Gold Coast -Surfers Paradise

Main Beach at sunset

One of the main reason why I made the decision to stay in Surfers Paradise is because of its beautiful beach. Rewind back to year '97,  I did my 1st flight to Brisbane and stayed in Surfers Paradise Hilton. The rest of the crew had a 3 day pattern and I did 4 days (dunno why so lucky) .  The view from Hilton was magnificient! It was my 1st flight out to Gold Coast and didn't expect that the world can be so beautiful.  I remember sitting down for the longest time wondering what great things I may have done to deserve that. For a 18 years old girl, trust me it was just WOW. I got excited and got myself a swimwear from the shops, walked to the beach and plonked myself there to zzzz. The sand was powder like and the sea was just marine blue. For few hours, I lay on the beach admiring the surfers riding the waves and attempted to go into the ocean to get"splashed" hehehe. This memory of spending 2 days in Surfers Paradise has been etched in my mind for the longest time and it meant alot to me. Fast forward 17 years and I guess as we age, we reminisce these little things that mean so much in our lives. I just wanted to be there to admire that beautiful ocean once again. 

 I

 wanted to go back to Hilton Sufers Paradise but interestingly it seems to off gone further in from the coast as compared to 17 years ago hahaha *globalisation.It used to be the last building on the coast but now there is The Soul and it blocks it all 

Attempted to build sand castles

Bubbles from Daiso

Weather got a bit chilly the minute Mr Sun hid behind the clothes and got V all shivering. K was all strong and mighty, she carried on playing in the waters with T. While me? I was just happy to be back here and take a photo for keepsake.

For that fine day 17 years ago

Gold Coast Itinerary

Gold Coast Itinerary 6 days 5 nights for a Family of 4 (2 A 1C 1 I) 

FIXED COSTS = 

Airline: SCOOT 15-21st June  Business Class SGD $1.884.32k Hotel: Q1 Hotel Resort Spa One Bedroom spa SGD $705.90
Car Rental: East Coast Car Rentals Toyota Corolla + Full Insurance + 2 Baby seats + GPS Systems  SGD $425.95 
Travel Insurance :SGD $103 
3 World VIP pass: SGD $175.20 
Lone Pine Sanctuary: SGD $94 
Tropical Fruit World:  SGD $128

Day 1  Singapore -> Gold Coast Sunday 15th June 2000 -  
Check in @ Changi Airport 2225 -  Scoot Flight TZ6 to Gold Coast 
Day 2  Gold Coast Monday 16th June 
0750 - Touch down @ Gold Coast Airport (GMT +10) 
0830 - Take shuttle to collect car and travel to Q1 hotel 
1000 - Check in @ Q1 hotel 
1010 – Hotel Not available for check in 
1010 - Drove around and played at a park (Main Beach) 
1130 – Drove to Surfers Paradise and Lunch, Groceries shopping 
1400 - Check In 
1600 -  Nap 
1800 – Bought back Dominos Pizza 
2000 - Rest and unpack  

Day 3 Gold Coast – (Sea World) Tuesday 17th June  
0815 - Rise and Shine 
0900 – Breakfast and get ready 
1100 – Departed for Sea World 
1130 - Arrives at Sea World 
1115 - Picnic Lunch 
1645 – Left Sea World 
1700 - Children zzz in car  
1715 - Drove to the beach and relax in car 
1800 - Drove back hotel 
1900 - Dinner at Surfers Paradise 
2030 – Groceries shopping 
2200- zzz

Day 4  Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise + Warner Bros Movie World ) Wednesday 18th June 
0900 - Rise and Shine 
0945 - Breakfast and get ready 
1030 - Beach time @ Surfers Paradise
1130 – Back to hotel and get ready 
1210 - Quick Lunch near hotel 
1245 - Drive to Warner Bros Movie World - around 40 mins journey 
1330  -Visit Warner Bros Movie World 
1430 - Scooby Doo Show 
1530 - All Star Parade 
1645 - Left Movie World 
1800 - Stroll @ Surfers Paradise Beach Front Night Market 
1930 - Dinner @ Hurricane’s Grill 
2100 - Ben & Jerry’s 
2230 - ZzZz

Day 5 (Tropical Fruit World) Thursday 19th June 
0800 -  Rise and Shine 
0845 -  Breakfast 
0945 -  Drive to Duranbah Road NSW 2487 around 40 mins journey 
1130 -  Visit Tropical Fruit World A$110 
1430 - Lunch @ Kingscliff The Mullet Fish and Chips 
1600 -  Left NSW 1730 - Arrive Burleigh Heights, Children zzz 
1800- Woke them up and shopped/had dinner in Stockland Burleigh Heights 
2000 - Left Mall for hotel 
2030- Arrive Q1 
2130 -  ZzZz

