Thursday, May 11, 2006
Going Places – Expecting the Unexpected
Sunny Beaches. Golden Sands. Cuddly Koalas. Hopping Kangaroos. Seaworld. Movie World. These were some of the images in our mind as my husband and I planned for our Gold Coast trip last school holidays. It had been exactly 10 years since our first trip in 1995. So it would be fabulous to bring our two girls this time round. At ages 7 and 9, they were neither too young nor too old to appreciate the thrills of theme parks and the delight of sandy beaches.
Today I would like to share with you my own account of our 6-day-5-night Gold Coast experience undertaken just over a month ago.
Problems Expected
Even before we commenced our trip, two major problems cropped up that caused us some anxiety.
First problem: We had immense difficulty fixing up accommodation and flights even though we started planning a couple of months earlier. But that wasn’t the issue. After juggling everyone’s schedules and countless internet searches, we did manage to book our flights and the hotel. The trouble was that after settling everything, we found, in an official Gold Coast website, a small, rather obscure warning about an event called the Schoolies’ Week, which happened to coincide with our travel period.
We read on and found that the Schoolies’ Week was the week young Australians aged 18 or so celebrated their high school graduation by holidaying together. It’s an annual nationwide affair observed by kids from the whole of Australia, not Gold Coast alone, and traditionally these kids or Schoolies, as they are called, have picked Gold Coast as their holiday destination. That explained our difficulty in getting accommodation.
Areas of the beach are cordoned off for their partying. Parents and volunteers are roped in to patrol the areas where hordes of Schoolies frequent. The more we read about the event the more we dreaded going to a place over-run by exuberant, drunk teenage kids.
Short of canceling the trip and starting all over again for a new destination, we decided to bravely stick to our booking and not disappoint our kids.
Then as the date of departure loomed nearer, we faced our second problem. The weather forecasts had just two words: Scattered Thunderstorms. When you go to a beach resort, you would look forward to ‘Clear, sunny skies’ or at most ‘passing showers’. But no, it had to be thunderstorms. Well at least there was the word ‘scattered’ preceding it, so we could only hope that the thunderstorms would scatter NOT where we are heading. Or we’ll just be carrying umbrellas as we hit the roller coasters.
Actual Encounters
Burdened with these two problems of the Schoolies and the weather, we arrived at the Gold Coast.
On the way to our hotel, we asked the coach driver how to avoid the Schoolies. He laughed and said, ”No way, you can’t avoid them. They are everywhere. Get out of the way, especially after midnight as they often get drunk then.” Well that wasn’t too tough then. We were safe and sound, snugly asleep in our room after midnight. The Schoolies don’t go to theme parks and other tourist spots where we were headed. So our first Schoolies problem solved. But yes they were everywhere and making quite a lot of noise, shouting from their apartments to other Schoolies and people passing by. Which strangely my daughters found rather amusing!
The weather part was tricky. But trusty old mummy came all prepared. Umbrellas and jackets with covered hoods. There was some resistance during the packing process. But was I glad to have insisted.
When we went to the Seaworld, it was sunny initially. So we strolled around admiring the pelicans, dolphins and other delightful sea creatures in perfect weather. But by the afternoon it started drizzling, then pouring. So we caught the so-called spectacular dolphin show in an afternoon downpour. There was some shelter at the seating areas but the winds were too strong and people have to keep moving inner and higher up to avoid the incoming rain. When we went to Movie World, again it was bright followed by afternoon rains. So unfortunately the cartoon character parades and many outdoor shows were cancelled. That was disappointing and dampened our spirits somewhat. But nothing that a couple of double-scoop ice-cream couldn’t resolve!
Thankfully those were but two of the worst afternoons. Other days had pretty good weather. The sun rose early at 4 am in the morning. By 10 it was scorching hot. We could go to the beach and enjoy the rolling waves, unlike our last trip done in winter. We also visited a wildlife sanctuary where the kids experienced seeing koalas, kangaroos and wombats at close range and even got to pat and feed kangaroos from their bare hands.
No regrets.
This trip has taught me that it is vital to have proper planning and preparation but more importantly we should always think and stay positive. No problem is insurmountable. We just need to find our own solutions. Get out of the way of the Schoolies. Come prepared for the weather.
Do I regret bringing the kids there? Certainly not.
