CNY 4th day: 11 Feb 2016

11 Feb 2016 (Thurs):

Good morning from Gold Coast!. At 6.40am (which is only 4.40am in SG), we woke up to a beautiful morning and delish breakfast.

Kinda weird cos at 6.40am, even in SG, i would have complained at having to wake up so early but here in GC, no fuss at all. Of cos! We are on a vacation. :)

We bought the breakfast stuff right at COLES the night before - bread, ham, cheese, eggs, juice, etc..
A tad too much, i believed.

The agenda for the day was Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Park which was located at Currumbin itself.

So, how to get to the park? Fastest way and most expensive way, take a cab.

But no, we did an alternative.

Since the G Link was just round the corner of our apartment, we took a tram to Broach Beach South Station and from there, we took bus # 700 which stops outside Currumbin Wildlife Park.

Walk 2 mins to Cavill Avenue Station, have your GO card ready and tap at the gantry just before boarding.

The GO card works the same way as our EZ Link Card or NETS Flashpay card. Alight at Broach Beach South station (4th stop after Cavill Ave - Cavill Ave, Surfers Paradise, Northcliffe, Florida Gardens and Broach Beach South).

From BBS station, take bus #700. Just a note: the station is an open station and upon alighting, there are 4 bus stops. 2 stops on each side of the tram track. Board #700 from bus stop A.

Clear instructions on the map above.

There are many native creatures at CWSP. Actually, there are 2 such parks in GC. One is CWSP, the other is PCF - Paradise Country Farm.

I read the many reviews and the CWSP won my vote. Well, that being said, I kinda regretted having said it. 

We spent practically the whole day there and wasted quite a fair bit of time just walking. Example: you can spent 5-10 mins looking at Koalas but spent the next 20 mins to half an hour just to get to the next enclosure. And then, there is nothing inside??? ( or rather, the animal was hiding somewhere)

We saw wallabies, emus, tasmanian devils and of cos my favourite, the Koalas. We caught the many different shows and performances throughout the day as well.

  BUT the worst thing, enduring the hot hot sun. 

After a long day with tempers rising and many arguments, we rewarded ourselves at Surfers Paradise.

Spending the evening fooling around, kicking in the waters, running around in the sand, enjoying the cooling weather, taking selfies, splashing and screaming, chasing each other... taking in the sights and sounds.

CNY 3rd day: 10 Feb 2016

10 Feb 2016 (Wed):

Our flight to Gold Coast, Coolangatta Airport was about 7 hrs plus. The flight itself was uneventful except my gal got a sudden nose bleed after sneezing a few times halfway through her sleep.

I asked the cabin crew if it is possible to just provide a glass of warm water and she told me a bottle of mineral water is chargeable. Hey SCOOTS, if you are reading this, I am only asking for a glass of warm water for my gal for her nose bleeding incident and you, instead of providing the warm water with no questions asked, told me the water is CHARGEABLE!!!

Okay fine. I asked for a blanket instead, just to keep her warm for the time being and you again, told me its CHARGEABLE!!! I am not buying from you. I just need it for a little while.

In the end, i paid for the so called warm water. What did you bring me? An empty cup and 1 bottle of mineral water. I asked for warm water right? You went and came back with a cup, filled with water, yes but room temperature water???!!! Can you please check your bloody SCOOTS dictionary??? What is warm water? Do I have to ask for ice water before you know how to bring me hot water? And I would have to mixed the two cups myself. Pissed!!!

I should have checked your bloody name tag or speak to your superior there and then. Stupid woman!

Enough ranting. A real horrible experience. Scoots management. Time to give your crew more training.

Upon arrival at GC, we actually spent quite some time there on purchasing the prepaid Nano sim card and deciding on what tour packages to sign up for. The process in buying the sim card was real slow. Somehow or other, there was no connection and the lady did all she can to help. Finally we got it.

