Gold Coast Tour Day 2

What better way to start the day than to drag your luggages all the way to the bus to find it vandalized and wrecked. Apparently, while we were all sound asleep, somebody forced the door of the bus open and turned the inside upside-down in search of treasure. Funny thing, the tourist was telling us yesterday that in spite being a tourist place, Surfers Paradise is quite safe. We can even leave our valuable inside the bus, as it'll be locked down anyway. Good thing nobody listens to tour guides anymore. The bad guy didn't get anything valuable so he broke the gear stick and handle for the turn signals as our punishment. There goes the morning. While waiting for the bad guy to turn himself in and the replacement bus to arrive, we went down the beach with our new friend LYW for a nice stroll and some picture-taking.

Because of the delay caused by the morning's incident, we didn't go to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary anymore. It used to be only a bird sanctuary, but has now grown to be the largest collection of native Australian animals in the world. Our new driver took us past Hotel Palazzo Versace and Sea World to a beach whose name I forgot already. Then we're off to Movie World. I have to admit to being a bit excited. It's been years since I last visited a theme park. Enchanted Kingdom's not too bad, but it's not a "real" theme park in my book.

First ride we lined up for upon entering Movie World is the Superman Escape. It was only unveiled a few weeks ago on December 26, and it guarantees 0-100kph in 2 seconds. My brother decided to pass. Funny 'coz I never knew he had acrophobia. Convenient time too because LYW and I dumped all our loose stuff on him - cameras, shades, wallets, keys, coins, etc. The queue was long, but the ride was short, so we got to our seats pretty quickly. The ride was absolutely exhilarating - no 360 turns, but the drops are almost vertical. Typical rollercoasters would ascent (relatively) slowly, then the drop, but Superman Escape actually accelerates up to 100kph on the way up, then the weightless drop. With Superman behind pushing us, the ride was very fast. Even with my eyes wide open, I can't see where we're going. Would've been nice to bring up your hands like they do in the movies, but both my hands are welded to the handlebars. I still acted my part and screamed with the rest.

Next on our list is the Police Academy Stunt Show. This is one of the park favourites, so we lined up for it very, very early. In fact, we were the first in line. The actual show was half an hour later, but the pre-show entertainment kept us occupied, as people filed into the stadium. The "pre-show entertainment" consisted of this whistle-blowing traffic officer walking behind incoming spectators and mimicking their movements. Once in a while, he would tickle their ears with a feather and pretend he's got nothing to do with it. The main show is interesting enough - featuring the clueless Commandant Lassard and his team of bumbling cadets. Plus there are four "recruits" plucked from the audience. The comedy is slapstick, but the actors (and actress), who are stuntmen (and stuntwoman) by profession are very good. There's speeding cars doing 180-degree turns, golf carts doing wheelies, gunfights and car chases, trigger-happy robbers, policemen falling off scaffoldings, exploding armoured cars and helicopter, human cannonballs, etc.

It was mid-day, and the heat unbearable. Popped in Roxy Theatre to watch Shrek's 4D Adventure. It's another long long queue. Good thing the theatre's big enough, so we didn't have to wait for the next showtime. So why the 4D? It's basically your regular 3D show, where you watch the feature with special 3D glasses. The extra dimension is provided by the vibrating and lurching seats and light strobes. Compressed air spray onto your legs and neck, and the seat in front squirts water at you. Next we went on a quick tour of the exclusive Matrix Exhibit. It's got loads of scale models, sets, costumes, and props for the Matrix fanatics (like LYW who actually bought the 10-disc collector's edition).

Since we missed the Aerobics Looney Tunes Style Show at 10:30am while lining up for the Police Academy Stunt Show, we made sure we didn't miss the Looney Tunes Musical Revue at 12:40pm. As I expected, majority of the audience were kiddies. Still, it was fun to see Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and company do their dorky dance moves. Next up is the Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster. There's a warning in front saying "Waiting Time: 45 minutes". These guys weren't kidding; the wait took that long. While inside the creepy courtyard, we passed the time by chatting and watching the movie teaser/trailer. By the end of the queue, we've seen enough of the movie we don't need to rent the video anymore. Now, my brother joined us for the ride this time. Everybody knows ghost rides are for kiddies and lovers who pretend to be scared so they can hang on to each other. Nothing to be scared of. Was he wrong. The preview with the animatronic ghouls and gargoyles and spooky sounds was nothing. When the coaster did an about-face and we saw the cavernous indoor rollercoaster track for the first time, that's when the fun begins. Not as spine-tingling as Superman Escape, but exciting enough with its unexpected dips and sudden twists and turns.

There's only time for one ride left, and we chose the Wild West Falls Adventure Ride. My brother had enough for the day, so it was up to me and LYW to take the fall. By this time, the heat was really bad. A lots of the guys had their shirts off (and the girls, too). A dunk in the water is most welcome. And that's what we got. After meandering through some ghost towns and Indian reservations, the water current guided us to a machine, which dragged our log up to a volcano. Then it's a 20m, 70kph drop to the water. As we got the best seats in the house, both of us were drenched. Dried off while watching the All Star Parade, featuring the Warner Bros. Movie World characters like, Batman and Batgirl, the Looney Tunes gang, Austin Powers and his girls, Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang, Shrek and family, etc. Left Movie World around 3pm.

The bus then took us to Brisbane's Fortitude Valley for an early 5pm dinner at Chinatown. We've had enough Chinese cuisine, so we opted out of the pre-arranged dinner. Bad idea - most of the restaurants in the vicinity are closed. After a few minutes of exploration, we settled for the only other restaurant open at that time - a Chinese-Vietnamese one. It's about 300kms from Brisbane to Bundaberg. By the time we got to our accommodation at Bourbong Street Motel, it was already late night. Spent some quality time watching Monster Garage before hitting the sack.