Wednesday 2 June 2010

Gold Coast and Brisbane

It has been 8 months since I went to Gold Coast and Brisbane in Australia. I regret not writing about it earlier as the recollections now seem to be kind of blur. The few things that still remain clear are the BURGERS which were super awesome, best theme parks I've ever visited and, of course, the strong accent of the woman saying "beer or lemonade?"

I covered 3 different theme parks, namely Dreamworld, Seaworld and the best of all... Movieworld! I know many of you guys would assume Dreamworld is the best as they have record breaking rides but honestly, they weren't that good. The main thing I enjoyed in Dreamworld were the wet rides and for this reason, I regretted not going to the Wet and Wild. They have rides which would literally flush you down a hole, just like a toilet bowl and even slide you into a tilted cone-shaped structure. Seaworld, on the other hand, was actually pretty boring. There were 2 cool rides which were the Jet Ski coaster and the Cockscrew... *The one in Genting is seriously much better @.@*

And finally... Movieworld!!! Yes, this theme park not only has an interesting layout but AWESOME RIDES. The best ride of all is Superman Escape. It is a rollercoaster which launches you from a stationary position to 100km in just 2 seconds. You can feel your face moving all over like what you see in race car movies. Here is a simple description from some website I found... "SUPERMAN ESCAPE is an unprecedented rollercoaster ride experience which travels 0-100 kilometres in just 2 seconds! That's not fast, that's SUPERMAN fast! With 760 metres of vertical climbs, weightless drops, head spinning twists and giant G-force turns, SUPERMAN ESCAPE completely redefines the coaster experience."

The next best ride was an indoor rollercoaster called Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster. This ride is a combination of both a haunted house theme and a nice rollercoaster experience. For those of you who have been to Genting with me, you will know that I am scared of the pirate ship ride. Let us just say that this was worse... much worse!!! As the slow and scary ride took off, I thought to myself, "Did I just queue for almost an hour for this stupid ride?" Just as I was about to tell my sister and cousin that we had wasted our time, we reached to a point where we were elevated while still being seated.

When we reached to the top, there were laser lights running all over the place and the Rocking Scooby Doo theme song could be heard. While we tried to focus on what was beyond the cloth in front of us, we suddenly found ourselves rolling backwards and by the time we looked around, we were headed for a "backward drop". This was the first time I experienced it on a rollercoaster so it was freaking awesome! After that, our car rotated and the ride continued. I went for about 4 times or perhaps more on this ride. Haha...

There was another ride called the Batwing Space Shot. It has the same concept as the one in Genting but this one launches you up. I understand that the Space Shot in Genting used to do that also but not anymore. Anyway, this ride was a total letdown. My heart didn't feel like bursting and I could breathe normally and could even talk to my sister during the ride... =.= There were two more rides that were good but I won't go into it. They are the Lethal Weapon which is a rollercoaster that leaves your legs hanging and Wild West Falls Adventure Ride which beat the Log Flume at Sunway Lagoon as well as the one at Genting anytime.

Another memorable thing was Infinity. It is a place that manipulates lighting, reflection and any other thing that has to do with tricking the eyes. It is just like a kaleidoscope except that you are not looking into it but inside it. There were many different types of rooms. Some look as big as the galaxy while some seem to have no floor. The cool thing about Infinity is that it is a maze kind of concept. You are supposed to find your way to the next room without any help at all. Some rooms are really challenging, for example there was this room that was pitch black. There were many roads inside but only one leading to the way out. And there were tentacle like things dangling from the ceiling with sticks and rubber gloves sticking out of the walls. This not only makes it harder to find your way out but creates a sense of fear as well. I would highly recommend this place but would suggest bringing along torchlight or phones if you are those who are easily scared.

Two other unforgettable experiences were the Glow worm cave and the Outback show. The Glow worm cave was something like a hike where it took about an hour drive deep into the jungle, followed by a 15-minute hike to reach the cave where the glow worms clustered all over. It was a breathtaking view. Near the cave was a waterfall and we had a hilarious moment there. It was really funny because there was this elderly Chinese lady who couldn't understand English and kept taking flash photography of the waterfall and the glow worms when it is not supposed to. This is because the flash will kill the worms. Although I think she easily killed multiple glow worms, I've her to thank for because if not for her, I would never get to see the waterfall in the darkness of the night.

As for the Outback show, it was great... a show like no others. There were horses doing tricks and live farm animals. The coolest part is that we get to enjoy our meal (dinner) during the show and were given a cowboy hat each for souvenir.

Well, that's it... a simple wrap-up of my trip in the shortest way possible as there were so many other things that I experienced, such as riding on the Wheel of Brisbane, river cruise, kangaroo feeding, etc. Anyway, take care and God bless peeps~

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was a brilliant wrap up and review of the Gold Coast - I loved your honesty about the different theme parks.

Would you like to create a travel story for it on my Gold Coast website and I can link it back to your blog?
if you are interested, please leave your submission at this page
http://www.gold-coast-australia-travel-tips.com/gold-coast-australia-travel.html
or contact me through my website.
Cheers
Annie from Gold Coast Australia

Annie from Gold Coast Australia said...

Sorry I left the last comment and accidently posted it as I was typing in my name!