Are we headed for another trip? Yes but not Gold Coast, perhaps in another ten years - if I am still game for roller coasters! So, yes, expect the unexpected in your travels but do bring along an important item: A positive mindset…..don’t leave home without it!
11 Jan 2006
Today I would like to share with you my own account of our 6-day-5-night Gold Coast experience undertaken just over a month ago.
Problems Expected
Even before we commenced our trip, two major problems cropped up that caused us some anxiety.
First problem: We had immense difficulty fixing up accommodation and flights even though we started planning a couple of months earlier. But that wasn’t the issue. After juggling everyone’s schedules and countless internet searches, we did manage to book our flights and the hotel. The trouble was that after settling everything, we found, in an official Gold Coast website, a small, rather obscure warning about an event called the Schoolies’ Week, which happened to coincide with our travel period.
We read on and found that the Schoolies’ Week was the week young Australians aged 18 or so celebrated their high school graduation by holidaying together. It’s an annual nationwide affair observed by kids from the whole of Australia, not Gold Coast alone, and traditionally these kids or Schoolies, as they are called, have picked Gold Coast as their holiday destination. That explained our difficulty in getting accommodation.
Areas of the beach are cordoned off for their partying. Parents and volunteers are roped in to patrol the areas where hordes of Schoolies frequent. The more we read about the event the more we dreaded going to a place over-run by exuberant, drunk teenage kids.
Short of canceling the trip and starting all over again for a new destination, we decided to bravely stick to our booking and not disappoint our kids.
Then as the date of departure loomed nearer, we faced our second problem. The weather forecasts had just two words: Scattered Thunderstorms. When you go to a beach resort, you would look forward to ‘Clear, sunny skies’ or at most ‘passing showers’. But no, it had to be thunderstorms. Well at least there was the word ‘scattered’ preceding it, so we could only hope that the thunderstorms would scatter NOT where we are heading. Or we’ll just be carrying umbrellas as we hit the roller coasters.
Actual Encounters
Burdened with these two problems of the Schoolies and the weather, we arrived at the Gold Coast.
On the way to our hotel, we asked the coach driver how to avoid the Schoolies. He laughed and said, ”No way, you can’t avoid them. They are everywhere. Get out of the way, especially after midnight as they often get drunk then.” Well that wasn’t too tough then. We were safe and sound, snugly asleep in our room after midnight. The Schoolies don’t go to theme parks and other tourist spots where we were headed. So our first Schoolies problem solved. But yes they were everywhere and making quite a lot of noise, shouting from their apartments to other Schoolies and people passing by. Which strangely my daughters found rather amusing!
The weather part was tricky. But trusty old mummy came all prepared. Umbrellas and jackets with covered hoods. There was some resistance during the packing process. But was I glad to have insisted.
When we went to the Seaworld, it was sunny initially. So we strolled around admiring the pelicans, dolphins and other delightful sea creatures in perfect weather. But by the afternoon it started drizzling, then pouring. So we caught the so-called spectacular dolphin show in an afternoon downpour. There was some shelter at the seating areas but the winds were too strong and people have to keep moving inner and higher up to avoid the incoming rain. When we went to Movie World, again it was bright followed by afternoon rains. So unfortunately the cartoon character parades and many outdoor shows were cancelled. That was disappointing and dampened our spirits somewhat. But nothing that a couple of double-scoop ice-cream couldn’t resolve!
Thankfully those were but two of the worst afternoons. Other days had pretty good weather. The sun rose early at 4 am in the morning. By 10 it was scorching hot. We could go to the beach and enjoy the rolling waves, unlike our last trip done in winter. We also visited a wildlife sanctuary where the kids experienced seeing koalas, kangaroos and wombats at close range and even got to pat and feed kangaroos from their bare hands.
No regrets.
This trip has taught me that it is vital to have proper planning and preparation but more importantly we should always think and stay positive. No problem is insurmountable. We just need to find our own solutions. Get out of the way of the Schoolies. Come prepared for the weather.
Do I regret bringing the kids there? Certainly not.
Are we headed for another trip? Yes but not Gold Coast, perhaps in another ten years - if I am still game for roller coasters! So, yes, expect the unexpected in your travels but do bring along an important item: A positive mindset…..don’t leave home without it!
11 Jan 2006
# posted by CME @ 9:48 PM 
