my holiday diary..
It’s been nine days since I came back from sunny Gold Coast.
It’s been eight days since I started working back at Ali’s.
It’s been six days since I’ve been down with the worst cough and fever ever! I’m still coughing now..
It’s been two days since I’ve attended my first class in this final semester of my two year bachelor degree.. (I can’t believe its gonna be over soon! Time flies when you’re having a blast..).
We got assigned to a tutor who will guide us with our final project this semester. We were told to vote who we wanted our tutor to be out of six available lecturers. There was the Head of School himself, the Deputy Head of School, three senior lecturers and a new part-time tutor who was a graduate from the uni. I wanted one of the female senior lecturers coz she specializes in public spaces, museums and galleries. She would have been perfect for my batik gallery!
But OF COURSE.. I didn’t get her! Instead, I am now under the new tutor, Phil.. something. Its bad enough I’m not familiar with the guy, there are 11 students under Phil (I wonder if he’ll have enough time for us all), only me and Kam are the Asians in the group and… only me and Shelley are the only females in the group! This always happens to me.. since last year.. thrown into pre-determined groups dominated by men.. but I’m not complaining.. haha..
Ok back to my holiday diary. To those whom I promised this blog, sorry it took so long. Here you go.. enjoy!
Day 01 - 4th July 2006
- arrived in Gold Coast airport around 5pm. It was getting dark and it was raining. Boohoo. But it felt like Malaysia on a rainy day. Yaay! No more frozen cheeks for the next 9 days!
- the airport shuttle sent us to our backpackers, the ‘Sleeping Inn’. Was a cool place. Kinda had a Bali feel to it. Their motto was, ‘Get Excited!’. Haha.. you don’t wanna know why.. Owh, and they allowed nude bathing in the swimming pool and jacuzzi after 6pm! Woohoo! yikes..
- it stopped raining so we walked down to Surfers Paradise to check out the scene. Happening siot! Haha.. Bought some stuff in Hard Rock then headed back to get some sleep.
Day 02
- spent the whole day in Movie World! I felt 10 years younger! Damn it, I AM 10 years younger! At heart, that is. Was lining up for Shrek’s 4D thingie and spotted Willy Wonka walking around and taking pictures with people. We reacted kinda late, and Wonka was out of sight! That’s probably my regret of the day.
- spent an hour lining up for Scooby Doo’s spooky coaster. We imagined it to be the boring-est ride ever. Like the kiddie car rides. By the time we nearly got to the end of the line, we were fuming ‘This gotta be worth the wait man!’. And hell yeah, it was worth it! Highlight of the ride - Mariam got smacked in the face with an unsecured bag carried by the stranger sitting next to her. Poor girl. At least it didn’t happen when they took the candid flash pics!
- the Lethal Weapon ride was wicked. It’s the hanging legs roller coaster turning 360 degrees. My head hurt after that.
- the Superman Escape roller coaster was coolness maximus. Hearing Superman’s voice, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here’ then zooming from 0-100kmph in 2 seconds! That was our last ride of the day but definitely the best.
Day 03
- moved backpackers as the new one was only $20 per night. Its called The British Arms, located on Seaworld Drive looking out to Mariners Cove and neighbors with Palazzo Versace.
- spent the day shopping at Pacific Fair and Australia Fair.
- Highlight of the day - Mariam watching hungrily as a German couple gobbled down a whole roast chicken while we were waiting for the bus!
Day 04
- went to Dreamworld! Wasn’t as dreamy as we anticipated. Maybe coz we were still thinking of Movie World and how much fun we had there.
- OK… the rides weren’t thaaat bad.. The Claw was cool, its the ride where you sit in this ring thing and it swings from side to side while turning 360 deg at the same time. A real tummy turner!
- Dreamworld was something kinda like Sunway Lagoon in Malaysia and it had animal sanctuaries which felt like being in a zoo. And not as many cartoon characters as Movie World (oh there I go again!).
- Probably the best ride of all was The Tower of Terror! You sit in a car of 20 people and the car shoots out of a tunnel at a very high speed and up a vertical tower and then it drops back down straight back into the tunnel. Cool.
