2021.12.22-12.26 Gold Coast_Brisbane_Blogs_About

Jun 29,2025

2021.12.22-12.26 Gold Coast

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This was my second time visiting the Gold Coast. Although my feelings were a bit different this time, just like my mom, I still prefer it here compared to Sydney or Melbourne. I can’t say exactly why—it just feels better. But every time I come, something bizarre always happens. I won’t mention last time (it was awkward every day), this time was a bit better, but not by much.
D1. We took an early flight from Canberra to Brisbane, then planned to take the train. When buying tickets, I asked how to get to our hotel. They offered a train+taxi combo for $45 per person—expensive, but convenient, so we took it. We got off at Robina Station, where a very kind old gentleman picked us up. He spends half the year in Australia and half in New Zealand, and because of work used to visit China often when he was young. We had a great chat—he even asked what I’d do after graduation. I said I’d look for a job, and he replied, “You should look for a husband instead!” Haha, what a character.
After checking in and settling our things, we went out to find food. We wanted the Indian restaurant across the street, but it was closed, so we ended up at NoodleBox in the mall—honestly, it was terrible. As a foodie, I can’t stand bad food. Then we took the bus to Surfers Paradise. There was a ticket inspection on the bus—a real rarity! One person didn’t buy a ticket, another bought a concession ticket without being a student—so embarrassing. Don’t try to cheat the system! My mom just loves the ocean.

D2. In the morning we headed to Surfers Paradise again, but got off at the wrong stop—out of the fare zone, so we had to buy another ticket, sigh. Since we were there, we browsed the shops. While trying on clothes, mom left my water bottle in a store. We ate at mom’s favorite fast-food place—something like tater tots. After a while, we finally made it to Surfers Paradise, but the weather these days wasn’t great.

Only after getting back to the hotel in the evening did I remember I had theme park tickets, bought in a group deal with friends—super cheap thanks to a promo. Since Christmas was the day after tomorrow and the parks would be closed, we could only go tomorrow, but there’s no way to do them all in one day—such a shame.
D3. In the morning, we went to the Surfers Paradise center to ask. Turns out you can’t do all three parks in one day, so we bought a two-park pass for mom (Movie World and Wet’n’Wild; we skipped Sea World). While playing at Surfers Paradise, a wave came and ruined my camera—it got sand inside and broke. Mom’s camera battery was left in Canberra. Misfortunes never come alone!
We took the bus to Movie World, and realized you can walk to Wet’n’Wild from there.

Warner Bros. Movie World

Everyone was waiting for the stunt car show—it was fantastic!

Warner Bros. Movie World

I discovered that my mom loves rides even more than I do—and is braver! I didn’t want to go on the drop tower, but she insisted—scared me so much I couldn’t even scream at the top. Since she has a bad back, she couldn’t do the intense spinning ride and wanted me to go instead. I refused and she teased me—“Why are you so timid?” After Movie World, we headed to Wet’n’Wild.