On the night of 12th July 2012, me, HJ and Pah scooted off to Gold Coast, Australia along with Gabz and some of his friends. Jessic flew in from Perth to join us, and it was awesome fun! For the next 7days, we had countless road trips, loads of laughter, crazy singing (ENERGY!!!) and hell lots of fun. If I could, I would definitely prolong the trip there!!

We rented our trusty Hyundai i30 from Neds Kelly, which served us well for the 7days. The car we rented was mint and new, and the gear was so powerful, it amazed us. Me and Jessic have officially converted from a Honda Jazz lover to a Hyundai i30 supporter. LOL.

We rented an apartment at Sanctuary Lake Apartments which was just a 10 minutes drive from the Coolangatta Airport. It was affordable and conveniently located - it was right next to the Gold Coast highway, making it easy for us to go places each day. Although it was a 20 minutes drive away from Surfers' Paradise, me and Jessic got our much needed practice behind the wheels, so we definitely had no complaints. Moreover, the apartment was so huge and cozy, we could stay home all day!

With an itinerary packed for the full 7days, immediately after we checked into our temporary home, we headed to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary situated right next to our accomodation. We could have walked, but we had a car, so we drove even though it was a mere 5 minutes walk away. ;)

The visit to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary definitely made my day. Although it was not particularly huge, we barely had enough time to explore the whole place! We caught this bird show which was superbly entertaining and engaging. I am not a huge fan of birds, but the show kept me on the edge throughout. A hugeass eagle of some sort flew right past us, just mere centimetres from our heads of hair in the middle of the show! The owls and pelicans were awfully cute too.

Like Night Safari, the sanctuary also has this little train that links to different parts of the place through a railroad. It was tiny, red and cute, somewhat like a toy choo-choo train.

Before the bird show, we were all pretty fascinated with the Tasmanian Devils. We could not stop snapping photos of the cute little creatures! They look nothing like Tasmania from Bugs Bunny. LOL. They would run around in the enclosure, stopping at times in curiousity, sniffing the air and looking up at us. Awwwww, I secretly love them. <3

Next up, we fixated ourselves on the adorable Koalas!!! There were plenty of them in the sanctuary, each time we thought we captured them at their cutest moments, there was another one posing for us on another tree, I totally could not get enough of them! What kind of sorcery are they, how can they be so freaking adorable!!? Do you know that Koalas snooze up to 22 hours a day?

Jessic and HJ, on the other hand, seemed to prefer the Wombats. They were adorable too, in a plump and dense way. LOL. They kind of look like piglets in my opinion. We followed them around for a bit. I couldn't get a nice shot of them, with a rooster sharing an enclosure with them. The one shrinking into the hollow of the tree trunk was pretty cute!

Hopping onto the next train that came along, we were brought to the Kangaroo Crossing! There were dozens of free-ranging kangaroos in the perimeter - we even saw a pair mating! Although we have kangaroos at the Singapore Zoo too, it's always love to be able to feed them. We immediately grabbed a cup of kangaroo food and started feeding and molesting them. ;)

It started drizzling a little while we were there, but nothing could dampen our mood that day! We sought shelter at a pavilion with other tourists and kangaroos and got extra food to continue feeding them. We even took a video of a kangaroo desperately trying to scratch its itch away, so hilariously cute!!

Throughout the whole day there, I could not stop harping about taking a photograph with a koala. I was so worried we would be too late to take the picture! After we were done with the kangaroos, we immediately rushed back to the Koala Photography area near the entrance.

I've ever laughed at people who are so grateful about the good things that happen to them that they actually cry tears of joy. That day, I understood exactly how they felt. When we were queueing for our turn to take a photograph with the little bundle of joy, I actually teared. I was just so touched that I could actually cuddle a Koala! It was definitely a dream come true. :')

We were terribly, superbly lucky. Right before our turn, the keeper decided it was time to change a koala. She proceeded to the tree-ful (no kidding) of koalas, and guess what! She picked out a baby koala!!!!!!! *tears of joy* It was so, so, so adorable!!!! The photography session was short and sweet, but the keeper was nice enough to allow each of us to take a polaroid with the koala. It is now one of my favourite polaroid, of course!