- Highlight of the day - we had a HALAL lunch buffet in one of the restaurants there. We basically spent most of the day in that restaurant just eating and talking. Yaay! to Dreamworld for catering for Muslim needs.
- Owh, another highlight of the day - taking a pic with a Big Brother (reality tv show) evictee. It’s not like we wanted to! He was practically blocking the entrance to the souvenir shop. So, we took a picture with him so he wouldn’t feel offended if we just walked by. We didn’t even know his name! Haha..
Day 05
- went to Surfers Paradise beach to take some pics. The sun was glaring but it felt good.
- this was the day I scolded myself for being such an idiot for coming all the way to the Gold Coast and not once had it crossed my mind to take a surfing lesson! I booked myself in for a class the next morning! ;D
- spent the rest of the day shopping (again!)
- Highlight of the day - was sitting eating ice cream and people watching at Surfers Beach Walk when a couple sat down on the bench next to us after purchasing some bottles of wine from the BWS nearby. When they got up to go, one of their carry bags ripped and one of the bottles smashed to the ground. The couple looked as smashed as their bottle of wine but then something I would have never imagined happened. The guy working at BWS promptly came out of the shop and handed the couple a brand new bottle of wine! He said it was their fault the carry bag was not strong enough. Now that’s service! And the couple, picked up the large pieces of glass and threw them away and kicked the remaining small pieces under the bench so people wouldn’t accidentally step on them. Sweet!
Day 06
- out last day in Gold Coast before we head up to Brisbane.
- I went for my first ever surfing lesson. I had a blast! Although I was tired and very sore afterwards, and although I only got to really properly stand on my board and ride a wave ONCE (I kept slipping after that), it was well worth it! And I’d sure as hell do it again one day! Mission Accomplished! (tho the mission came into realization quite late in the trip!)
- remember how much fun I said Movie World was? Well, we went again! ;D This time I took the front seat on Lethal Weapon. It was cray-zee. But my head didn’t hurt after that. So that’s good. Took more pictures. Did more rides. Then it was really time to say goodbye…
- Highlight of the day - know those cameras that take your picture while you freak out on rollers coasters? Then you can go purchase them after the ride thingie. Mariam n me already knew where the camera was so the third time we went on Superman Escape, we were ready for it! It was a great picture, loved it!
Day 07
- said goodbye to Gold Coast and went up to Brisbane. Train ride took about an hour.
- Brisbane felt like any other Australian city, only less busier than Melbourne or Sydney.
- stayed at a friend’s place quite near to the city.
- walked around the city, planning what we were going to do the next day.
Day 08
- walked over from the city to South Bank, the ‘Cultural Centre’. Visited the site of my design studio project earlier last year. Last year, we only saw the site from pictures and learned about the context through the internet. I finally made it to the site this year.
- caught the ‘City Cat’ (cat as in catamaran, the city’s river public transport) and stopped at the University of Queensland. Walked around a bit. Oouuuhhh’s and Aaahhhh’s here and there at their campus as we’re not anywhere near that scale in Launnie.
- returned to South Bank and walked around. Got bored. Drinks at Starbucks. Went home. Yes, we were that bored.
Day 09 - 12th July 2006
- going back to Launnie today. The uni released our results at 9am. Mariam looked like she was going to faint at 8.59am. Rashi looked as calm as always. I… just wanted to see if I got at least a credit for my final project brief so I could proceed with actually designing it. And alhamdulillah, I got more than I expected. Mariam and Rashi did well too. We will leave Queensland, with smiles and happy memories.
Brisbane wasn’t really my thing. It was just a city. Like KL. I’m glad we spent more days in the Gold Coast. Throughout the whole trip, the magic was really in Surfers Paradise and Movie World and I’ll miss them like crazy. I had a really good time with my girls Rashi and Mariam and can’t wait for our next trip. Mariam kept saying over and over ever since the night we set foot in Surfers till we left for Brisbane, "This is the place to be man!".
It sure is!
