Gold Coast : Day 4 - Fauna VS City!

We woke up and had breakfast. Since we skipped Q1 Tower yesterday, we decided to visit it today. Looking at the sky, it was a very bright and shiny day. Good for photo taking!

Since our apartment was quite near to Q1 Tower, we went out a bit late (we can see from far the QDeck as it is the highest building at Surfer's Paradise). After everyone got ready, we went down and drove to Q1, and parked at the basement. It was DARN EXPENSIVE and KLCC visitors should satisfy with what being charged!

Q1 Tower was popular since visitors went up the tower to view the GC beaches. To get the tickets, we had to walk through its souvenir shop (what a marketing). We paid AUD18 and waited for the lift operator to bring us up. The lift can occupied only 15 people and it went straight to level 77. And the lift was super fast!

At the top, there was waiting area, restaurant, that surrounded with high tempered glass. We went nearer and shouted,

“OH MY GODDDDD! SO BEAUTIFUL!"

What we saw on the postcards, was exactly what we saw here. The long beach from left to right can be clearly viewed from QDeck. But photo taking wasn't that good since the glass was sooooo glared. Hmmm...we can even see our own reflection in the glass, so we had to put the camera closer to the glass, to minimize the reflection. Eiiii!

We went to the right side where we can see Coolangatta downwards. On the left side, we can see The Spit upwards. If we stand in the middle, we can see the whole beach from left to right. What a view!!! The ocean soooooo blue and clean! I know I can see sharks in there but I didn't dare to find one. Hahaha!

At the back, we can see housing areas like what Miami have. With streams and yachts, I bet they paid millions of AUD to get the house there. Some was riding jet ski IN FRONT of their houses. WOW! And from up here, we saw none construction site like KL! No hack there, hack here ok! And from up here as well, we can read more info on high buildings in the world. There was direction of North Pole too. Proud to say that Petronas Twin Towers won second. Q1 was the tallest residential building a.k.a exclusive apartment. Whoever buy this apartment, is HELL RICH!

We later went down and drove out. We stopped at the car rental and update them on the arrangement for tomorrow (we planned to take a smaller car since hubby, Zam and I will go back later than the rest). After everything was settled, we continued our journey to Brisbane! Along the way we stopped at Hooters and snapped few pictures. I thought of buying the merchandise but it was still closed at that time (it opens at 12pm). Cawan then zoomed in and took few pictures of the waitress.

So off we go to Brisbane!

We used the same highway to Movieworld and Dreamworld, but this time, we went further up. We stopped at Nandos and since we knew that Nandos is "halal" certified, without hesitation, we ate a horse! Hahaha! With limited map in hand, we then tried to find our way to Brisbane. The first place in mind was Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary but we didn't find our way and stopped in front of one local house. Guess what, they also didn't know where this place located! Hahaha! So we continued finding our own way by looking at the signboards.

Once we went back into the highway, we headed to the city. We finally reached Brisbane! From the bridge, we saw Wheel of Brisbane! Super awesome and nice! We got overexcited until we didn't find the way to the city! Hahahaha! We then stopped by and asked one police officer,

“G-Day! We kinda lost here…we actually wanna visit the Lone Pine Koala Sactuary…do you know how to get there?"


"Ooooo…hmmm…that’s a tough question…” 

(OMG! Not again!) 

“Well…let’s see whether I can help you…come inside and I’ll get you a map…” with his lazy face but forced to help.

We actually stopped right in front of the police station. So I followed him in and at the counter, there were 2 more officers who then being asked about the place that we wanted to go. One of the guy told the other girl it should be at the Fig Tree Pocket Road. I quickly interfered,

“Yea…its located at Fig Tree Pocket Road…and…we need to take the second exit to Gunnin Street.” I showed them our tour cookbook.

The guy straight away took out one big and thick directory and looked for the index no. He then made a photocopy of 4 pieces of map in A3 size! Haaaaaaaaaaa! Really big you know! He told me that he wasn't sure which way to go but he showed me where were we now and where we should go. OMG! It was far! It was like one big round!

Since I was quite long in the police station, hubby came in. They thought I was held for interrogation or got cuffed hahaha! We then went out and followed the track on the map.

From there, we headed to Kangaroo Point, took highway, and passed by the Brisbane river. We took a corner to Toowong and straight to Taringa (soooo aborigin names huh?). We then continued to Indooroopilly and we used Western Midway. Until we saw the exit to Fig Tree Pocket, we stopped. At this point, we was so happy since we were on the right track! From here, we looked for Gunnin Street, and finally reached the sanctuary!

