there's no place like home~

finally i'm backk from brisbane!!
(p/s: no photos here cos blogger's screwing up on me again)

byebye to all the beautiful beaches, waves, the shopping, the entertainment, the fun!

its a great place to go, but the weather's really horrible.

during the day, i swear the sun can literally scorch my skin! but the different worlds were fantastic!

i only went to dreamworld and movieworld, cos seaworld wasn't much good(as heard).

we missed out on whitewater world and wet&wild, the only two water worlds which we should have tried, given the crazy-hot weather.

dreamworld was much better than movieworld,

and so many rides in movieworld weren't operating when we went, including my much

anticipated scooby doo spooky coaster ride! :(

and i was brave enough to face the 2nd most scariest roller coaster in the world( if i didn't

remember wrongly from a discovery channel document that i watched)

LETHAL WEAPON.

that ride is mad crazy, and anyone in their right mind will not attempt it at all!

for those who are like slightly scared of roller coasters already, give it a miss, you won't regret it.

while queueing up for the ride, i was already having a minor headache from the hot weather,

and during the entire ride, my head kept crashing against both sides of the safety bar,

it was a horrible experience!

less so of the scary roller coaster feeling, but more on the discomfort experienced.

and after getting down from the ride, my headache had worsened to a migraine,

and it hurt SO bad, i just couldn't take any other roller coasters, or my head would really explode

right there and then.

it was sucha waste, cos i really wanted to go on the SUPERMAN ESCAPE,

which was a close-to-90degrees plunge ride.

i thought lethal weapon would prove to be a good warm-up for the superman ride but i was wrong!

how am i supposed to know it would be the only roller coaster ride i was gonna sit!~

anyway, i spent the next few days whining about going onto the superman ride whenever we drove past it.

what i loved the most in movieworld was the Hollywood Stunt Driver show!

that was so awesome!! i mean, you've only seen this kinda things in movies,

but right there, in front of my very eyes, were stunt drivers driving genuine stunt cars,

with all the drifting, and even balancing on two wheels of the car stunts!

it was amazing~! and a fantastic ending to the show.

that one is really a must-watch!! and the best part? i recorded it all down, sound, smoke, drifting and all to be enjoyed whenevere i want it.

still, it doesn't beat being there to watch it live!

there was also a harry potter shop within movieworld, and i got SO excited when i saw it,

but to my disappointment, it wasn't even half of what i expected.

they just sold cheap mass-produced stuff from some-place-with-very-cheap-labour-yet-low-quality-products-

that was another of my complaints!

i know i learnt of outsourcing and all, but just doesn't seem worth it to pay such a hefty sum for goods that are... not that fantastic in quality.

so, since they are able to obtain the goods at a lower price, they should have marked down the prices. despite that, i still got myself a scooby doo paw pillow to make up for missing the ride which i was most looking forward to ride!

dreamworld was way more fantastic than movieworld,

not only did they have more rides, which were more interesting,

they also had animals! like a zoo cum amusement park kinda thing.

within dreamworld, there was a kangaroo park where you could just purchase a huge pack of kangaroo food for the roos, and feed them while snapping away on your cameras.

they just roamed the area freely, but most, in fact all of the roos just laze around, waiting for highly fascinated tourists like myself deliver food directly into their mouths.

i doubt they get much exercise done, and i feel sad for the poor kangaroos.

they should be up and about, bouncing their way around, not just lying there.

guess that's what happens when kangaroos get domesticated.

The one thing that both locals and tourists have in common would be the love of the beaches in surfer's paradise. now that name comes with good reason.

the waves there are freaking huge, which i presume is what attract throngs of surfers to the beaches during summer. even if you're not a surfer, you still can have equal amount of fun!

my dad, my sis and myself do not have a single clue about surfing,

but we still went down waist deep into the ocean, to come up face to face with the ginormous waves, only to get washed back onshore.

but once you're used to it, you know the exact position to stand to prevent being washed away.

the waves are so strong its even enough to throw my dad off his feet.

so he came up with this game whereby we challenged who could stand the wave the longest.

after many attempts, i finally got it!!

that was when i once again developed a very bad headache, which i guess was from the constant thrashing of waves against me, and i even went underwater several times cos the waves were even taller than me!

the waves there were absolute loves~!!

