Sunshine Coast Mini Getaway [25APR14 - 27APR14]

Okay, I really do suck at updating posts, so this is owed from April.

Max, a friend of mine since high school, had finally decided for us to do a mini-getaway. He had not been to the Sunshine Coast since forever. 

After much debate about where to stay in Mooloolaba, we booked a two-bedroom executive apartment at the Mantra Sirocco. 

This self-contained apartment is too huge, even for 4 people! 

Our first day, pretty much consisted of driving from Brisbane (and we got stuck with a shitty car as the protective-flap thingy near the tyre, was shredded and it made really loud noises whenever we turned a corner, to which we gained heaps of attention from pedestrians!), checking in, and wandering around Mooloolaba area. We had a quick lunch at the Mooloolaba Fish Market: shared a kilo of prawns! Omnomnomnom.

Then, pretty much chilled on the balcony of the apartment: what better way to spend a weekend by the seaside than to have a lot a few beers and some great company.

The Hoegaarden went pretty quickly!

Sunset view from the balcony. What a sight! I think my SLR finally did sunset photos right!

That night, for dinner, we decided on Augellos.

Front: Tuna & Salsa ($25AUD) 

Back: Vegetarian ($22AUD)

Now, Augellos' had advertised that they had won a couple "World's Best Pizza" award, and the Tuna & Salsa, was one of them. The salsa was made from mangoes, which complimented the seared sesame tuna pieces and mild wasabi dressing, however, for $25AUD, I would expect more tuna served on top. Admittedly, the fusion of flavours is quite interesting but it's nothing out of this world. I've had better pizza at Flam's. I still cannot believe they charged $22 for a vegetarian pizza, which was bland as hell. Not a place I would go back to for pizza.

Anyways, we were mostly drunk that night and went down later around Mooloolaba Wharf.

Alcohol makes everybody happy!

The following day, I told Max & Taylor, that I had always wanted to go back to the Eumundi Markets, where we spent most of our morning. There are no photos as I was busy looking at everything! One purchase we made, which was totally awesome: ACID-FREE PINEAPPLES!!!

I used to love pineapples, but most of the time, I ended up with a prickly sensation on my tongue. These acid-free babies, were sweet, pineapple-y and no more tongue pain!!!

Next up on the agenda (Max's insistence), is a nature walk/trail. The one closest to where we were was the Kondilila National Park. I completely forgot about the walk and wore flip-flops/thongs with my Louis Vuitton. Worst mistake ever. I came back from the walk with blisters on my feet. Please note that this trail has many, many stones.

Look at that retard!!

James finally managed to take a not blurry photo of me. By this point, I had given up smiling.

Taylor

Prior to our return to the apartment, we decided on making dinner. Well, Max was the cook for the night. Coles surprisingly sold premium steak cuts. Max had also decided on a blue cheese sauce which went really, really well with the raw steak. That dish, however, was served with potato gems lol.

Mostly tipsy posers in this photo. And yes, we are wearing beer holders/packaging on our heads.

Everybody was exhausted by the end of the day and went to bed at a respectable time. I was slightly sad that the trip passed so quickly!

On the last day, we decided to venture somewhere near the Glasshouse Mountains (before that, James and I insisted on getting Beefy's Pies; the one located right next to the Ettamoogah Pub). I love Beefy's as their pies are big, full of gravy & flavour. Not to mention, I loved their Steak & Kidney pie since the beginning (like when I first arrived in Australia? 2005?). Max wasn't too impressed you should be impressed damn you Max

We stumbled upon another small park by accident whilst having a "picnic". There were a few people standing and staring at what seems to be a normal bit of bush. At first, I could not for the life of me, figure out what they were staring at. Until, suddenly:

Holy shit! It's a snake that had just devoured (presumably, a wallaby) its lunch!

After gawking at the snake, we decided to head into the park (at a gold coin donation per person). It definitely was a shorter walk than the one at Kondilila, and it was pretty enjoyable to escape the heat amongst the lush rainforest scenery.

Spotted a weird looking fungus/mushroom

Turned out looking like an angel lol

It was definitely a fun, short trip and wished that it had lasted longer! :(

Dreamworld

Admittedly, I have not been doing much on my registered days off - sleeping, gaming, eating, watching /catching up on the latest television shows - which makes me feel quite unproductive, despite the fact that I love doing nothing when I can help it. Not to mention, having not that many friends here and being broke at times, also doesn't contribute to going out so often. In good faith, I have made a new friend from work I can hang out with, and since she is on annual leave and I had my RDO on the same days, we've decided to have a girls' day out. Initially, it was a toss-up between having high-tea, a manicure/pedicure or Dreamworld, but after going back and forth, we thought it was worth while spending a day in a theme park. 

The best perk about being a travel agent: Discounted travel!

In this instance, we got 50% off the entrance ticket fee! What a bargain!

It sounded like a a great idea as I haven't been to Dreamworld since I was a mere teen, so, why the hell not?

Dreamworld is one of Australia's largest theme park with over 40 different rides & attractions and also well known for its location of the Australian Big Brother House since the program began in 2001. In December 2006, Dreamworld expanded by opening WhiteWater World, literally right next door. The park constitutes of several themed lands: Ocean Parade, DreamWorks Experience, Wiggles World, Dreamworld Corroboree, Gold Rush Country, and Tiger Island. Visitors can experience the collection of rides, shows, merchandise & food outlets and animal exhibits at these lands. 

Elise was kind enough to pick me up near our work area in Bulimba at 9:20am before making our way down. We chose to head down on a Tuesday as we figured that since it is before school holidays, it is not a weekend and thankfully, the weather was rather gloomy, there shouldn't be many visitors about and we were right! 

