23 August 2017

14D13N Self-Drive Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane (Part VI)

I am finally posting this one last part of the family trip - phew much.

We have been missing Australia from here, and as much as we love the country, it will always be a holiday destination, and not home. I can never see myself leaving Malaysia - Penang more like it. I am such a Penang girl I cannot.

Go Malaysia! You are not great (one day you will be) but you are home.

Here goes the last part, with the estimated total damage that we have spent, per person.

Part I // Part II // Part III // Part IV // Part V - read them first.

SECOND OF JUNE

RISE AND SHINE!

No trouble waking up early today because it's getting to close to home. Heh.

You will always hear this when people finds out that you are going to Brissy.

"You must go to Gold Coast side!"
"Eh! Make sure you go to all their theme parks!"
"You will love gold Coast!"

We didn't have time and energy and money to go to all the theme parks so we decided to choose what we assumed would be the best among all - Warner Bros Movie World!

We discussed the night before and bought the tickets with Klook app - much cheaper than if you get them over the counters.

Original price: about $75
Discounted price (with Klook app): $50 - so much win.


The scariest roller-coaster ride I have ever rode on has to be Escape - superman fast madness. 

I thought I left my heart back at the entrance the moment the narrator finished his sentence with 'superman fast'. Never expected that to be THAT fast. 

Screamed all the way and yes, closed my eyes all the way. 

Motion sickness after that, check. 

Ride on no more rides, check. 


The boys went separate ways because we didn't have much time to do everything so I decided to go to the kids section with them kids. 

Slow, steady and scream-less is the way to go. 

I am so not into roller-coasters anymore please. 


There are many things that I miss about Australia, and Ben & Jerry's is one of them - I craved for them so often I can cry.

It is so expensive here and they don't have the flavor that I want - coffee. Boo. 

Ahh, till we meet again, Ben & Jerry. 

Here's another thank you note to Shaun for becoming our photographer for the day! His camera so canggih you do not need any filters please. 

Take right from the camera and your mind will be blown already. 


We then had our lunch in the open (just the way we like it) at Peter's Fish Market. 

Fish & chips
Clam chowder
Grilled fish
Calamari rings
Fresh tuna

One of the nicest fish & chips we tried. 

We also had so much fun watching Kah Wei play with the seagulls - sorry no videos because we were all laughing to  the core of our stomach. 

Times like this. 


Then, we drove to The Spit beach.

Family photoshoot session with onemustardseed :)

To see the amazing photos by Shaun Teng, stay tuned - coming soon I promise!

Okay, give you some sneak-peaks first.


We drove around Surfers Paradise then back to Brissy town and had korean food for dinner at Funny Funny Korean Restaurant & Pub. It was pretty gooood!

We can never say no to korean food please. 

Good recommendation, Shaun :)


After dinner, we walked some more. We walked everywhere - because last night here already so kiasu Asian lai liau.

Walked till all our legs want to break only went back home. Heh.

It was a cold night so it was really nice.

I miss Brisbane already as I am typing this :(


I love, super super love this park.

They have tables for 10 people and perfect for gatherings and picnics and stuff. So in love with this concept and so clean.


THIRD OF JUNE
BRISBANE - SINGAPORE - PENANG

So, something happened on our last morning in Brisbane.

Usual check-out time is 12pm, right? It's like internally known or something.

But not for this home that we stayed at, but we didn't know that at that time. We thought that we can leave the house by 12pm.

So, we were all up and eating our breakfast and packing slowly when two Australian women walked in and was shocked to see us still in our pajamas.

We were shocked to see both of them with all the cleaning tools and sprays. So, we checked again on the Airbnb and true enough to their explanation, we had to leave by 10am, because another group of people checking in the noon, and they have only 2 hours to clean up if not the house owner will have to pay them more - which means we have to pay the house owner for the extra time that they need.

So, with that, we rushed everything and got out of the house by 10:30am-ish.

The original plan was to wait for Shaun to finish with his church service then only come fetch some of us to the DFO. Since plan changed, we needed to drive 2 rounds with the van.

It wasn't that bad to be outside actually because the weather was pleasing :)


We spent the rest of the day shopping at DFO for last minute shopping - to which I managed to get my Adidas Originals at an even more discounted price: $58! - so much win again.

We went to Chemist Warehouse to get all the vitamins we can - everything is cheaper there seriously - highly recommended!

Our farewell dinner was at another highly recommended Thai Restaurant, Kinn Imm with Shaun and Sarah - expensive but so good.


Thank you again Shaun and Sarah for hosting us throughout the entire time at Brisbane! I love Brisbane so you were right all this while, Mr Teng.

I understand now why you won't come back to Malaysia and why Brisbane has and will always have a big part of you. So proud of you and what you're doing there now!

From scolding me (because I constantly asked him to go church with me last time) to now a fellow believer of Christ. Heh. So blessed for this friendship, Ah Tu.

Stay safe and healthy okay. Don't add more weights already. Heh. See you soon :)


BNE-SIN // 11:34pm-5:21am // SQ 246
SIN-PEN // 9:58am-11:15am // SQ 5310


TOTAL MONEY SPENT/person

For 14 Days & 13 Nights Self-Drive Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane

PEN-SIN-MEL & BNE-SIN-PEN flight tickets with Singapore Airlines (SQ): RM2,300
14-days AIG travel insurance: RM88
Australian visa made with Holiday Tours: RM30
13-nights stay at Airbnb: RM999
Car rental in Melbourne and Sydney: RM347
Petrol consumption: RM132
Parking fee: RM42
Phone plan with Optus (10-days on 5gb internet): RM64
Entrance tickets (Melb Zoo, Philip Island, Movie World, Scenic World, Lone Pine Koala):RM586
Meals (Breakfast, lunch, snacks-in-between, dinner, more-snacks-in-between, supper):RM1182
Shopping: RM550

TOTAL SPENT: RM6320
[Note: AUS $1 = RM3.20 (as of 20 May 2017)]