taykexin: Wanderlust in Queendsland, Gold Coast (:

It's 6:11am at the Brisbane Airport,
i've not been awake so early since forever,
let alone drinking some marble mocha at a cafe,
waiting for the check-in gates to open.

The past 5 days had been such a great bonding experience
with my folks from the Tay Family!
Us 3 families took the leap of faith in free and easy travelling,
(a concept foreign to my package-tour-going parents),
and took the high road to adventurous car-renting, map-reading, and alternative vacation home wanderlust joy!

I'm soo glad we did it because the stay was AWESOME.

We stayed in a 2-storey mansion,

my dad was the chaffeur for trip,

we cousins bonded over late-night chats/card games/national day parade viewing,

while our parents bonded over the casino,

and we all had fab home-cooked dinners thanks to our aunts!

Here are some highlights of our trip!

Car rental
My dad was the appointed chaffeur of this trip,
upon touch down we headed straight to pick our 12 seater car
from Cut Price Car Rental

My awesome papa, best driver ever!

Thank god for GPS, we were able to navigate around
without the use of maps (:

It was seriously Cut Price value at 775aud for 6 days,
inclusive of premium insurance.
It's really cheap considering there were 10 of us in all,
definitely way better than taking cab in australia!!

Our dream vacation home

After an hour's drive, we reached our vacation home at 10 Grant Place.

The exterior of our humble abode was a sight to behold!

I swear we were screaming while exploring the home,
it was beyond all our expectations.
We were greeted by chandelier lightings and a staircase
the moment we stepped into the house.

Movie room with reclining chairs

and a tonne of movies and games..

Living room, kitchen and dining room behind..

The kitchen was freaking awesome with everything you need!
Coffee machine!! argh! it's perfect (:

Dining room with a lakeview!!

Pool room..

Balcony area with comfy sofa,
bbq area, and pool facing the lake!!

Sunchairs next to the pool..

This is so beautiful it deserves another picture!!

Beyond the pool was an extension bridge
meant for people with boats to disembark from.
And this was a picture i took from the bridge (:

Behold, our bedrooms..
Plush comfy covers, completed with memory foam beds (:
i had sweet dreams all 5 nights <3

The family having home-cooked goodness by my aunties! (:

6th Aug was also my mummy's birthday

so we took the chance to have a hearty celebration!

Cheers to my mummy's 55th!

The vacation home was worth every bit of money,
what's more it was really cheap,
at 800sgd per night divided among the 10 of us!

Catch a Crab at Birds Bay Oyster Farm

Cost: 44aud

This was an outright tourist trap, but i enjoyed a lot!

Some may find it a tad kiddish but i'm a nature lover,

and this was really something new for me (:

The moment we got there we saw these really gigantic pelicans

and we were all damn intrigued by the way they interact,

their disgusting flappy skin underneath the beaks,

and how they manage to hunt fishes underwater with one swift swipe.

We got to hand feed the wild pelicans,
you can almost see the hungry look in their eyes
as we bait them with fishes in our hands.

We then sailed a little further into the waters and
jumped off the boat to pump for yabbies!

Yabbies as we know them

Yabbie in its original form

The cousins with our pumping gears before we set off!

Making our way through the wetlands..

beautiful sight when i turned back to look..

So what you do is you use the pump as a syringe,

suck out all the mud,

put them through the sieve,

and sieve out the yabbies within!

Me pumping, my sis sieving.

it was a mean job!

We got the yabbies!

One even had eggs..
Looked like my favourite fish roes..

These yabbies were later used as baits for fishing!

My virgin attempt at the rod,

which failed miserably.

Waiting it out with my sis and papa!

It think it would have been much more true to the name if the package

was known as Catch a yabbie than catch a crab,

cos all we did was to take turns dragging the traps out of the waters.

Whale-watching

Whale spotting was really exhilarating,
that was before i got seasick.. urgh.

Reached the harbour early in the morning

Mummy's soo cute!
Btw it was freeezing cold with the seabreeze..

Let's go onboard!

We got to the front of the boat for some serious spotting business,
it was like Where's Wally, sea edition!
Wasn't easy spotting the whales..

We waited for so long in the cold,

tumultuous choppy waters,

just to catch a glimpse of the beautiful sea creature..

And then suddenly, we spotted a spray of water in the far distance..

Whales!!!!

We were screaming all the way

because the whales looked really unreal,

and unbelievably huge..

So pretty! They came in a pair!

Most of them didn't stay for long,
came and went with a flick of their tails..

I just wished they were closer to me :(
Next time i'm going to swim with the dolphins i swear!

Glow-worm tour @ Springbrook National Park

Cost: 81aud

It was my first time seeing glowworms and roaming the rainforest in the dark!
It needs to be completely dark for glowworms to be seen,
so we were each given a torchlight to light our way so that we don't trip and die.

Glowworms aplenty (:
They were really beautiful, almost fake looking in the dark
like some magical light show..

Some facts about glowworms,
they are first and foremost, NOT fireflies,
but insect larvaes (not worms too) that glows through bioluminescence.

Glowworms only consume during their time as larvae,
after which they will only live for a few days, for the sole purpose of mating.
Female glowworms die after laying their eggs
while male glowworms die after having sex a couple more times.. those bastards.

As they only have a few months to feed,
they need to resort to all ways to attract their preys.
So they spin mucus traps and use light from body chemical reactions
to attract insects, like moth to flame, flies to light.
The hungrier they are, the brighter they shine!

I loved the tour, but i think my family members thought the price was audacious
for the short walk through the forest, and the small amount of glowworms sighted :(
It was a non-thriving season for the glowworms, for they are most active during hot humid seasons.

Tip: Book yours tours from the local tour agencies scattered around Surfers paradise,

We booked in in advance and it was more expensive :(

Jogging along Surfers Paradise

My favourite part of the trip had to be Surfers Paradise!
I'm crazy about beaches and i think i've witnessed the most beautiful ones already,
yet i can't get enough of the sandy beaches and clear waters!
MOREMOREMORE!

Welcome to Surfers Paradise

The cousins (:

Kayaking into the sea,
i don't think i have the guts to do that!

Bff enjoying their day out at the beach (:

We loved the beach so much, my sister and I
decided to go back for a nice slow jog during sunset
and the feeling was fabulous.

The sunset,
jogging to the sounds of crashing waves and water washing up on shores..
An aussie even pointer out dolphin sightings to us!

It wasn't long before we stopped jogging,
got ourselves a cuppa hot chocolate/green tea latter each
(consumed whatever calories we just burnt off)
and sat on the beach to marvel at its beauty (:
Best feeling in the world.