NOTE TO SELF: next holiday stop: Hawaii!! i mean, the waves there are said to be awesome as well right?

Apart from that, i went to the one place where i promised myself i would go one day,

the Australia Zoo.

even since the day i first caught my first episode of crocodile hunter, i have admired steve irwin more than any other animal person i have ever seen, and documentaries showing him going so close to the crocodiles filmed in his very own zoo made me want to see it for myself.

alas, i didn't think that i would never have a chance to meet this amazing person in real life,

but still, there were many things within the zoo holding dear memories of him, which if you ask me, is akin to already meeting him in real life.

so when my dad told me that we could choose to go to the Australia Zoo if we drove two hours up from brisbane to sunshine coast, i agreed immediately.

the drive was long, and the sun was high up in the cloudless sky again, the heat could really penetrate through the roof of the car.

we drove along steve irwin way(he even has his own road) before finally reaching the australia zoo!

my favourites were the small-clawed otters which made the cutest, most ADORABLE squeaks i have ever heard, and the wombats, not to forget the amazing crocodiles.

never before have i seen a zoo that respects crocodiles to such degree.

i once went to a crocodile farm in malacca, and within the farm itself, it contained easily up to 30 crocs, but they lived in poorly-maintained enclosures, and they looked kinda sad.

in the Australia Zoo, it was a completely different case.

steve's love for crocs ensured that each croc had its own private enclosure, unless they were mates, and the enclosures were maintained so well that i was given the impression they were the kings of this zoo. they were even named, and small little info boards were available on their individual characters.

if i do not know better, it would seem like steve did not have only 2 kids of his own, but every single croc in the zoo was his beloved children as well. one could really feel the love he had for these reptiles.

the wildlife warriors show was interesting, but the other zookepers performed the same feat that steve had once performed, which includes going into an enclosed area to feed the crocs within a dangerously close distance. still, i could sense the fear the zookeeper had, like he didn't want to get too close.

but when i watched steve do it on tv, he seemed to want to get closer, risking every possible chance until he was absolute 100% sure the croc would snap a chunk out of his body. i guess his bravery was really what sparked off my interest to watch his shows, he was just different.

the zoo itself was pretty small, and the weather was simply too hot to enjoy the day out.

even the animals were lazy, they didn't have much energy to move about,

they just lay down, letting visitors snap pictures of them.

seeing them so lazy made us lazy as well. within 4 hours, we were done seeing the zoo.

so we sat around at the cafe, and we bought this book which i don't think i've seen it anywhere else.

it's titled 'My Steve' by terri, his wife, and its a really good read,

for there were many things that i figured i didn't know about him, despite watching nearly every episode of his shows. like the way he is very hardworking, he fixed all the broken things within the zoo himself, and some enclosures were also built by him.

i always thought that once he became famous, he would just have to concentrate on running his documentaries, and sort of outsource all these to other people, but i was wrong.

seems like he is really more amazing that i thought he already was.

apart from that, there were many tributes made to him, and there was a sad atmosphere in that area where people viewed his life works, his achievements, all the goodbye messages written to him. i guess it would be pretty difficult for people to forget such a guy, i know i wouldn't, and i'm glad i got to visit his zoo on this trip! it was a different feeling from visiting like dreamworld or movieworld, visiting his zoo was more of an accomplished feeling, like i had done something that i had wanted to do in a long time, and i did it.

this is getting pretty long, i never planned to write so much, but more of pictures, but i can't upload a single picture! grr...

besides that, the rest of the trip was just shopping and more shopping!

i'm so glad its summer there, so the clothes that i buy can actually be worn in singapore.

when i went to taiwan during their winter season, i stupidly went to buy their clothes, which were mostly long-sleeved, and until today, they still remain chucked at the far end of my wardrobe, and it has been there since i came back from taiwan.

so shopping was good, not much christmassy stuff, but i think the locals there were more geared up for summer parties and all. christmas should be coupled with cold weather, snow, hot dinners kinda thing, all of which cannot be found in australia at the moment.

we also visited a winery, and in Australia, they have the land space to own vineyards, so their wines are all home-made, which is why they are so cheap.

the owner of the winery allowed us to taste some wines, and he finally recommended us to take home a bottle of port. it was only then that i heard of port, and boy was it good!

