GoLd Coast Day 4 - 20/9/2012 - Tangalooma Resort

day 4 - out of gold coast and to moreton bay island, where the tangalooma resort is located.

our breakfast that day. love the CK shrimp wantan mee! thou it's frozen food, the taste is still v good and the shrimps taste as good as fresh! crunchy! selling in sg too, check out the supermarts!

now, if u intend to stay in an apartment in gold coast, do note that their reception is not available 24hr. it only dawned on us during breakfast that morning that if the reception is not available in the early morning, how are we going to get back the $200 deposit that we had with them?!

and so, i called up the emergency line. i asked how are we going to check-out if the reception is not opened yet. the lady on the line said we just have to leave the keys in the room and close the door behind us. then i asked how about the deposit? and all she can said is that the line is only for emergency purposes and that there's nothing that she can do, except telling me that the reception will only open at 8am and to W.A.I.T

wtf?

we have booked a bus which is coming to fetch us at 730am. how to wait till 8am?? despite telling her my difficulty, that stupid lady just kept telling me the same thing. super unhelpful right?! lucky for us, the reception lady came at around 720am. But she's not totally helpful either. took her own sweet time and as though she's already doing us a BIG BIG favour by opening the reception early to return us the money. really wth..

so, if u are staying in an apartment and will be leaving early on your check-out day, dont leave cash deposit with them. high chance u wont be able to get it back if u cannot wait. charge to your card, at least u can still dispute if eventually, they really do charge u. real bad experience!

the journey to tangalooma is a long and expensive one. we had hired a bus to bring us to the wharf which is in brisbane. the bus ride alone costs SGD70 per pax (only 1 way) and took abt 1.5hr. then at the wharf, we still have to take an 80-min ferry ride to reach tangalooma. and the ferry ride costs SGD104/pax, 2way.

i had wanted to drop it off the itinery, but hubb insisted on going albeit the hassle and money. from the brouchures that we took from the various tour agencies, it seems like most agencies will include this resort as an additional attraction (at a cost). so in the end, we decided to go as well.

finally reached! the water is really clear.

it's really a place for sea sports. many kinds of sea sports that u can try. but the main selling point of this resort is the dolphin feeding session. will blog more on that in the next post.

our lunch that day. SGD35. yes, 2 pies (not tasty somemore!) + 1 choco cheese cake + 1 thick shake + 1 coke = SGD35. Incredible right?

tried out kayaking. 1st time in my life. LOL.

im never really a sea-sports person... i always have the impression that doing sea sports out in the sea is dangerous..

real tiring. most of the time it's hubb doing the kayaking.. im bz taking pics. haha. lazy.

i dont know why pple can enjoy it so much. i personally do not like it v much.

dinner that night.. SGD65. i dont know about u, but i have the tendency to record down all the expenditures when im overseas. good for reviewing where u had spent the money when u wonder why your money is depleting at such high speed. hahaha. doing of a miser?

expensive right.... but to be fair, the pizza is really 厚实.. the 料 is really generous..

so much so that we cannot finish and had tabao the remaining for our breakfast the next day.

after-dinner entertainment - horse-racing. haha. small gambling game whereby u can bet which horse will come in first. the audiences will take turn to throw the dices to decide which horse should move and to move how many steps.

hubb and i took turns to control the horses. i'd no luck in this game. lost in all 6games. hubb won abit, i think. but the bet is v small, only a dollar per game, so the winning is also small. 

seriously, there are many controversies with regards to the establishment of the 2 casinoes in sg. but we cant deny the fact how these 2 casinoes had bring sg name to a new level internationally.

the game host interviewed the few of us who had a part in controlling the horses. the rest of the participants are either from brisbane or new zealand. when i said im from sg, the host immediately said that sg is his fav city. then he started talking about RWS and the newly opened attraction with the trees and plants. i told him it's call garden by the bay near MBS and he immediately acknowledges them.

i guess that is how we can let more people know us internationally. that is how we can make a name. that is how we can let pple take note of us.

small red dot we may be, but definitely a strong and powerful one.

love sg.