Hi there,
Sorry for the long wait for a new post from me. I just hate to switch on my laptop. I don't even realize when did this thing start but I do know that staring at bigger screen somehow irritates me. I feel that the radiation from the laptop screen hits me very well and after some time, my eyes will turn red. Honestly, I prefer my phone more.
Soooooooooooooo.......
I would like to apologize for my upcoming lousy writing because I haven't write for a while other than writing a scientific paper for my assignments. Moreover, my mind currently is in the Japanese mode where most of the words in my head now are either Japanese or Malay.
This was my vacation last April. Sheesh. That was half a year ago. Haha. It was during the Autumn/Easter break. There were a lot of Malaysians coming to Melbourne due to MASA (Malaysian Aspiration Summit of Australia) so my housemates and I thought that we should go somewhere rather than staying there and yeap, as planned earlier - we were going to Brisbane to pay Tango, Ira and Farah a visit. It's more like a small reunion of our class. Ahh, Wan also came from Perth and joined us.
We boarded the plane - Tiger Airways as usual and reached Brisbane about an hour later. It was scorching hot that I started to sweat and feel a little bit sick. To make it worse, I left my sunglasses in Melbourne. I could hardly open my eyes. Haha. Exaggeration much but for me, it's not.
Then, those 4 girls fetched us from the airport and we went straight to Gold Coast. The Sea World to be exact. My housemates and I would prefer animals rather than those so-called fun rides. I know you might say that such a waste not going to the Movie World and such but different people have different preferences, no? :)
It took 2 hours to get there from the airport and we reached there around 12 o'clock and yeah, it's lunch time ! Those girls already cooked and packed our lunch because it's really hard to get halal food at the theme park and it's more economical to bring your own food. We were about to have our lunch, the Spongebob Squarepants parade started and there were a lot of bubbles and the characters dancing on the road and decorated cars. I felt that I was living under the sea. Haha.
The bubble parade !
Are you familiar with these?
After that, we head to the musolla - yeap, they provided a musolla for Muslims to pray. So don't worry if you're planning to come here.
Then we started to explore the park ! There were a lot of animals and few rides. We only rode 2 rides - Jet Rescue and I forgot what's the name for the other one. Jet Rescue was extremely fast and I hurt my neck for the sudden turn. And there was one part I said the syahadah because it was so scary that I thought I might fell off and died. No, I didn't scream because I enjoy the adrenaline rush but I wouldn't want to risk my life with one more ride of that. The second ride was a relax one, even small kids enjoyed that.
Animal shows - a must see when you come here. First, we watched the jet ski show. It was so awesome and those performers were skilful, very skilful. From the emcee, I got to know that they're expert in that field and even won the competition.
Next, the sea lion show. I really like this one. They were so good in acting and I think I could stay there the whole day watching the show. But it only lasted for 30 minutes for each show. Sea lion being a detective, sounds cool, huh?
The detectives and the police (>_<)
The next show was the most awaited dolphin show. Guess what, there was a long queue to enter the show arena but it's worth waiting. Dolphins were smart and I really hope that I can swim with them one day. Seriously I did feel a little bit envious with the trainers. Haha.
Well, I found out that one of the trainers was super gorgeous. Haha.
We spent the whole day at the Sea World, well I guess you actually have to spend one whole day at each entertainment park in Gold Coast.
Overly attached classmates
That night, we had BBQ by the river because Wan was going back to Perth the next morning. Well, a whole day spent with my girls - surely we had so much things to tell since we had been apart since July.
The next morning, Wan returned to Perth *cry*
And Farah went to her university field trip.
So, the 5 of us travelled 2 hours by train to get to Beerwah. From the train station, there was a shuttle bus to Australia Zoo. The entrance fee was $47/concession. I know it was expensive but it was the home of the Crocodile Hunter ! It was one of my dream to get there. The documentary show was my childhood and I really looked up to both Steve and Terri.
Awesome guy, awesome family
And there was a show in the zoo. The arena was called Crocoseum where you can watch the crocodile, birds and.. uhh... do we have otter? But the colourful lorikeets were beautiful. Of course my heart pumped faster watching them feeding the crocodiles - they were reaaaaalllyyyy fast in the water !
The croc show
This zoo was so huge that it even has Africa section xD it was an open range where the animals could run freely, no cages, nope, nothing. Just fences to separate the visitors and the animals. Oh, of course it's safe.
A.F.R.I.C.A
Spot some zebras !
And rhinos...
Feeding the giraffe
While waiting for the open-air van to fetch us, we had a surprise visit :)
Meowwww
And it's already time to leave the zoo, plus another 2-hour journey to get back to Brisbane city.
YOU'VE JUST GOTTA KEEP THE FEELING !
The texture of a crocodile skin - don't mind me. I always have weird facial expression.
That night? Nope, not feeling tired at all. We bought some drinks - bubble milk tea for me and off we went to the city via CityCat. Haha. It was amusing for me. In Brisbane, ferry is one of the public transports because there's this huge river across it - Brisbane river, I supposed? And definitely we did try to imitate the Titanic scene.
At South Bank, we searched for an empty space and drank our drinks while gossiping. Well, not really. It was more to a catch-up session about our life. Aceyceycey. Then, both Tango and Ira acted as the tourist guides and brought us to the river bank and also the man-made beach. Wow.
Brisbane city view from CityCat
There was a festival around that moment, what was it again?
Walking along South Bank
The man-made beach !
It's Friday, 25th April. ANZAC Day. We decided to visit University of Queensland (UQ) in the morning as there will be a parade in the city till 2.00 p.m.. UQ was soooooooooooooooo huge and up until today I still can't imagine how my friends can walk up ad down the hill not to forget the super hot weather. Phew. Well, how big the uni was, it even has a lake and CityCat station. Unbelievable ! We had our lunch by the lake that day.
A compulsory picture in UQ
One of the faculty buildings in UQ
Touring UQ
After that, we head to city by... CityCat of course ! Hopped onto a bus which will take us to Mount Coot-tha lookout. From there, we could see the Brisbane city clearly. It was colder up on the mountain (obviously) and a lot of people coming there because it was public holiday.
Brisbane city view from Mt Coot-tha
And that night was our last night in Brisbane, we decided to do something that we never ever did before. Guess what? Ride a Ferris wheel ! A friend of our friends, Sherry came to join us - eventually she becomes our friend as well :) Thanks to her who bought the tickets for us earlier on. It was a nice ride, Brisbane city was indeed beautiful when lighted with lights at night. But for me, that was once in a lifetime experience. I may not want to ride it again. I always read in Japanese manga which keeps on highlighting about Ferris wheel ride with their loved ones, well, personally, I think that it is not really that fascinating. I prefer standing on CityCat's deck more (///w///)
The tickets
Sherry caught in action
The Wheel of Brisbane
Our flight was at 6.00 am the next morning. It was a nice trip and I would like to thank my friends who has been hosting us during our visit there. Back to Melbourne, I caught fever. Haha.
That's all from me for now, and Salam Aidil Adha to all Muslim readers :)
lovessssssss,
nadi
