Gold Coast - day 7

22 June 2018 - Friday

It was the last day of our vacation.

Xena and I were hanging out at the balcony in the morning, enjoying the awesome view. 

Viv, meanwhile, was busy working. On vacation. No wonder Xena had the expression she did.

Once Viv was done, we took Xena to the Kids Activity Centre. Normally, I'm not a fan of leaving kids at such places, but it turns out she LOVED it. The babysitters were really affectionate and Xena didn't want to leave when we went to pick her up! She told us she had done all kinds of activities -- drawn and coloured aliens, solved puzzles and word searches, stuck stickers on paper, and oh, rejected the snacks they had offered.

I had found some miscellaneous must-see places on Tripadvisor, and we had been slotting them in as and when we had time. We spent the late morning at Macintosh Island park, where we saw the very amazing sight of free-roaming peacocks everywhere! 

Xena was fascinated to see a peacock from such close quarters. 

There were all kinds of other birds as well, and they all seemed to be peacefully coexisting. 

Posing with the peacock

We stalked the peacocks as they roamed around the park.

Two ducks came over to see what the fuss was all about. 

The birds were the main attraction, but the park also has children's playgrounds, barbecue areas, water features and a foot bridge that leads across the Nerang River to the Main Beach parade. A must-visit place for everyone, especially children. 

Afterwards, we drove to the nearest Hungry Jacks for lunch (because one cannot not eat a veggie burger and a frozen Coke on their last day in Australia) and then set off to see another miscellaneous place -- the Black Swan Lake in Bundall. This was yet another discovery I had made, thanks to TripAdvisor.

It took us a while to find the place. We had to ask around to finally get there. As we parked, I looked out and got a shock to see the state of the 'lake'. It didn't look like the 2-75-hectare freshwater lake, home to 40 species of wild birds. It looked kinda ‘incomplete’. Like half a lake or something. 

See what I mean?

As we walked closer to the lake, our feet started sinking into the damp soil, and we stopped, worried that if we walked in any further, it would be like going into quicksand.

Xena poses with the lake.

There was no sign of any black swans, but there were plenty of other birds, including some very beautiful purple marsh hens. The lake had been kinda disappointing, so we took some photos and were about to turn back when... 

...we saw two large black swans gliding straight towards us! 

We were fascinated by their shiny black feathers and extremely graceful long necks. Surprise surprise, there was even a little duckling (known as a cygnet) tucked in between them! It had a little black beak instead of red like its parents had.

Here's a video of the graceful swan family. 

The swans came out of the water and headed straight for the car park where some food had been scattered by one of the workers at the nearby turf club. 

Soon, many other birds had joined them.

Xena watches the feasting birds.

The very hungry swans

We were busy taking photographs when a lady who was strolling near the lake approached us and asked us if we were photographers. We told her we were just tourists. She said she was surprised that we even knew of this place! 

She told us that the lake was getting filled in by the local Gold Coast council to make a car park for the turf club next door, and that local residents like her were trying to contest it. 

This sign made more sense now!

The lady was very knowledgeable about the local birds and even showed us a nest where an egg had recently hatched. It was tucked away, completely out of sight.

The kind lady spent about 45 minutes telling us all about the birds and the lake and we really appreciated it. We wished her luck for the campaign and left. Recently, I googled to see what's happening now and from this Feb 2018 article, it looks like the lake was getting filled up, even if it took police presence to get it done.

Since it was our last day in Gold Coast and we only had one evening, we asked Xena what she wanted to do. "Build sand castles at the beach!" Came her immediate reply. 

The girl sure digs digging! (When she was younger, she wanted to be a paleontologist.) 

Making do with the limited tools she had

We saw surfers heading back after a busy evening.

Last view from our hotel balcony before we flew off the next morning

I can safely say that of all the Australian cities I have visited (Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Gold Coast), Gold Coast is my absolute favourite. I hope to be back there some day, but not too soon. Because the world is too big and there are many new places waiting for us.

