2 Sep 2011 - Day 5: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

We left Gold Coast this morning for Brisbane city. However, since we will be too early to check in to our next apartment, we decided to visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary first. Rated as one of the world's best zoo, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is also the world's first and largest Koala sanctuary with over 130 koalas.

At the entrance, there is a mini playground which immediately attracted both Jerlene and Javier's attention. They went right up and mixed around with other kids. Javier was playing with a steering wheel when another kid of about the same age wanted to join. It's so funny to see Javier's behaviour where he tried to "own" the steering wheel.

Here are some beautiful animals that we saw during the visit.

Birds of Prey Flight Show is next. During the show, the presenter introduced many birds of prey such as falcon, eagles, owl etc. They demonstrated how these birds grab their food in the air and how swiftly they can zoom into their target with superb eyesight.

We even saw how an owl swallow an entire mouse.

These birds are amazing. And some of them look so majestic.

Birds of Prey Flight show was immediately followed by a Sheep Dog Show.

During this show, we saw how the sheep dogs chase the sheep around and direct them according to the shepherd's instruction. These dogs are so intelligent and they can run really FAST!

Next is the Sheep Shearing Show. The demonstrator was so skillful that within 10mins, he managed to shear off the entire fur from a sheep, and in ONE piece.

After the show, we had the opportunity to feel the "shaved" sheep.

We then proceeded to the Kangaroo reserve with over 130 kangaroos, wallabies and emus roaming around freely. Once again, we had the opportunities to hand feed kangaroos.

After our last experience in Currumbin, Jerlene was more skillful now in feeding kangaroos. However, Javier simply grabbed some feeds and "forced" them into the mouth of the kangaroos. Fortunately all the kangaroos are very tame. Otherwise......sigh.........

It will be a joke coming to this place without seeing a single koala. These beautiful but lazy creatures are everywhere in this sanctuary. Of course, you will not want to miss the opportunity to cuddle and have a photo taken with them, of course with a charge.

We left the sanctuary at around 2pm and went to Indooroopillys Mall for a late lunch. This is one of a better and bigger mall within Brisbane city. We shopped in the mall for a while and again replenished some food for the coming days. We then drove to our next apartment located around Kangaroo Point area. The way towards the CBD area was jammed. It seemed like everyone was going into the CBD area to participate in the opening of the Annual Brisbane Festival tomorrow. By the time we reached our apartment, it's also quite dark.

After dinner, I suggested to drive up to Mount Cootha for coffee but my parents were too tired to follow us. The drive up to Mount Cootha was mush easier than Springbrook, only thing is that the road is dark. Though it's not very high, we still had a superb view of Brisbane city from the summit.

Both Jerlene and Javier enjoyed the hot chocolate that we ordered for them. The waitress also came over and took a photo with us.

It was pretty cold up there, especially when there was breeze. However under such weather, with the summit atmosphere and views, the feeling of having a cup of hot coffee in hand was simply "COOL".

On our way back to apartment, we passed by Milton, which is another popular place where people came here for coffee at night. This place was pretty crowded.

1 Sep 2011 - Day 4: Springbrook National Park

As promised yesterday, I brought both Jerlene and Javier back to the beach this morning. Though they were both still very young, I think it's still very important to let them know that I am not giving them empty promise.

In the photo below, the building with a 'P' on the rooftop is the apartment that we were staying in Gold Coast. Did you see Jerlene and Javier?

What about now? :-)

Puzzling why I kept taking photos from their back? Reason being the sun was shining very brightly and I asked them to back face the sun or else they will definitely get sun burn. Though it was pretty hot, I insisted that they must wear their jacket for the very same reason.

We spent more than an hour building sand castle on the beach. As this was probably the last time we played on the beach in Gold Coast, we stayed slightly longer despite the heat.

We all enjoyed it. Back to Singapore, we will no longer be able to play on such a beautiful beach.

After getting ourselves washed up, we were ready to set off on day 4 of our trip. My plan for today was to visit one of the national park (ie. the mountain area). Before that, we had our lunch at Pacific Fair Mall.

I needed to fill up petrol for my rented van and was surprised to see that the petrol kiosk was actually operated by 7-eleven.

After filling up with petrol, we started driving towards Springbrook National Park. Jerlene and Javier again tried to force themselves to sleep at the start of the drive. The way up the mountain was quite scary as there were many sharp turns at the edge of the mountain. It made worse with the huge size and height of our rented van. I have to ensure I was 100% focused while driving up.

Finally, we reached our first scenic lookout point. The view was superb and immediately, I felt that the drive was worth it. This is Wunburra lookout. From this lookout, we could actually see the buildings in Surfers Paradise.

Below is the zoom in view of Surfers Paradise area from the lookout point. Beyond the buildings are the pacific ocean. As both Jerlene and Javier were still sleeping then, we took turns to take photos from the lookout.

Next we drove further up into the mountain for the second lookout point called the Purling Brook Fall lookout. From this lookout point, we had a very nice view of a water fall.

As we do not want Jerlene and Javier to miss the waterfall, we woke them up. That's why in the photo below, you will see their grouchy face.

There is another lookout point at the other side of the waterfall. We walked over and had a different view of the surrounding. It was simply marvelous......

Along the way from the carpark to the lookout point, there were several huge trees with big "holes" in its trunk. These trees seem rotting but yet they are standing strong.

After Purling Brook Fall lookout, we drove further into the national park to look for the Best of All lookout. This is exactly the name of the lookout. As such we would expect the view to be exceptional. From the carpark, it's about 350m from the lookout point. Along the way, we walked through a thick jungle with a narrow path. It's difficult for me because both Jerlene and Javier insisted to hold my hand. My parents tried to help but the little ones simply refused. So no choice, I got to hold them tightly and walk slowly.

Before reaching the lookout point, we came across several Antarctic Beech Trees, which are very unique. These trees are at least 2000 years old. The look of these trees reminded me of the ancient Forest of Fangorn in the movie Lord of the Rings.

A short walk from the Antarctic Beech Trees finally brought us to the Best of All lookout. The view here was really magnificent and it lives up to its name. This was one of the best scenery of this entire trip. You have to be there to experience the atmosphere.

By that time, both Jerlene and Javier started to be active again. As the view was really fantastic, we stayed a bit longer at this lookout.

Our next lookout point is the Canyon lookout. And the view is actually comparable with the previous one. Javier had fun hopping around the lookout platform.

We finally came to the last lookout point, Gooloolahra Falls lookout. We had our last look at the mountain and waterfall view before leaving Springbrook National Park. You will never find such superb view in Singapore, or even in most overseas trips we had.

From Springbrook, we decided to do some last minute shopping in Gold Coast. Thus, we drove to an outlet mall called HarbourTown. By the time we reached there, we had about 2 hours before all the shops closed. Jerlene and Javier as usual only wants me to push their strollers. Instead of pushing one stroller with each hand, I decided to stack them like a train and they both enjoyed the "Toot Toot Train" ride.

After we got back to our apartment, we again cooked noodles for dinner. Then I bathed the little ones, entertained them a while before making them to go to bed. We wanted the kids to sleep early tonight because Tracy and myself decided to go the Conrad Jupiter Casino to try our luck. Initially we wanted to play blackjack table game but realized that the minimum bet now is AUD10. We remembered 12 years back when we were here, the minimum bet then was only AUD5. So we decided not to join in the table game but instead spent some money and had some fun with the jackpot machines. We went back to our apartment around 2:30am.