4.05GB, 1189 pics and videos.. if I was still using film, the developing cost would be a bomb.. remembered spending $100+ for about 300 pics from the last time I went to Australia.. that was exactly 5 years ago, to Adelaide.. of course, I wouldn't have developed my photographic skills if it wasn't for digital..
anyway, here goes..

Tuesday
went to Lian Jie's house to borrow his 1GB card in the afternoon.. passed by Montfort Junior, wanted to go in and maybe chat with some of my pri sch classmates who were there to help out, but wouldn't stay long anyway.. got back home, did some last min packing..
brought along both my S2 IS and S80.. by 5.30pm we were already in the taxi heading towards the airport..


snapped this pic while outside the departure hall.. a pigeon just happened to be flying past when I pressed the shutter button.. liked it so much that I converted it into monochrome and sent it in for SYPA...
went to the food court upstairs to eat first.. there food there's quite ex.. went to the viewing gallery to spot some planes before checking in.. turns out our flight was rescheduled 30mins back, to 9.50.. walked around the shops in the departure area for awhile.. used the free internet acess terminal for the short post you see below and entered the waiting area for Gate C17..
boarded the Airbus 330-300 at about 9.30 and departed right on schedule.. could see all the stars very clearly as we acsended above the cloud cover..

Wednesday
6000km and 7 hours 45mins later, we arrived at Brisbane airport..


first stop was Paradise Country Farm.. went into the enclosure where they had kangaroos running about.. took a pic with one.. reminded me of 5 years ago, had something similar too.. but they also had wallabies there.. think wallabies are much cuter than kangaroos, though haven't seen much of them..


then had a demostration/show on how to prepare Billy Tea and Damper.. the presenter was quite young, probably not even 20.. she had to pause every few moments for a translator to translate what was just said..

then got to try some of the tea and damper.. tasted like normal tea though.. the damper was ok, its basically a kind of simple bread.. then had a horse riding, cattle herding, sheep-dog, whip, boomerang showcase.. here are some pics.






then had lunch there.. was given a choice of fish, chicken or beef.. chose beef.. it was ok, nothing fantastic though.. then went out to take some pics..




boarded the coach and we were whisked off to our hotel.. took a quick nap in our room before dinner.. had dinner at a chinese restaurant there... the locals were like first time seeing chinese people actually in a chinese restaurant.. lost the casing for my S80 sometime along there.. was taking a long exposure of the city street on a bench then think I left it there.. went to shop for awhile.. bought a disposable panoramic camera from the supermarket there.. something you don't see everyday.. wished I had bought another one cos it was only 15 exposures.. still left about 4 more exposures before I send it off for developing.. first time using film again in over 5 years..

Thursday
set off for Movie World today.. quite excited about riding some of the coasters there.. had breakfast at the hotel's cafe there.. it was on the 2nd level and had an outdoor area overlooking the river.. a cloudless clear-blue-skies day..
arrived at Movie World at around 10.. went for the Shrek 4D first, was a 3D effect show with some other effects like water spraying, the chair moving etc.. then went to watch the Police Academy Stunt Show..
was this "usher" there like directing people, but he's actually part of the show.. like he'll make fun of people along the way.. damn funny..


anyway, the show was quite nice.. explosions, falls, drifts and the like..
then went to ride the coasters.. Lethal Weapon and Superman Escape..


not much of a crowd there cos its still a weekday, but needed to walk quite a distance through the queue lines to get to the ride.. Lethal Weapon was damn fun.. its a inverted coaster, meaning you sit below the tracks.. it starts off with your normal chain-lift, then drops into a dive and into a Sidewinder.. sorta like a traditional loop but with additional inversion twist at the top.. you see what I mean from the pic abover.. then it goes into a Roll-over and into double in-line twist.. total of 5 inversions.. feels like your flying though the air with nothing below your legs..




next was Superman Escape.. not much of a line there so got onto the ride pretty quickly.. starts off with like a welcome to the MRT before you get unto the train itself.. MRT in this case stands for Metropolis Rapid Transit.. then the train departs into a sorta tunnel, simulating a subway train, then there are warnings of an earthquake and the train goes into a wrecked area.. you have your special effects of gas escaping, collapsing etc.. then it stops..
you hear Superman's voice, "Don't worry, I'll get you outta here.." and the next thing you know it, you get accelerated to 100km/h in 2 secs.. damn shiok the feeling.. you get an instant adrenaline rush just by the acceleration.. the train then heads up the vertical section of the ride, at the apex, you're treated to a fantastic view of the entire park.. too bad I wasn't wearing my specs at that time.. had to place all loose items and anything in your pockets into a bin before you get into the train..
it then dives down into a turn and up another hill.. zooms through the building, up another hill and finally slowed down by brakes and back to the station.. what a rush.. my mouth was very dry from all the air rushing past.. if I had longer hair, I'm sure to come out with a different hairdstyle already..
then went on more rides like the Scooby-doo Spooky Coaster.. it was something like the Alpha 9 we used to have in Escape.. though this was much more fun, had a lift section to bring the car to the top, then something special happens.. don't wanna reveal so much incase anybody reading this intends to go to Gold Coast sometime in the future.. spoils the fun of it..
then had your all-stars parade.. Bugs Bunny, Tweety and the gang were all there.. went to the Wild West area there..