We signed up for the VIP Magic Pass with Australian Outback Spectacular Show free with a hot deal to Movie World, Sea World and Wet n Wild, valid till June 2016. Price: AUD 110 per person.

We told a cab to Surfers Paradise where our resort was. Now, this resort has several names to it.

When we did our booking with Agoda.com, it was given as Mantra Towers of Chevron, and then we saw Chevron Renaissance on the outside of the building, and when we came back from the Australian Outback via cab, the driver told us this is known as Skyline Tower, not Renaissance...

There are all actually the same apartment. Located on 23 Ferny Ave, the G Link (tram) was just a mere 2 mins walk along Cavill Avenue. The beach was within walking distance and the bus stop was just located from across the apartment, where you can take bus# TX2 to Movie World, Wet n Wild, Paradise Country Farm and even the Australian Outback. They are all located at the same area, within walking distance, alongside each other. Bus #705 takes you to Sea World.  Bus# TX3 brings you right to the doorstep of Dream World.

But you need to study the operating hours of each bus service as the operation would cease at about 6pm each evening since the theme parks closed at 5pm. Take note that the bus stops and G Link (tram stops) are on different sides of the apartment, though I am not sure which is the front and which is the back.

Visit http://translink.com.au/goldcoast for more info.

I got you covered for the majority of the theme parks. I will touch on Currumbin Wildlife and how to get there in the next post. Oh yes, behind the bus stop, there is a pub called Helms Bar. Right behind Helms Bar next to Vibes Hotel is the place for boarding the Jet Boat Extreme: http://www.jetboatextreme.com.au/

Our apartment was superb. We stayed at Tower 2, 15th floor and we got a magnificent view of the ocean. The weather was good to us every day, except for 1 gloomy morning when we were at Wet n Wild. But that cleared up within mins from the1st bout of rain and was sunny from then on.

The time difference between SG and GC was 2 hours apart - if SG was 10am, GC would be 12 noon.

Our apartment was spick and span, clean but kinda oily at the kitchen area. Basic facilities were provided, such as: clothes line / rack and pegs for hanging your clothes, broom and vacuum for maintaining the cleanliness, dish washing liquid and sponge, laundry detergent, shower and shampoo, clean towers, pot, pans, bowls and plates, utensils, microwave oven, dish washing machine, washing machine for the clothes and tumbler / dryer, cooling air condition, soft beds, bathtub and standing shower.....

Asked for Tower 2 on the 15th floor with the ocean view, the next time you stay at Mantra Towers of Chevron. Do not get mixed up, there are many different Mantra apartments here and there.

Right below Tower 2, you can gain access to the supermarket - COLES, pharmacy, bakery, cafes, pubs, restaurants many more. Talk about convenience. Choose Mantra Towers. You can't get wrong.

CNY 2nd day: 09 Feb 2016

09 Feb 2016 (Tues):

Thought I would skipped this day. We were basically in Malacca, the only reason was to visit the temple. My fil was not in good health and hubs would like to pray for his well being.

And as usual, our friends (the Kueh family) joined us. Siew Min prepared lunch and the kids were reluctant to say goodbye when it was time to go.

We had a plane to catch for our trip to Gold Coast, Australia that night and we did not want to get stuck in the jam, in case. Luck was not on our side.

We left Malacca at 230pm. If traffic was smooth all the way, we would reach back SG by 5pm latest.
We would still have some time to shower, changed and head for the airport in good time.

But at 6pm, we were still stuck on the NS highway. READ: JAM!!!! For no reason. No accidents, no roadblock, what the heck!!! The traffic was slow moving all the way.

At 8pm, we were just approaching JB customs and voila, MAJOR jam. Our flight was departing at 1030pm via Scoot. Die la... sure missed the flight.

Finally we snail crawled into the checkpoint and something bloody idiot happened. The driver in front of us did not have enough cash in her Touch n Go card and was preparing to jam up everyone by heading over to another lane, far away, to top up!