Day 6  Brisbane (Lone Pine Sanctuary) Friday 20th June 
0800 -  Rise and shine 
0930 -  Left for Lone Pine Sanctuary 
1300 - Arrive at Lone Pine Sanctuary but was raining 
1315 – Lunch at KFC nearby 
1400 - Back at LPS 
1700 - Left LPS 
1900 - Arrive Q1 
1930 -  Dinner At Alfredo’s 
2300 -  ZzZz

Day 7  Gold Coast -> Singapore Saturday 21th June 
0545 -  Check out Hotel 
0615 -  Drive to East Coast Car Rentals 
0655 -  Reach and pump petrol 
0700 – Take complimentary shuttle to airport 
0710 -  Check in @ Airport 
0730 -  Breakfast 
0900 -  Board Flight TZ5 to Singapore 
1500 -  Touch down @ Singapore   

Important information according to Day

Day 1 Scoot TZ615 June 2225-0750, TZ 5 21 June 0900-1520
Booking Ref: xxxxx

Day 2 East Coast Rentals 
Booking Ref: R0FDQP 
Confirmation Number : xxxx 
Pick up : 16 June 2014 830am 
Branch address: 15 Maud Street Tugun QLD 4224 
Tel: +61-7-5559-5908 
Drop Off: 21 Jun 2014 700am Q1 Resort and Spa 
Address: Hamilton Ave, Surfers Paradise, QLD, 4217 
Tel: 07 5630 4500 
Booking Reference xxxxx

Travel Directions From Gold Coast Airport: 23.0 km - about 33 mins 
1. Head south on McLean St toward Musgrave St 
2. Turn right at Musgrave St 
3. Turn right at Miles St 
4. Turn left at Marine Pde 
5. Continue on Musgrave St Go through 1 roundabout 
6. Take the ramp onto Gold Coast Hwy 
7. Turn right at Surfers Paradise Bvd 
8. Turn right at Hamilton Ave Destination will be on the left

Day 3 Sea World 
Address: Sea World Dr, Main Beach 
Gold Coast
 Queensland 4210
 Australia, Australasia 
Tel: +61 7 5588 2222 
Price: VIP A$89.99 
Open Daily: 9-530pm  

Travel Directions 
1.Head east on Hamilton Ave toward Northcliffe Tce 
2.Take the 1st left onto Northcliffe Tce 
3.Take the 1st left onto Clifford St 
4.Turn right onto Gold Coast Hwy 
5.Turn right onto Waterways Drive 
6.At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Seaworld Drive Go through 3 roundabouts

 Day 4: Movie World

Address: Pacific Motorway
 Gold Coast
 Queensland 4210
 Australia 
Tel: +61 7 5573 3999 
Price: VIP A$89.99 
Open Daily: 9-530pm Travel Directions

• Head east on Hamilton Ave toward Northcliffe Tce
• Take the 1st left onto Northcliffe Tce
• Take the 1st left onto Clifford St
• Turn right onto Gold Coast Hwy
• Turn left onto North St
• Continue onto Smith St
• Continue onto Smith Street Motorway
• Take the exit onto Pacific Motorway
• 9. Take exit 60 toward Helensvale
• Turn right onto Entertainment Rd
• At the roundabout, take the 4th exit and stay on Entertainment Rd
• Turn right onto Helensvale Rd
• Destination will be on the right

Day 5: Tropical Fruit World

Address: Duranbah Road, Duranbah, NSW, 2487 Tel:02 6677 7222 Price: Family Pass A$110 (2A2C) Open Daily: 10-4pm

Travel Directions If you are travelling to Tropical Fruit World from the Gold Coast, travel south to the Gold Coast Airport then remain on the highway for a further 10 minutes.  Take the Murwullimbah Exit 40, then simply follow the signs to Tropical Fruit World.

Day 5  Lone Pine Sanctuary 
Address: 708 Jesmond Road, Fig Tree Pocket, Queensland. Prices:A$65.44 ( $24.55 A, $16.24 C >3yo) Additional: Koala Cuddling $16, Kangaroo feeds $2 Open Daily: 9-5pm Parking : Free

* Night Market

Every Wednesday and Friday evening, the foreshores of Surfers Paradise comes alive with makeshift market stalls selling a great variety of local produce, souvenirs, jewellery, handicraft, artistic and hand-made items, and the music of buskers.  There is even a magician performing at one of the stalls!

Gold Coast - East Coast Car Rentals

Upon arrival into Gold Coast Airport, we had to call our car rental service provider to send us a shuttle that will bring us to their office where we can pick up our car. We chose this coz T has friends who recommended this company to him.

