Going to Gold Coast, making the most of the trip
 

Hi all, have planned a trip after christmas to Gold Coast for 5 days with my 8 years old daughter who loves the trills of theme parks & zoo. I on the other hand would like to do some shopping esp the factory outlets. Pls help me by suggesting some iteneries that can satisfy both of us. Thanks

Well I will not attempt to resolve the battle of the minds and wills but it would not even be a fib if you suggest to your daughter that the theme parks will mean being out in the sun and that can be skin damaging and too much may even cause skin cancer.

The big factory outlet is http://www.harbourtown.com.au/ and there's a theatre there as there is also at other major shopping centres such as Australia Fair and Pacific Fair, either end of the Surfers Paradise central area which also has a lot of shopping outlets but more touristry orientated along with restaurants and a few entertainment venues.

http://www.tourismgoldcoast.com/tours_themeparks.html. lists theme parks and for the interest of you both, I'd suggest Sea World and Dream world or Movie World as being about the best.

There are buses that run along the Gold Coast that can get you between all shopping centres and all the way out to the theme park area, Sea World being located just north of the main Gold Coast beach area.

Not far from Sea World is Marina Mirage, a boutique shopping area - http://www.marinamirage.com.au/marin...?entityid=4678 that will certainly interest you Pat and you could possibly couple that with http://www.tallship.com.au/tallship.home.ews , the ship leaving from the Marina there.

The Gold Coast does not have a Zoo but there are a couple of Wild Life Parks down the southern end.
http://www.currumbin-sanctuary.org.au/content/home.asp? and http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/nature_con...wildlife_park/

You also have http://paradisecountry.myfun.com.au/ to have something of a farm experience.

If you have time and want to kuddle a Koala, you might also make time for
http://www.koala.net/index.htm for a Koala cuddle.

And for an evening show -
http://www.outbackspectaculargoldcoast.com.au/

If you have not yet booked accommodation, you may want to try and get into http://www.gold-coast.net/seaworldnararesort/index.html so you're not only staying at a resort, depending on time of arrival and how tired you are, the Marina Mirage is only a short walk as is the beach for an easy walk.

You could possibly combine a trip to the Currumbin Sanctuary with Pacific Fair on one day and I'll leave you to work out the rest.

A lot depends on where you are staying, the Gold Coast covers quite a large area.

If you want to go to places like Harbourtown and Currumbin then you'll find it a lot easier if you rent a car. Driving around the Gold Coast is easy

I've used buses to get to the parks without any dramas.

Generally, I find Australia expensive for clothing etc, so you'd probably find the same things cheaper in Malaysia (assumed from your name)

Geordie

Thanks for the replies ...was really helpful. I am wondering if it would be cheaper to buy the theme parks tickets online or to buy them there?

I'm staying at the Quality Hotel Mermaid Waters Gold Coast.

There could be online packages that may make it worth buying that way, and if not ask at the hotel as they may know of deals, some being related to being an Auto Service Club member.

Tickets bought at entry will usually be the most expensive.

Your hotel is about 1km. west of the main Gold Coast highway along which most buses run, the beach being only a few hundred metres past the highway, and Pacific Fair is only about 1.25 km. north along Sunshine Boulevard and at north/west cnr of the undercover Carpark is where buses from various routes stop and so a good spot to catch buses.
http://www.surfside.com.au/ is the site of the bus company and you can look for route details there.

NE Cnr of B intersection is where the hotel is and Pacific Fair is up on south side of Hooker Bvd.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en...=directions-to

Thanks a lot for all the informations. The map is extremely helpful.

I had to change the hotel accom to Crowne Plaza. Which attractions are the closest to the hotel ? I'm trying to combine two theme parks a day. Which combinations would be the best?

http://www.crowneplaza.com/h/d/cp/16...uestid=1116552 will help you Pat and though that site says it is 5 km. from Surfers Paradise, if it is the Crowne Plaza of that site and sure looks like the one I've seen and the location on the map is about right, it is only ~1 km. from Surfers and though the GC Highway can be busy with traffic, get across to the beach side and then over to the beach esplanade and it is a nice enough walk along the esplanade or take the shoes off and use the beach.

Wet N Wild (20 KM / 12.43 MI )
Movie World (20 KM / 12.43 MI )
Dreamworld (20 KM / 12.43 MI ) are all located in one area and so do a couple of those together and then you could do Seaworld another day with Marina Mirage shopping.

Just returned from Gold Coast. Had a lovely trip.Managed to cover 3 parks and Currumbin Wildlife. Loved shopping at Pacific Fair and Harbour Town. Totally enjoyed our holday.

Bushranger, oh purveyor of overly long URLs: May I point you in the direction of www.tinyurl.com? Happy shortening.

Pat,
great to hear you had a great time and how does the shopping compare to back home for you also have heaps of huge shopping centres [even 15 years ago]

Giggles,
DT OOA@M & LT not url conforming - no probs with getting it onto favourites list but then clicking there don't give me a page with OK on it.

Th e kind os fashion for clothes was not really our style so we concentrated on confectionaries and lots of souveniors esp from the theme parks.

Shopping malls in Malaysia are plentiful and things are very much cheaper here. We spent quite a lot on food in Australia.The weather was very hot in Australa compared to here so we got quite a tan but not burn. Thanks to the sunblock we brought and the caps.

I've just returned (yesterday) from a theme park trip with the family. We did Dreamworld and its sister water park, White Water World, for two days. If you want to cover two parks in one day, Dreamworld and WWW are your best option. They are really the same park, with a gate between them.

You can buy a ticket that gets you into both, or you can just buy a DW ticket and if you change your mind once inside you can get a WWW upgrade for $15 (Adult).

Everyone has a "special offer" on theme park tickets but I reckon most of them work out about the same. One thing I did notice is that the public bus tickets all have "adults at kids prices" coupons on the back of them for DW and WWW. If you're only going to spend one day at the parks, that's probably the best discount you'll get.

Have fun, and whatever you do, do NOT go on The Big Drop at Dreamworld unless you want to be violently reminded of what you had for breakfast.

Thank you Pumblechook. Will try that when I go to Gold Coast again.