Gold Coast - day 6

20 June Wednesday

My first jet-boating experience was in 2007, when we had travelled to New Zealand on our honeymoon. Strangely, I had loved the crazy speeds and turns the boat indulged in, even though I am not a fan of roller-coasters and other adventure rides. When I was looking up things to do in Gold Coast and jet-boating came up, I quickly added it to our list because I wanted Xena to experience it.

Posing outside the Paradise Jet Boating main office

This was our boat.

Our jet boat was scheduled to leave at 10 am. We checked in around 9.30, and they gave a short briefing and our life jackets and raincoats. The long, dark blue raincoats were spattered with salt from the many many seawater splashes they had endured. When Viv wore his, he really looked like a homeless man, especially because all you saw was this ‘dirty’ oversized raincoat and his slippers, which he had chosen to wear. But of course he had the last laugh because while he’s been smart enough to wear slippers, we had chosen shoes (because it was simply tooooo coldddd), which got thoroughly wet during the jet boating.

Our driver introduced himself and we set off. We started off at a moderate pace, but soon we realised what a cheeky sense of humour he had. After the first few times he spun the boat at a crazy speed, making us get splashed, he realised that some people, especially those sitting in the middle, were still dry. "We gotta fix that, don’t we?" He remarked, took out a spray bottle and literally squirted the dry folks with water!

He also showed us Hugh Jackman's house and many other multi-million dollar properties along the way. He also informed us with a straight face that his home was one of them, and when I laughed he took out his spray bottle and sprayed me!!

It was very very windy and even my tight woollen cap was almost flying off. Overall, it was quite a thrilling experience, but sadly, Xena wasn’t too pleased. She kept saying that she wanted it to get over because she hated the salt water getting on to her glasses and into her mouth. She looked very pleased when we were done and got off the boat.

After the boat ride, we got her an ice-cream and then headed back to the hotel to change because while Viv was dry, Xena and I weren’t. Next, we headed to Harbourtown outlet mall. Viv was looking for shoes and finally found a good pair of Nike shoes at a good price. We also went a bit bonkers at Cotton On because the stuff was unbelievably cute and the prices unbelievably low.

Lunch was at Sumo Salad.

Afterwards, Xena got a doughnut at Doughnut King.

In the evening, Xena wanted more beach time, so we went to Surfers Paradise beach, where she enthusiastically built more sandcastles! Really, one would think we didn’t live on an island ourselves.

Building sandcastles

Viv takes a walk on the beach. 

Silly shot #1

Silly shot #2

Viv tried his hand and making a tower using a cup...

...and it worked! Xena was thrilled. 

So she made three of those...

...and decorated them with seashells.

Aerial view of the sandcastles

It was getting bitterly cold and kind of dark, so after about half an hour at the beach, we managed to pry her away from the sand with the promise of the hot water pool at the hotel. We drove to an Indian place called Curry Express for dinner. I will always remember the place because I had the worst masala chai of my life there. 

After dinner, Xena spent some time splashing in the hot water pool with Viv. 

Stunning view from our room

Xena wrapped up her day with a bath. Once again, she called me in to inform me that she was Whaley the whale.

Click here for Gold Coast - day 7!

Gold Coast - day 5

19 June Tuesday

The day started off with a whale watching tour that we had booked with Whales in paradise. We had never been on one of these tours before and I thought it would be a good experience for Xena who likes to draw and paint marine animals. Of course, there was no guarantee that we would actually see any whales, but we kept our fingers crossed.

It was an early start as we had to check in at 8 am. 

It was quite cold so we were all bundled up. 

Our boat was a pretty catamaran called Kaiala. 

After a quick briefing, we were off into the sea. Our captain was a jovial fella. "If your hat falls overboard we won’t go back to get it, but if you have a child attached to the hat we will go back." He declared to much laughter.

The boat ride included tea, coffee, biscuits... and seasickness tablets! The sea was expected to get quite rough and they offered seasickness tablets to everyone. Though I get carsick sometimes, especially if I'm sitting in the back seat, I'm generally okay on boats. Some people did get sick though, especially a poor boy who had quite a miserable time during the entire journey. I felt bad for him and his mom who was tending to him.

Xena tests out the DSLR.

We cruised past many luxury holiday homes belonging to the likes of Hollywood actors. One of them was Jackie Chan's, but I can't remember which one. 