Shuttle bus

Just a 5 mins ride and we arrived here

T chose a Toyota Corolla

Was a simple procedure as the paper work were prepared

We sniffed around while T was dealing with getting our car

In V words "Wow all white cars!"

Looking clean

Toyota Corolla boot.

No spunky smell

My plus on plus is that the car seats are CLEAN!!!

Fits my 20 mo

Fits my 5.5 yo

There is an option for booster seats but I decided that we will take the baby seats coz K will be upset that she gets a different seat from her sis. Really don't want to go there with her nagging.  But it fits V really well and she sleeps in comfortably. The only thing K was grumbling the whole time is that she had the sun in her eyes and it didn't matter which side I put her. So if you have a young child, you may want to bring the stick on window shade to help block the sun light.  

The car came with 1/2 tank of petrol and we had to return it the same.  Though no leather seats but it was really clean. Car smelt fresh with no cigarette aftermath stench. You may need to research on music stations for the car we had, had music that was not very happening and doing search didn't help us much. There is a CD reader and a USB for you to play children songs if required. Sadly to say we didn't know it and ended playing Frozen songs from my HP. The Garmin GPS was all good though it brought us some thorough some "lorongs" (streets) instead of main expressways and it doesn't seems to get us out of our hotel. Keeps insisting that we turn into some no entry lanes but other than that, it does it's job really well.  The suction cup for the GPS stand doesn't stick and so I ended up being the GPS assistant by having it on my lap and fiquring out those times that we went round and round. But there are options of places of interest, shopping etc as a quick option that have been pre-installed was really useful for us.

Here are some numbers for your info.

East Coast Car Rentals for 5 days :

Toyota Corolla + Full Insurance + 2 Baby seats + GPS Systems

SGD $425.95

Total Petrol pumped (includes return 1/2 tank) :  SGD$60

Final Costings: SGD $485.95

Website:http://www.eastcoastcarrentals.com.au

You can read about our Scoot experience here

Vaby - Free Box signup!

There is a new kid in town and that 's VABY!!

Like all parents, I am always excited when there is a new online platform for shopping/ goodies. This especially so coz I do not retail shop anymore, yup you heard me right. You don't see me going to retail for shoppping coz prices are just not justifible and since I am the Chief Houshold Officer of the family (I'm sure you have read my post on this, if not you can do so here), there is a need to stretch that dollar.  Having 2 children with high cost of milk and education is/has definitely  taken its toll on retail shopping. Basically, my and trev has lost the plot to satisfy the need to "shop" out of boredom. We shop out of needs now. My career requires my atention, my blog requires my attention, my grooming requires my attention, my fashion style requires my attention and going to different malls just to get stuffs does not justify my parking/petrol/time.  I am very into e-commerce purchases for the kiddos and have groups of friends who handle this with/for me.  This all started when I was pregnant and was involved with BP with my forum mummies  and moved on to other websites on my own.

I think all of us have become this internet savvy mummies who rely alot on reviews to make our purchases online. I am not any different. Just recently, Trev and I got hooked on to Iherb  reading reviews after reviews just to get the right item. We returned from Gold Coast yesterday and finally had some time to do retail shopping. Man, we were kaboosed by the increase in prices for EVERYTHING in Australia. There was a point where I picked up a Tim Tam and asked him if the price tag was ever $4?

Anyway , there is a new website in town and my girlfriend started it, I really excited to see its growth. She started this mainly on a idea as she has been in the packaging business for the last donkey years and realised that there is a dip in consumer retail. (Since she is the one dealing with the bags right? hehehe) Got pregnant with her 3rd which is about Kate's age (1st and 2nd are in about 12+) noticed that all current pregnant mummies enjoys shopping on website, BP, Sprees. Toyed with the idea on Vaby and after 1-ish year of work, its ready to be launched!

Vaby is the latest e-commerce website to be launched in Singapore and its membership only site will market and sell apparels, toys and services for babies, kids and parents. Their key selling point is that they have flash sales that are up to 80% discount as well as Vaby box - a sample box THE FIRST EVER for mummies and baby! I'm excited for this sample box, like who don't like samplers? I enjoy buying $2 samplers from watsons, I mean who don't? For now it's only 1 type for $18.99 but they are releasing 3 different types just for mummies, toddlers, babies.

I had a sneak preview of the boxes and it seemed really fun! Though seriously not sure what they have up their sleeves but I saw vouchers for photography, great sized samplers not just packets ones. The Vaby boxes are customised for the subsriber's profile which is a great idea coz I don't think I want breastfeeding stuffs right ? hahhaha If you like the samplers, you can even get it online Vaby Shop in their website! Like all, they have loyalty rewards points.