Hubby horned at her and asked her to use our card; just pay us in cash. Stupid woman! Couldnt even find her wallet in her bag. Arrrggghhhhh.... God! We were running very late already...

We managed to arrive at the airport by 9.20pm and there was still a long queue. Luckily, it moved fast and we even managed to grab a bite before we walked towards the boarding gate.

CNY 1st day: 08 Feb 2016

08 Feb 2016 (Mon):

Slept at 2am, woke up at 9am...  Happy Lunar New Year! Showered, got dressed for the occasion... 1st stop, breakfast @ Macs.

Quite crowded on the 1st day of CNY.  Seems like Macs was on everyone's agenda for that day.

We visited our cousin who just gave birth a week ago, or was it 2 weeks ago, to her 2nd child. She has an older boy and the kids played while the adults chatted. It was already lunch time before we knew it. Her CL prepared the lunch and asked if we would like to join in. We politely rejected.

We went over to my Grandma's place and we were like couch potatoes there. Thought I would be able to see some of my other relatives but no one turned up.

(We ,7 families in all, used to gather for lunch at my Grandma's place during CNY. And when each daughter or son got married and had kids, the number grewed bigger. Then one year, my Grandma announced she would have to stopped preparing lunch for everyone as the amount of work needed was to tiring for her. From then on, the gathering stopped and lucky enough, you might just see one or two families coming at the same time, otherwise, there were none.)

It was almost 2pm and we still had my mum's place to go. My mum prepared lunch and we ate at least 3 rounds...  Steamboat filled with individual preference of ingredients. My cousins were all there and there were much laughter and gossips.

The only regret. My Grandma (mum's mum) was not around. She passed on last year.

My in laws were going to Adelaide in the evening and we sent them to the airport. After which, we drove all the way to Malacca.

CNY Eve 07 Feb 2016

07 Feb 2016 (Sunday):

2015 has come to an end and mine 1st blog post is in Feb 2016 instead of Jan 2016. Oppsss!

Seriously, I envy some of those bloggers who seems to have almost something to blog everyday. Their lifestyle draws many memories for them to jot it down online. Me??? Well, well, well....

Okay. No more lamenting!

On this very day as the blog title mentioned, it is the Chinese New Year Eve. The very last day of  " Mr Goat " and welcoming a new " Mr Monkey ".

3 cheers to a Prosperous and Wealthy 2016.

Ballet Perfomance at Mrs Lee Choon Guan Theatre, ACJC

13 Dec 2015 (Sun):

TSOD ballet performance was held over 2 days; Fri and Sun.

Prior to Fri, I asked my colleague to accompany me to Buona Vista MRT to familiarize myself with the surroundings as ACJC was round the corner. Both of us literally walked one round around ACJC, wondering which was the nearest entrance and we both felt so stupid when we realised the main entrance was facing the station.

I really appreciated her for coming with me.

As I would be attending the concert on Fri and Sunday, I wouldn't want to be late as I was coming directly from work on Friday. Imagine wondering which direction to take and getting lost and running late cos not sure where to go... I better do a little racky.

Rachel was performing for this concert and I had promised her I would watched for the 2 days. As usual, the concert tickets were not cheap.

Without further ado, I leave you with 2 videos; one of Rachel's performance and one of her teacher, Ms Wu's performance. There are many other videos which I took but uploading them would require a considerable amount of time, hence just these 2videos would be sufficient, I think. :)

Rachel's: Eurasian Dance




The TSOD Senior's : Singapore - Our Home

USS - RWS

05 Dec 2015 (Sat):

I am really lacking behind in my blog post. There hasn't been any exciting events lined up apart from my recent trip to Taiwan and China.

As promised to Rachel that I will bring them again to USS, today was one.

Again, there were not many pics to show but I will leave you with a couple of pics and videos.

This was a rainy day and the rain did not really stopped till about 5pm... I had to buy USS ponchos and its not cheap, ya know!

Sesame Street Performance:



Lionel receiving an Xmas gift. :)