Soon, the boat was bobbing up and down with a lot of intensity, and the undulating action was making my heart lurch.

Every time that happened, I'd grab hold of both Viv's and Xena’s hands. 

From time to time, Xena would also freak out and hug me tightly!

My li'l monkey

Soon, the captain announced that we could go out on to the deck as that's where we would get the best view. 

It was extremely cold and windy though, so Xena stayed snuggled up to her dad. 

There was live commentary about the humpback whales that we were expected to see and the captain had requested everyone to keep an eye out for the whales, as they could be very elusive.

Suddenly, there was a lot of excitement as the captain had spotted a whale in the far distance. 

We could see the water whooshing out of its blowhole!

It was still to far away for Xena to see anything properly so we hoped that the whales would be still be around as our boat got closer. 

And there it was, less than 100 metres from us, a large humpback whale!

Suddenly, there were multiple whales around the ship and they all seemed to be waving at us with their fins!

We even saw a full 'breach'. That's when a whale jumps fully out of the water. But it happened so quickly that we couldn't capture it on the camera. 

We were aware of at least three groups of whales around our boat, but they were being very playful with us, often going down for 10 minutes at a go before resurfacing. But it was a spectacular sight to see them from such close quarters. Our captain estimated one of the whales to be 40 tons in weight and 17 metres in length — the same as our vessel! 

Xena and me against the Gold Coast skyline

Can you spot the rainbow over the foam?

We spotted this seaplane on our way back! In fact, two of the passengers on our boat got off and boarded the seaplane and flew off!

Back on calmer waters

It looked a little like the Singapore skyline but wasn't as crowded with skyscrapers so we could see a lot of the sky. 

By around 12, we were done and headed back to our starting point. By then, we were quite hungry as we hadn't had a proper breakfast due to the early start. We walked around till we found this place called Thai Republic. 

It turned out to be one of the best meals we had in the Gold Coast. It had a very wholesome, homemade feel to it and was really tasty. 

Xena insisted on having her picture taken here. "Mama, I'm the li'l ox!" She declared. 

We decided to spend the afternoon in the Burleigh Heads National Park and beach area. We walked around 1.5 km through the forest up to the Tallebudgera Creek entrance, and Xena kept up with us because she was really greedy for steps on her kids Unicef watch. 

Burleigh Heads beach

With the cool weather and amazing views, it was really easy to keep walking on and on and on...

Hollowed out tree trunk... scary!

Xena writes 'Waddy, the waddling duck' on the sand at the beach. That's one of her nicknames for her daddy. 

I saw the many rocks at the beach and excitedly asked Viv to take a 'Sayesha on the rocks' photo to update the one I have on my blog. But later, I decided against using it because of my horrendous red socks (What was I thinking? LOL!)

Xena had fun collecting shells at the beach. We told her she couldn't take them back so she picked 2 or 3 and returned the rest to the sand. 

Surfers at Burleigh Heads beach

Viv and Xena suddenly had a weird craving for ice cream, so we popped by the Cold Rock creamery nearby. It was fascinating to watch the ice cream being mixed on the cold slab. In spite of my raised eyebrows, Viv chose Reese peanut butter as a topping for the rainbow ice cream that Xena had picked. One bite was enough for her to wash her hands off the entire affair. "YUCK, WHAT IS THAT TASTE? What did daddy mix into my ice cream??" And because it was a cold stone creamery, it wasn’t even just a topping that we could scrape off. The peanut butter had been smooshed right into the ice cream! 

Xena was NOT happy with her dad. 

But he managed to make her laugh, so all was well. Neither of us touched that peanut butter ice cream though, so Viv ate the whole thing by himself. 

The day had come to an end and we checked into our hotel. I drew a bath for Xena and she spent a long time splashing in the bathtub, pretending to be one of the whales we had seen earlier in the day! "Mama, I'm Whaley, the whale!" She declared. 

We were too tired to go for dinner, so Viv packed some Mexican food for us to eat in our room. 

View from our hotel room (it got better at night; check out the next post!)

Click here for Gold Coast - day 6!