when i tried the 12-year-old port, i could taste the alcohol first, but slowly, it changed and i could taste the grapes in it. i was so fascinated by it, that i insisted we buy a bottle home for christmas,

which we did! yays! xD

we continued driving to our next stop, the glow worm caves!

that was the first time i was gonna see glow worms.

when i saw them, they were completely different from what i imagined.

well, i imagined like glittery white lights all over, and i thought they could fly cos i was confused between glow worms and fireflies.

one good thing about the glow worm cave we were going to was that it was man-made,

so unlike those natural ones, you could actually view it more close-up.

upon stepping into the caves, it was refreshing because the temperatures were way way cooler, and it was more humid, perfect conditions for glowworms to thrive.

i enjoyed being in there, like hiding from the hot sun outside.

so we watched a documentary first on glowworms, before proceeding to see them.

when i walked in, all i saw in the complete darkness, were glittering BLUE lights,

pretty much like stars, just close enough for you to reach out and grab them.

it was blue!!

we asked the tourguides heaps of questions, cos we were the only group touring,

so she explained that this particular species of glowworms emit blue lights,

but it could have been another colour depending on their diet, or their type.

the reason why they glow is because they form this long strings of sticky 'snares', which looked like droplets of water on strings, as they call it, that is able to trap flies, so the light is to attract the flies to them, where they will be caught and the glowworm would just suck their insides out.

so they look like stars so the flies will fly towards them, thinking that its the sky, and BAM! they're dead.

scary huh. when i heard that i was shocked.

they were so similar to spiders, arent' they? except spiders don't glow.

but i never imagined them to be carnivores, i mean, even the picture on the brochure depicted the glowworms to be cute little earthworm-like worms, that had a glowing butt, and it was smiling.

another advantage of having a man-made cave is that the tourguide could show us how a glowworm looks like close up. she just shone her torchlight at the worm, and there it is!

among rows of snares, there was a single worm, but the light came from the middle of its belly, and not really the end of it. it was no bigger than half the length of my pinkie, but the tourguide say they have some that are as big as a matchstick length.

lols. then i asked if glowworms were the before-stage of a firefly,

but apparently, they're two completely different things.

when a glowworm changes into an adult, it only has 2 days max to live, and within these two days, they do not eat, cos they have no mouths. so all their energy comes from sucking the insects' insides for about a year(that's the lifespan of a glowworm in the worm stage) and their purpose for the 2 days? purely for mating reasons.

they mate for 30 hours straight, enough time for the female to deposit the eggs, and byebye to the adult fly. lols. sounds pretty tragic to me.

imagine how sad it would be. like being stuck as a helpless worm,

only depending on the light to attract flies, and finally when it has wings and are mobile, they can only mate, and then die. no chance to see the world outside,

their entire life cycle is within the pitch dark caves, with perfectly acclimatised temperature and humid levels. as pretty as they are, i wouldn't wanna be a glowworm, but i do admit that they are amazingly beautiful insects!

yup, and that about sums up my holiday to gold coast/brisbane/sunshine coast all within 10 days! lols. i'm still glad to be home, because the weather there is really dry, and my hair has gone all frizzy and dry, my skin is not coping well with the dry weather there, and i feel constantly dehydrated. but apart from that, it was a great trip!! shall load up pictures if possible.

(guess i will be too lazy to do that, will be on fb though)

i miss singapore food!! laksa laksa laksa! xD

but what i'll miss there the most is my beloved kebab. i could never get sick of eating that, and you will never be able to find such fantastic kebabs in singapore!

in fact, the only kebabs i can find are those in pasar malam or at amk hub basement, and they are simply too lousy to be compared with those in australia.

first of all, kebabs in australia are piled to the brim with veggies and chunks of meat, they are very generous with their portions, unlike in singapore, where i can taste more of the kebab wrap than the meat, i'm like eating flour.

and and and, they TOAST their kebabs in aus!! it gives it a very crispy outside, with a toasty inside, in just melts in your mouth! AH! salivating just thinking about it right now.

i will miss you, my beloved kebabs. :(

okays, this has been a long enough post, and i'm running short of time~!

gotta run!

p/s: everyone who hasn't caught the movie The Time-Traveller's Wife should should SHOULD go and catch it. it is the best show ever! omg. i loved it so much!

[[ i watch you when you are sleepin`, you belong with me ]]