I was also insanely jealous of the koala keeper and the photographer. How come they get to land such an awesome dream job?! I want to take beautiful pictures of those cuddly little koalas too!!!

Before we left the place, we chanced upon this photography session with the snake, so we went for it. I don't understand what is up with snakes and me. They seem to bear a grudge against me. Look at how this one was glaring at me, ready to attack any second!!!! Freaky!

It was nice of them to allow us to use our own cameras to snap pictures. We did not even bother looking at the official photograph taken by the people there since the photos turned out so well on my camera. But then again, we did buy a fair share of photographs throughout the trip!

HJ was not particularly into animals as much as she was into soft toys. She was actually more excited in the souvenir store than when we were embracing the real life animals! LOL.

Before we retired for the night, we drove quite a distance out and had a hearty meal at Hogs' Breath Cafe. The waiters there tried to remember exactly which meal each of us ordered and served us without questions, but this cute waiter messed up towards the end. Hehe. It was an awesome first day - it was officially the best day I ever had...

... until the second day came along. LOL.

Part 2 -->

On the night of 12th July 2012, me, HJ and Pah scooted off to Gold Coast, Australia along with Gabz and some of his friends. Jessic flew in from Perth to join us, and it was awesome fun! For the next 7days, we had countless road trips, loads of laughter, crazy singing (ENERGY!!!) and hell lots of fun. If I could, I would definitely prolong the trip there!!

We rented our trusty Hyundai i30 from Neds Kelly, which served us well for the 7days. The car we rented was mint and new, and the gear was so powerful, it amazed us. Me and Jessic have officially converted from a Honda Jazz lover to a Hyundai i30 supporter. LOL.

We rented an apartment at Sanctuary Lake Apartments which was just a 10 minutes drive from the Coolangatta Airport. It was affordable and conveniently located - it was right next to the Gold Coast highway, making it easy for us to go places each day. Although it was a 20 minutes drive away from Surfers' Paradise, me and Jessic got our much needed practice behind the wheels, so we definitely had no complaints. Moreover, the apartment was so huge and cozy, we could stay home all day!

With an itinerary packed for the full 7days, immediately after we checked into our temporary home, we headed to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary situated right next to our accomodation. We could have walked, but we had a car, so we drove even though it was a mere 5 minutes walk away. ;)

The visit to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary definitely made my day. Although it was not particularly huge, we barely had enough time to explore the whole place! We caught this bird show which was superbly entertaining and engaging. I am not a huge fan of birds, but the show kept me on the edge throughout. A hugeass eagle of some sort flew right past us, just mere centimetres from our heads of hair in the middle of the show! The owls and pelicans were awfully cute too.

Like Night Safari, the sanctuary also has this little train that links to different parts of the place through a railroad. It was tiny, red and cute, somewhat like a toy choo-choo train.

Before the bird show, we were all pretty fascinated with the Tasmanian Devils. We could not stop snapping photos of the cute little creatures! They look nothing like Tasmania from Bugs Bunny. LOL. They would run around in the enclosure, stopping at times in curiousity, sniffing the air and looking up at us. Awwwww, I secretly love them. <3

Next up, we fixated ourselves on the adorable Koalas!!! There were plenty of them in the sanctuary, each time we thought we captured them at their cutest moments, there was another one posing for us on another tree, I totally could not get enough of them! What kind of sorcery are they, how can they be so freaking adorable!!? Do you know that Koalas snooze up to 22 hours a day?