Me and my bro..
had to report back by 4.. so that ends our day at Movie World. went to a warehouse to get some shopping done.. then back to the hotel, but dinner wasn't provided so we had to go out on ourselves.. went to the back of the hotel for awhile to catch the sunset, or whats left of it anyway..

it was only 20mins past 5 and the sun was already setting.. brought along the Pod, so was able to get some useable shots..


our hotel, Vibe Hotel..
took a taxi to Pacific Fair to have our dinner.. went to the food court there.. not much variety though, mostly western food.. had a steak burger.. then went to walk around the mall.. we almost lost our passports there.. was like sitting there for a pic, then unknowingly left the bag there.. when we came back, it was gone.. my mum was on the verge of crying lar.. then went to the sercurity office.. was quite relieved when they said they found a bag.. after a nervous wait, finally got our bag back.. the passports were intact inside.. can't help but feel somehow its my fault though..

Friday
woke up to beautiful skies today.. can't resist to do a pano..


looks much nicer printed out and mounted on some extra board that I was left..
today we were going to Sea World...


whats everyone looking at?


first time seeing a sky-writing.. quite a sight to behold.. went in and queued for the Skyway.. another nice view from the top..


then went for the Dolphin show.. don't think I need to explain much whats that about, so I'll leave you with this trio of pics..






walked around for awhile, then went to watch the Sea Lion show.. quite cheesy if you ask me, but none-the-less entertaining..





then the Water-ski Wipeout show next..




lotsa aerial moves from the various watercrafts.. also had the iconic pyramid.. but was pretty sunny by then, was squinting most of the time to see whats going on.. should have gotten a cap or a pair of sunglasses..
after all the shows, it was on to the rides... but went to the Polar Bear exhibit first..


at first they were hiding in the den I think, couldn't see them.. then went to the observation area above.. finally appeared and captured the pic above.. looks like one of them scolding the other one.. they were quite playful, one was pushed to the water even.. went to the underwater viewing area and there was already a large crowd there.. they seem to respond to the people there, like playing against the glass.. something I've yet to see from the ones at the Zoo..
then went to ride Corksrew..




quite similar to the one at Genting with the same name.. this one had a loop instead of the hill before the double corksrews.. but it was much shorter than the Genting one, it goes directly back to the station after the corksrews instead of the bank turns and such..
then went to ride the water rides..


they had a splash boats ride called the Bermuda Triangle.. basically, your on an expedition to the triangle into a volcano.. almost pitch black inside, then you see all the lost planes etc and find out that an alien civilisation was behind all these.. then you have very nice special effects, of columns collapsing, a flash flood, and even real fire from the volcano just before the big drop.. nice..
also had a flume ride, which is the pic above... not as high as the one at Escape though.. but still quite fun..
so after getting soaked, it was time to meet up with the rest of the tour group and back to the hotel.. went to the bridge behind the hotel to snap a few pics before having dinner..


Surfers Paradise..
went to another chinese restaurant down the road.. the crabs they had in the tanks were huge.. like one the size of your head.. too bad we didn't have any though.. hahaa... shopped around for souvenirs on our way back..

Saturday
suppose to be our free day here in Gold Coast, so we went to Dreamworld..


rain threatened to spoil the day but it stopped for awhile.. though on and off ocassionally.. went to ride the railway train first to get a tour around the park.. didn't take much pics there though cos of the rain and overcast day.. didn't ride that many rides too..
went to ride the coaster there, Cyclone with my bro.. then had lunch there.. was half-way through, went this loud sound came.. sounded like a jet plane roar.. went out and found out it was actually the Tower of Terror coaster.. damn fast lar, it just zooms past and goes vertically up a tower and down again.. wish I had more time, then can ride on it..
went on the river cruise next.. alighted at the halfway stop and went to the farmyard animals and the australian experience there..




then went for the farm show.. got called up to get involved, kinda expected it cos there aren't many people there watching... had to operate the dynamo to power the shears by cycling.. got a puff of wool after all the hard work..


ya, thats me in orange..
went to watch a show at the Imax theatre after that, then rode on the river rapids ride.. quite fun, you get thrown about quite alot with water splashing everywhere.. took a taxi to Australian Fair to shop for awhile before heading for the Australian Outback Spectacular show..


it was a dinner and show.. were sorted into 2 factions, Austral Downs and Wondoola.. had sorta competition between the 2, like cheering the stockmen and women on.. the dinner started off with some salad and the main course, a bbq tenderloin beef steak and ended with some pavlova.. its a creamy and fluffy dessert with some dressing on top..
only got back to our hotel at about 10..

Sunday
woke up early today to catch the sunrise.. since its our last day here, so why not?? Gold Coast is on the east coast of Australian, so gotta have a nice view of the sunrise..


went out to the beach there, but there wasn't much of a sunrise, still suffering from the after effects of yesterday's bad weather.. at least the waves were great.. can see why its also called Surfers Paradise..
went back to have breakfast and pack our stuff.. departed for Brisbane Airport at about 10.. bought a photo frame and a book by Peter Lik entitled "A Panoramic Journey Through Australia".. the pictures in there were absolutely fantastic.. wish the next time I'm in Australia, would be able to see more of its natural beauty like the 1st time I came here.. of course a long trip here with just friends threading through the great Australian outback would be great..
anyway, touched down at Singapore at about 8.. fell asleep almost immediately upon getting home.. so thats it for my 6 days holiday.. had great fun there and hope you enjoyed reading it..::

.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 10:47 pm:.
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