We travelled from Brisbane to Goldcoast today. We reached our hotel (Holiday Inn @ Surfers' Paradise) 2 hours later. Surprisingly, we could catch a glimpse of the ocean from our hotel balcony. The ocean view is lovely!


(Ocean view from our hotel balcony)



(Along Ferry Ave, waiting for bus to Harbour Town)
We initially planned to go Seaworld today but as J and I were rather keen on shopping, we decided to bring forward the tour of the factory outlet, Harbour Town. Harbour Town's design is like the Chitose Factory outlet. The stores are all one storeys. We didn't really buy a lot of things at Harbourtown. The items are priced lower than the those at Brisbane City, but the items there weren't very attractive.



(Our hotel room at Holiday Inn)


(Mini amusement park near our hotel)




[We strolled along the Surfers' Paradise after dinner @ Ajimoto restaurant (recommended by J's friend. It's a great recommendation! The sashimi is fresh!). We were surprised to see shops open till 9pm especially this is laidback Australia!]

Just came back from my trip. My friends said that I look refreshed which is really fantastic.
I concluded that Australia has nothing much (except the oceans) that fascinates me, but it has been a real relaxing trip that brings me away from work!
 
Going to blog about my trip..

Day 1- Airport/Brisbane
We reached the Brisbane airport at around 12am Brisbane time.
This is my first time taking Emirates and I am pretty satisfied with it. The seats are comfortable and they have a fantastic entertainment system. I was not bored throughout my 7h flight journey. There were many movies for me to watch! I am not entirely satisfied with the service though as the air steward wasn't too friendly, but I guess that's of less importance when compared with comfort and entertainment. I am so tempted to buy their airtix to Europe since it's so cheap but well with my upcoming workload and the widespread of H1N1 virus, the trip is defintely off.

The Brisbane airport personnel are quite friendly. After clearing the customs, we walked towards the taxi stand and found a long queue, so we went for door-to-door coach @ Aud 14/person instead.

When we reached our apartment, we realised that it's just opposite a bar and it was actually quite noisy as it's a sat night.

Our apartment is quite decent and has a very good view of the river. The bed is quite comfy.
 


(This is what we saw when we looked out from the apartment balcony. Isn't it nice?)

After a breakfast at the hotel cafe, we headed to the shopping street where we met J's friend who
would bring us around Brisbane City for the rest of the day.


(Nandos- a fast food chain in Australia)


(J's friend brought us around the Brisbane City. This is Eagle Pier.)


(A very good recommendation by J's friend- Batavia. It's a delicious dessert and I really love it!)


(We also ordered a cookies plate but it didn't taste any nice as the hot chocolate and ice cream combination above)

After slacking and chatting at Batavia for quite a while, we took the CityCat ferry and enjoyed the scenic view along the river.




(Setting sun)


(Another ferris wheel spotted. Seems like the world really loves ferris wheel. I have spotted ferris wheels in Melbourne, London, Manchester and now Brisbane. Of course, there's also the Singapore Flyer).

We had a stroll in the Queensland University campus before proceeding to Pancake Manor for our dinner.

(Dinner at Pancake Manor)