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An Adventure Down Under. Pt. 5
Thursday, September 13, 2012 @ 10:32 PM

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5


We spent our last 2 days visiting Seaworld and Dreamworld respectively. Seaworld was a lot milder in terms of thrill factor, but that did not matter one bit as we had huge plans for the day in the park! One random thing I must mention will be the calamari rings at Seaworld. It is one of the best fried calamari I have ever tasted. ♥

Do you love penguins? If you do, you definitely must not miss this on your next trip to Seaworld! Me and Pah chanced upon this Penguin Antarctic Adventure while researching on our trip, and we decided to go for it despite its price. We were seized with nervousness right before our adventure, suffering from mild stage fright at the thought of ourselves being showcased in the exhibit alongside the penguins! It's actually quite hilarious now that I recall it.

The adventure lasted about 45 minutes. We were first brought to their lab to change into the winter jackets, then the penguin handlers explained to us their daily routines with the penguins. It was really interesting! We got to learn how the penguin keepers worked behind the scenes, how they stored the fishes, prepared the fake ice for the enclosure and so on.

The best part is of course the part where we were led into the enclosure where we got up close and personal with the inquisitive little penguins! All our 'stage-fright' dissolved totally as we swooned at the penguins that came scampering towards us. *melts* Prior to this experience, I never knew penguins were actually playful and cheeky little creatures. They are able to be trained good manners like to not peck at people, and they even know their favourite toy! The Emperor Penguins were more aloof and disliked human contact, so they kept their distance. The other penguins were just awfully adorable! They would let you stroke their back and their bloated tummies. The 99aud were definitely well-spent. I would love to experience it again if I ever go back!

Other than playing the rides, we also watched the Jetski show, which was amazing?! The guys were super hot and they were awesome in controlling their jetskis! They are really young, and yet they have already won tons of competitions. We were quite honoured to be able to take a photograph with them! (In fact, we immediately fled down to take a picture as soon as they gave the green light. LOL.)

We explored the park, visiting the aquariums, touching animals at the touch pools and hunting for the lone polar bear which remained obscure in its huge enclosure. It was quite funny how we were whining that we could have paid 49aud to snorkel with the abundance of marine life in the aquariums instead of going on the kayaking adventure. The pool would be heated even!

Last, but definitely not least, we went on a Seal Safari! It was pretty much an impromptu decision, but Jessic was so jealous of us being able to play with the penguins that she needed an animal to console her. It was 49aud, but I swear - it was the most worth it adventure of all!

Look at Charlie the Sea Lion smiling at us! ♥ How can anyone not melt at that expression?! We had a 30 minutes close encounter with 3 different sea lions, where they performed their tricks for us, sauntering past us so that we could stroke them, feeding them... It was like a private performance, just for us! Totally worth it! The sea lions were all so smart, and they had this special bond with their trainers that made me insanely jealous. I want to have such a bond with an animal friend too!

That night, we drove up and down Gold Coast Highway in search of alcohol because we had so much fun the night before playing drinking games. LOL. The one and only bad thing about Australia is really that the shops close much too early! It was only half past eight perhaps, but all the liquor stores were already closed. Fret not though, we enquired with the kind workers at a supermarket and they managed to brainstorm one liquor store near our place which was opened till midnight. YAY! If I don't remember wrongly, the liquor store was located in Coolangatta Hotel itself.

The next morning, we headed to Dreamworld! Dreamworld is an awesome park because not only does it house some of the scariest thrill rides, it also had a little zoo within it!

We pre-booked a Tiger Cub Experience to play with the baby cubs of 4 months old! It was quite a disappointing experience and we probably would not do it over again, but it was quite an experience all the same! For one, the cubs were no longer as tiny as they were pictured to be. Also, there were some twenty over people in the enclosure with us, all eager for a chance to touch the two cubs, and we only had limited time in the enclosure. The cubs were adorable still though! And we managed to get some decent shots so I guess it wasn't all too bad. The cubs had a mind of their own - signs of growing up! LOL.

I thought this set of bumper car shots were pretty good. I love the candidness of the photos. LOL. The bumper car arena was pretty weird though. It was only a 1-way circular road and that kind of defeated the purpose of bumper cars because we were mostly following behind one another in circles.

Some of the rides we took included The Claw and Wipeout, and while some of them played the Giant Drop and the Tower of Terror, the rest of us wimpy kids simply stayed on firm ground and camwhored. Teehee.

We did not have much plans for the night, since most of us were practically broke. We headed to Surfers Paradise and had the most awesome japanese food in Gold Coast. I cannot remember the name, but it is located in the food court near to Infinity. We were actually pretty stumped that we only found the place on the last night - we'd probably have went back for more if we found it a few days earlier!

That night, we visited the casino after postponing it for a few nights due to pure laziness. LOL. It must the slower pace in Gold Coast that make us superbly lethargic each evening, even though it was barely 6pm. We really could just slump on the couch until bedtime. The trip to the casino was fun! From paupers, we actually won enough to treat ourselves to a good breakfast the next morning before we almost missed our flight back. It was pretty hilarious how we totally forgot about the customs and thought we had all the time in the world to get to our plane. It was actually quite a miracle how we managed to clear the customs and ran for our plane within the 10 minutes before it was scheduled for departure. It was so much more thrilling than any of the thrill rides we took on the trip. LOL.

The awesome crew that made the amazing 7day trip down under. Gold Coast, Australia, I miss you already. I'll definitely be back someday. ♥


<-- Part 4


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