Upon gaining entrance, we decided to explore Gold Rush Country, which is old timey Western themed, to which I told Elise that the first ride in the morning, would be the Buzz Saw. The queue was short, and when we got to our seats, I was quite impressed with the safety harness as it seemed to be some sort of hydraulic seat belt (I've never been on one that just held you in at the waist!). Not too long after, we were shot up at full speed to a twist, that left us dangling upside down for what felt like an eternity before shooting down and then back up dangling again upside down. It was a fast ride, approximately 50 seconds, but the suspense made it feel so much longer. 

Not for the faint hearted!

After the adrenaline-kick, we decided to go for a ride that was more simple and less, well, scary and ducked down to the Thunder River Rapids Ride which was "meh" but brought about so much memories about similar rides I had as a kid - a round float which seats up to 6 people and follows through rapid currents of water. I was the unlucky one who had my back towards the view, so at least I had the anticipation of not knowing what happened (though I constantly had a peek over my shoulder, so I was prepared as to when I'd get wet). I was slightly damp by the end of it, which was just enough to keep me cool in the warm, sluggish weather.

It is in the Gold Rush Country, that visitors can get some old-timey Western photos taken (at extra cost), but being a cheap skate, I did not want to spend money on photos, and since there were set-ups that enable visitors to pose and take their photos for free, why not? All you need afterwards is some photo-editing software to make it look "old". Or in this instance, somewhat arty-ish.

Let me out! I don't wanna be in jail! 

Next, we made our way over towards the Rocky Hollow Log Ride, which wasn't working when we got there (swear we saw a couple got stuck at the top of the ride!), so we made out way towards the Dreamworld Corroboree where there were a few Australian wildlife exhibits - kangaroos, dingos, koalas, crocodiles and etc. 

 I can never have too many photos with a koala! Too cute <3

We made our way around Dreamworld, and at an easy pace with short queues, we barely got to enjoy all Dreamworld had to offer. Especially in at the DreamWorks Experience section, where we got to pose in front of famous characters from DreamWorks animations - Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda - and took a bunch of photos.

 I LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT!!

I also rushed on to try all the rides I missed when I was younger as they were brand spanking new (for me anyways) such as The Claw. From afar, observing the Claw, I didn't think too much about it as it seemed like an okay ride with a simple concept, but for someone who had an empty stomach all day, it can get a little bit queasy and a little frightening as you are swinging at up to 75km/hour at what they estimate to be almost 9 storeys high (didn't seem that high, I think that is a bit of an exaggeration) whilst it spins 360 degrees. Definitely a ride I would go to Dreamworld for again. 

I also then decided to brave the Shockwave, a ride that really seems, again, all that simple but since I suffer heavily with spinning motions, this contraption looked as if it was born from the belly of Hell. At full speed, I was propelled at over 50km/hour down a 63 metre long wave-like track that plunges and climbs, whilst circling at "12 revolutions per minute". I did not mind it when it was at its fastest, but rather the initial circling as it definitely made me nauseous. Thank heavens Elise came prepared with mints which definitely took it off my mind whilst we targeted our next ride: The Tower of Terror II.

The queue was definitely longer at this particular ride as it is the park's most famous ride. To be completely honest, I liked it, BUT it was definitely too fast for me to fully enjoy the thrill. One second, I was being propelled backwards out of a 206 metre tunnel, at a rapid speed of "161 km/hour" before soaring 100 metres for a couple of seconds before you plummet face-first back down into the tunnel. Elise convinced me to go for a second round later, but still think that it was too short! If there was literally no one queueing, I'd love to go for it back-to-back for a few rounds!

By then, we were both starving and decided to have some good ol' fashion theme park food - Elise opted for the hamburger combo (fries & coke) whilst I went for the traditional corn dog combo (fries and upgraded my drink to a frozen coke).

Nothing spectacular but since I haven't had one in so long, it was blog photo worthy!

After the late grease-filled lunch, Zombie Evilution was next on our hit list, which was new to the park (to the both of us anyways) where we had a fun team-vs-team 5 minute laser tagging session. It was fun as it has been donkey years since my last laser tagging activity and thought that maybe I could use my gaming "skills" to good practice. Boy, was it hard as the rest of our team kept following us, and we were like "Go away! Be more strategic!" but to no avail, and the rest was history - we got cornered and lasered off :( 

By then, I was too excited and impatient - having quickly browsed some of the goods at several merchandise stores earlier - and decided to buy a few cute things to bring back home. I have a slight obsession with Gingerbread Man as the character is so darn cute and I like the shape and look of a normal gingerbread man anyways, so no guesses as to what I bought: a Gingerbread Man plush toy ($6.95AUD) and a Gingerbread Man keyring, which also has a Dreamworld logo next to it ($5.95AUD). The next store I visited was just your average surf shop, but I felt that I was in dire need of new shorts and walked out with a cute white with big yellow polka dots ripped shorts. It is also marked the day I actually purchased short shorts (yes, those ones that are really short, but thankfully, these aren't short enough to show any ass cheeks). 

Last of all, we ducked down to the ice-cream store and browsing the candy store, which was definitely the sweetest way to end the day (pun intended)!

Dreamworld is definitely a place for everyone, but I would highly advise getting passes which will allow more than one entry in, especially for visitors who travel during peak season as you will not be able to fully cover the park in one day, let alone wanting to cover WhiteWater World. By comparison, it is only an additional $10 extra, which is still worth it, if you are planning to do more than a day's worth.

Get an adrenaline hit!

Dreamworld Parkway| Coomera,

Queensland, 4209, Australia

(P): 07 5588 1111

(W): http://www.dreamworld.com.au/

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