Jessic and HJ, on the other hand, seemed to prefer the Wombats. They were adorable too, in a plump and dense way. LOL. They kind of look like piglets in my opinion. We followed them around for a bit. I couldn't get a nice shot of them, with a rooster sharing an enclosure with them. The one shrinking into the hollow of the tree trunk was pretty cute!

Hopping onto the next train that came along, we were brought to the Kangaroo Crossing! There were dozens of free-ranging kangaroos in the perimeter - we even saw a pair mating! Although we have kangaroos at the Singapore Zoo too, it's always love to be able to feed them. We immediately grabbed a cup of kangaroo food and started feeding and molesting them. ;)

It started drizzling a little while we were there, but nothing could dampen our mood that day! We sought shelter at a pavilion with other tourists and kangaroos and got extra food to continue feeding them. We even took a video of a kangaroo desperately trying to scratch its itch away, so hilariously cute!!

Throughout the whole day there, I could not stop harping about taking a photograph with a koala. I was so worried we would be too late to take the picture! After we were done with the kangaroos, we immediately rushed back to the Koala Photography area near the entrance.

I've ever laughed at people who are so grateful about the good things that happen to them that they actually cry tears of joy. That day, I understood exactly how they felt. When we were queueing for our turn to take a photograph with the little bundle of joy, I actually teared. I was just so touched that I could actually cuddle a Koala! It was definitely a dream come true. :')

We were terribly, superbly lucky. Right before our turn, the keeper decided it was time to change a koala. She proceeded to the tree-ful (no kidding) of koalas, and guess what! She picked out a baby koala!!!!!!! *tears of joy* It was so, so, so adorable!!!! The photography session was short and sweet, but the keeper was nice enough to allow each of us to take a polaroid with the koala. It is now one of my favourite polaroid, of course!

I was also insanely jealous of the koala keeper and the photographer. How come they get to land such an awesome dream job?! I want to take beautiful pictures of those cuddly little koalas too!!!

Before we left the place, we chanced upon this photography session with the snake, so we went for it. I don't understand what is up with snakes and me. They seem to bear a grudge against me. Look at how this one was glaring at me, ready to attack any second!!!! Freaky!

It was nice of them to allow us to use our own cameras to snap pictures. We did not even bother looking at the official photograph taken by the people there since the photos turned out so well on my camera. But then again, we did buy a fair share of photographs throughout the trip!

HJ was not particularly into animals as much as she was into soft toys. She was actually more excited in the souvenir store than when we were embracing the real life animals! LOL.

Before we retired for the night, we drove quite a distance out and had a hearty meal at Hogs' Breath Cafe. The waiters there tried to remember exactly which meal each of us ordered and served us without questions, but this cute waiter messed up towards the end. Hehe. It was an awesome first day - it was officially the best day I ever had...

... until the second day came along. LOL.

Part 2 -->

Photos

2016
Danang, Vietnam (Work)
Yangon, Myanmar (Work)
Bangkok, Thailand (Work)
Telunas Resort, Riau, Thailand (Work)
Taipei, Taiwan (Work)
Chiang Mai, Thailand (Work)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Work)
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Perth, Western Australia
Bali, Indonesia (Work)

2015
Malacca, Malaysia
Taiwan
Bangkok, Thailand
East Java / Bali, Indonesia

2014
Bahau, Malaysia
Kukup, Malaysia
Bangkok, Thailand
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Pulau Tioman, Malaysia
Bali, Indonesia

2013
Batam, Indonesia
Santa Cruz, California
Taipei, Taiwan
Seoul, Korea

2012
Bangkok, Thailand
Gold Coast, Australia
Port Dickson, Malaysia
Batam, Indonesia

2011
San Francisco, California
Hollywood, California
Grand Canyon, California
Las Vegas, California
Orlando, Florida
New York City
Panama City Beach, Florida
Hong Kong
Phuket, Thailand

2009
Taiwan
Pulau Tioman, Malaysia

2008
Genting, Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2006
Hokkaido, Japan

2005
Taiwan