We parked the car and went to the entrance. There was big stream and taxi boat that brought visitors around it. The entrance fee was AUD25! We paid and went in. The very first animal that we saw, was none other than koala! But they were kept in cage. Some were kept for breed. Got babies too! So cute! We didn't lose any chance to snap pictures and continued walking further up, until we reached the open area with no cage. More koalas here and they ran here and there like kids! Since we didn't want to pay for koala cuddling, we just zoom in and snapped pictures with them! Haha!

We walked and walked and more koalas around us. We did try to call them but they just ignored us. Until they heard the car that brought food for them, they quickly ran to the door, waited for the caretaker to feed them. So clever! It was funny to see koala walking on land, as we normally see them on branches. Then one of the koala stretched its both hand, asking for the caretaker to cuddle it! Waaaaa! 

Satisfied with koala, we saw wombat. Big and fat! Didn't stop eating! In the same cage, there was porcupine. We moved to the next section and saw bird feeding show but since I didn't fancy birds, I walked straight to the bigger cage. There were more birds in green and mix color, eating "koaci". Then Na and I headed to the kangaroo area, passed by the wooden bridge and saw pademelon. Small and red.

When we reached the kangaroo area, we didn't dare to get in since there was one emu stood next to the gate. Eiiiii scary! We afraid that it will chase us around! Hahaha! It was big and tall ok! Right after we saw few visitors went in and it didn't move, we straight away went in and ran away from the gate. Hahaha!

The area was beautiful and green. And there they were,

“Kangaroooooooooo!!! So manyyyyyyy!!!”

Yup, no doubt, we were in Australia! We went to one kangaroo that were currently sleeping on the grass. We tried to get closer to it and guess what, it didn't care at all. Must be too many visitors tried to do that to them so they already immune with it. Hahaha! We quickly did funny pose with it and treated it like my cat! Hahaha! Not long after that, hubby and Cawan came and we continued snapped pictures. We got bored since this kangaroo was sleeping all the way long, so we chose another kangaroo, white and untamed. Hahaha! Some came to us asking for food. Some big and some small.

While we busy with kangaroo, Mona and Zam went for koala cuddling. They paid AUD15 each and got printed picture. They told us there was a way to cuddle it and they actually didn't have to do anything, as the caretaker will put the koala down on their arms. Meor tried to hold the back of koala's head but the caretaker didn't allow him to do so. Wow! So secured! After so much fun with kangaroo and koala, we went out. On the way out, we did some funny pictures with kangaroo and we managed to snap few pictures of them jumping towards us. Hahaha! Cute!

Ok, next, sunset watching!

We heard that Mount Cootha was the most suitable place to watch the whole Brisbane. So from Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, we took Western Midway and reached Toowong. From Toowong, we went to Mount Cootha Road.

We went to Sir Samuel Griffith Drive and parked there. There were souvenirs shops that sell fridge magnets. We walked further up and saw gated area. From here, we can see the whole Brisbane, not that exciting, but interesting. It was a bit windy so we just snapped few pictures and waited for sunset.

It was about time, but we didn't see any sunset yet. And we finally found that sunset was at the back of the viewing area! Hahahaha! Just between the trees! We drove towards the sunset but couldn't chase it as the jungle was too deept. So we canceled the plan of sunset watching...cis!

We continued our adventure by heading to the city. It was getting dark and traffic was getting packed. Hmmm...friday night, what do you expect! Time to parteyyyy! So we headed to the Wheel of Brisbane. We crossed the bridge and saw South Bank Parklands's signboard. We parked and bought ourselves ticket to ride the wheel. Only four of us, hubby and I, Na and Cawan tried, the rest waited down there. We paid AUD13 for a ride. It was the same as what we had in M'sia but this one changed colors. It was about 5 rounds and we hopped down. Duhhhhh!

We continued taking pictures along the bank and stayed for a while. We waited for others who walked to the end of the bank. They told us there was a night market there. Then hubby, Meor and Zam snapped few pictures at the staircase of University of Griffith, like school kids! With cigarettes on hand! Hahaha!

We then went for shopping at Queen Street Mall, where Na said that place is the largest shopping mall in Australia. Wow! We asked the wheel operator on the location but they didn't sure where it was (hmmmm). But when we mentioned the keyword "largest", he got it! It was actually on the other side of the bank. We went there and looked for free parking, but failed. We parked at the basement and paid AUD15 for that!!!

Its ok, what matter, we reached there. Along the mall, there were lots of things to enjoy. Cheap items, expensive things, what you want was all there. You name it, you got it! We bought many souvenirs. While window shopping, we saw showgirls in front of the shops and calling all the boys. Hahaha! I really wanted to see what was inside but the rest didn't want to. Hehehe!

We went back to the car and drove back to the hotel. We just knew how much we lost right after we saw the shopping bags. Hahaha! Nevermind, once in a lifetime! We have another two days to go! Weeeeeeee!

---> Click here for Day 4 photos.