2008 Trip to Malaysia

Surfers Paradise

SATURDAY 11 OCTOBER 2008 We dropped our kitties off at the cat hotel and headed for Joan & Roger's where we were to stay overnight. On the way, we stopped at this fantastic tea house at Taree. SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2008 We left Joan & Roger's about 10:00 and headed for Queensland. We stopped for lunch at this great little town just north of Grafton called Ulmarra. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "bend in the river". SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2008 Ulmarra is on the Clarence River which ends near the coast at Yamba. It does not empty into the ocean. SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2008 We arrived at the Holiday Inn at Surfer's Paradise at around 4:00PM and parked the car in the hotel's garage.
SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2008 Our room was on the 18th floor and overlooked the preparations for the Indycar Race to be held in two weeks time. SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2008 I got the room from LastMinute.com as a secret hotel deal. It cost only $99 per night. SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2008 At night, the streets were a blaze of colour. SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2008 The room was quite luxurious, especially at the price we paid.
MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 We started the day with a very nice breakfast at a small cafe opposite the beach, the one with the red, white and blue stripes. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 The beach at Surfer's Paradise is part of an unbroken stretch of sand approximately 17 kilometres long. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 That's Coolangatta on the NSW border about 30 kms away. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 Surfers still attracts a lot of overseas visitors - particularly Japanese. This could be because the collapse of the Australian Dollar is making this a cheap destination again.
MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 The shiny building on the right is the Q1 Building (meaning Queensland Number One). It is the world's tallest residential tower (as measured to the top of the spire) and the tallest building in Australia. It will soon be relegated to third by two buildings in Dubai. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 We caught a bus that was clean, reasonably priced and driven by a helpful bus driver. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 Our destination was the Pacific Fair shopping centre. The centre is owned and operated by Centro, one of the casualties of the financial crisis. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 It's a combination of indoor and outdoor shops. We had to buy some items of clothing because we knew that getting things our size in Malaysia is impossible.
MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 The Holiday Inn, our abode for two nights, is the building on the right. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 We return to the hotel, collect our car and drive to Tamborine Mountain. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 Tamborine Mountain is a 28 km² plateau (8 km long by 4 km wide) in the hinterland visible from Surfers Paradise. The name is of Aboriginal origin and has nothing to do with the musical instrument. This is the western side viewed from the Rotary Lookout. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 From the Rotary Lookout at Tamborine Mountain.
MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 The highest elevation in the park is 525 metres (1,722 ft) MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 We took a drive to the Beacon Lookout and saw this unbelievable deal for avocados. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 Then we stopped at the Witches Chase Cheese company for lunch: water, watercrackers and the sharpest cheddar cheese you could imagine. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 Avocados growing as decoration in the Witches Chase Cheese company grounds.
MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 We then take a walk through the Joaloah National Park. Our destination is the Curtis Falls waterfall at the bottom. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 Joaloah National Park contains one of the few remaining areas of natural subtropical rainforest left on the mountain. The rest was destroyed in the early 20th century. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 On the way down, we see some remaining old growth trees, gnarled and impressive. The forest is quite magnificent. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 Curtis Falls. Unfortunately, it was not all that impressive in reality. The water is very polluted and smells like sewerage. This is probably because there is no reticulated water supply or sewerage system on the mountain, and residents are dependent on rainwater, bores and septic systems.
MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 The climate is subtropical, with the annual rainfall of about 1600 mm falling mainly between December and March. Temperatures vary between maxima of 18°C in winter and 25°C in summer, averaging some four or five degrees cooler than the surrounding lowlands. MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2008 This is the best view we could get of the high rise buildings in the Surfers Paradise area. Most scenic points are dominated by private housing or resorts. There isn't a public lookout available which is quite a bad oversight. TUESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2008 We drive to Coolangatta Airport and leave the car in the long term parking area. Check-in was without hassle as were the immigration and security procedures. The terminal itself is primitive but an 'exciting' new terminal is being built. TUESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2008 We board our AirAsia flight to KL. We had adequate legroom and were comfortable in the Airbus 330-300 which is a very large aeroplane. The A330 is comparable with the Boeing 767 -400ER and the 777-200.
In December 2007, before those morons in Wall Street destroyed the world's wealth, Air Asia introduced a special fare to Malaysia of $78 return. With taxes and fees it came to $690 for the both of us. The exchange rate had not yet been decimated, so I paid for our air tickets and accommodation in the 4½ star Le Meridien. TUESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2008 We flew up the coast past Surfers to the Brisbane control area and then headed NW to Malaysia. The flight took 8 hours. TUESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2008 To the north of Australia, we flew over many small coral islets. Next: Our first day in Kuala Lumpur  
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