31 Aug 2011 - Day 3: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and Gold Coast Beach

Good morning Gold Coast! At this time of the year, sun rises at about 5am. By 9am, we were all ready for another day out. Jerlene and Javier were excited because we were going to visit a wildlife park where we can hand feed kangaroos.

Currumbin Wildlife Park was about 40mins drive from Gold Coast. Once again, both Javier and Jerlene were having motion sickness half way through the drive. However, they had learned from their previous experience and what they did is that they tried to force themselves into sleep. This method seemed to work as they managed to reach the destination without throwing out.

Currumbin Wildlife Park seemed to be very popular and the carpark was full. I had to park my van on a grass patch further down the carpark. This park is owned by a non-profit organization. with all proceeds raised by our visit reinvested into the care of the environment and animals. There is also an animal hospital within the park and it's one of the busiest in Australia.

The first area we entered is called the Australia's Green Cauldron. The exhibits here are mainly reptiles such as snakes, lizards, tortoise etc.

The park is divided into east and west sections. The entrance and Australia's Green Cauldron are at the east section. From there, we took a tram ride to the west section, where most other exhibits are.

The next station we alighted was the kangaroos enclosure where we got to hand feed kangaroos. Other than kangaroos, we can also feed the Emus and pigeons that roam freely.

Jerlene and Javier had been looking forward to this moment. Even before the trip, Jerlene had been asking me when she can go Australia to feed the kangaroos. Most of the kangaroos here seemed to have been well fed and were all resting under the shade. Only a couple of them came to us for the food. Anyway, we still enjoyed the entire session

When all the kangaroos stopped accepting feeds from anyone, Jerlene and Javier both turned around and started feeding the pigeons. We spent around 45mins in the kangaroos enclosure.

Below are some of the animals that we saw in the park.




There was one thing that kept us laughing throughout the visit. Do you know what bird it is in the below photo? We all felt that it is some kind of Turkey because of its size and its look. However, whenever Javier sees it, he will shout:"Chicken, chicken!!" so innocently. We all laughed our heart out everytime he said that.......I am laughing now as I type this......lol.

Next, we went for a free Flight Bird Show in an arena where the trainer introduced many birds such as Pelicans, Eagles, Owls, Falcons etc.

We had our lunch in a small cafe in the park. Next to it was a playground and Jerlene went straight to it. She seemed to enjoy the playground most in the park, except for the kangaroo feeding.

Finally we came to the Koala enclosure. As usual, they were so adorable.

We left the park after that. Next to the park is Superbee Honeyworld. There is a honey testing corner with different types of flavours. We bought quite a bit of honey as it seemed cheaper than in Singapore.

By the time we returned to our apartment, it was about 4:30pm. We quickly brought Jerlene and Javier to the beach before it turned dark.

As I've mentioned earlier, our apartment is right behind the beach. From the apartment's back gate, we immediately stepped onto the sand beach. It's one of the most beautiful beaches that I've been to. The sand is so fine and the beach is extremely clean.

Jerlene and Javier had so much fun that they refused to leave even when the sky turned dark. It was very windy and cold but that does not seem to spoil their fun. Javier was a "destroyer" and whenever he saw a castle being built, he'll "tear" it down......

I had a hard time persuading them to leave. Eventually, I had to promise to bring them back to the beach the next morning, then they started packing and leave reluctantly.

After taking showers, we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner along Surfers Paradise Boulevard. It was very crowded though the food is not cheap. We waited for more than half an hour for our food to be served.