Looking forward to Vaby's daily deals, Vaby shop and Vaby box! Vaby’s current collaborating partners are:

• The Playhouse
• GOO.N
• Möller’s 
• The Studio loft 
• Diaper Cakes 
• Squooshi 
• Wikki Stix 
• Baby Organix 
• Cloudstprint 
• Dphotofolio 
• La Brassiere 
• Haro Bikes 

Sign up at their website to get exclusive invitations to their Grand Launch on the 28th June at The Playhouse! The kiddos/family get to have free entry to The Playhouse (please bring socks for all coz its $7 for an adult pair!) Psssttt you can get their Vaby box and exclusive invite when you register here!

Come back and read about their launch. I have give-aways!

Gold Coast - Q1 Resort and Spa

We stayed the infamous Q1 Resort and Spa on Surfers Paradise. If you are not sure which one it is,  this is the highest residential apartment in SP and has a Skypoint which allows visitors to do a climb or view Gold Coast at its observatory deck.  This was not our 1st choice coz it was pretty pricey at the I looked at it and decided on some other apartments instead. T came back again with this reccomendation stating his friend who has been using them highly reccomends this if we have young children.

Looked into it again and worked out my sums (I will link this post back to my full Itinerary + Costings). Booked it from their website and had some promo for weekdays and in the end worked out pretty well.

This is the view that we wake up to every morning. We were on the 27th floor and were comfortable with this height. Though if I was on a trip without the children I may pay for a higher floor. But you know us mummies, we think too much like children falling off etc. If you need to know, no human can fall out as the 1 window opens a 15% outwards , the rest are fixed.

Gold Coast has to have one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

It was a 5 mins walk from Surfers Paradise

Full kitchen

A service balcony or a chill out zone or in my case- a place to dry my swim gear.

Dining Area

The bedroom that sleeps us 4. We co-sleep so it was cosy and snug

The walk in wardrobe, they hav hangers on the other side

The apartment was seriously self contained! I didn't whip up a feast for we were exhausted each day with our activities. But it came in handy for our daily breakfast .

4 each

I took so that you mummies know what cooking utensils you have in your kitchen

I didn't get to use these

Self ignite gas stove. They provide pans and pots

Came in handy

Useful Lot

Simple and yet beautiful set of crockery

They lined it for you. Great for heating up stuff but baking and all.. eh didnt see baking trays

Chopping board and coasters.

Drawer of frying pans and pots

Dish Washer which I never liked using

Top Drawer hides an ironing board!

They were thoughful enough to provide tea cloth

Complimentary and the fridge has a small packet of cream

Please bring your own towels as they provide 2 only

Its a fixed shower head and so the babies bathe in the bath tub

you can see the other part of the walk in wardrobe

T spent many nights watching World Cup here. The view is amazing

There is a washing machine and dryer which btw was my no 1 electrical appliance of the trip. K kept messing up her clothes and I couldnt wait till I return to Singers to get them washed as the stain will end up permanent. So I washed the children clothes before packing them away. The dryer was just too useful especially for our towels. There was a extra charge for everything. Towels was $2.5 each, detergent was $1, housekeeping was $15(mini) or $60 for a proper clean up. We didn't want to spend that money and left to the the washer and dryers to ensure dry, warm towels.

The apartment was safe for the children and except for that one time K trip on the step going out to the service balcony. We were toying with the idea of extenting our stay coz we slept so well and CANNOT wake up.  Sleep was just good, T and I didn't play with our gadgets the whole trip except for 10 mins of checking email before we sleep just to ensure business was all okie. We paid for 5 days of wi-fi for about $50 (if I'm not wrong) just mainly for work purpose.

The children enjoyed the space they had. The bath tub was the daily highlight  and I brought water squirts and bubble which I bought from daiso. So bath time was like party.

Like a big girl

V drew the sunrise and the pacific ocean that was our view

1 plus point for staying this apartment was that we since we decided to drive and needed free parking.  You can read my review on the car rental company we chose here. Most hotel/apartment do charge $20-$25 for night parking which was not worth spending. You will have to park at selected lots marked orange and this Q1 residential towers has people staying in and we stay in rented apartments by managed by Q1 resorts and spa. You get a lift that goes up DIRECT to your floor, so there is no need to walk out of the building.

Secured Parking

you need an access card to go in and out

once you tap the card it opens up to allow the car to enter or exit

Tips :

Please book via a reputable website as I did read of those who book directly with the owners and got their plans cock up.

You can read reviews on Trip advisors here 

Q1 Resort and Spa 

Address: Hamilton Ave, Surfers Paradise, QLD, 4217

Tel: 07 5630 4500