Gold Coast - Part 2

We got up at 6:30 in the morning (early for a holiday) and decided to go for a jog. The jog didn’t last for too long for some of us, although the inviting waves kept us busy for the next one hour. After this, we got ready like diligent children to go to Movie World – one of the 4 theme parks at Gold Coast. This park is at a 25 minute drive from Gold Coast. We were at the entrance at 10:00, just when the gates opened. The first ride that caught our eyes was the great Superman Roller Coaster. Even before going in, we were all excited about it. We decided to take in the rides nice and easy, so we started with a sober Batman Ride II, which was a simulation tackling all the enemies and helping Batman in Gotham City. By now, the guys were getting anxious about the Superman ride and so we decided to go for it. The ride was breath-taking by all meanings. It lasted for just 30 seconds, but those 30 seconds were the time when we felt we were being tossed up and down and travelling against gravity. The thrust of 0 – 100 kilometres per hour in 2 seconds sent all sorts of insects in the stomach, not just butterflies!



Once it was over, we had a huge sigh of relief. But, that was not it, there was more to come. Strolling through the lanes of Movie World, we noticed that there was a huge line gathering in front of a theatre. We realised that this was for the Shrek 4D Adventure and decided to try it. The show was good telling us how Shrek and the donkey rescued Princess Fiona from the ghost of Lord Farquaad. The 4 dimensional approach worked really well with both the adults and the kids.

After the show, we decided that it was time for more adventure and wanted to try the Lethal Weapon ride. The sight of it seemed scary, looking at people going upside down gave us all sorts of imaginations. But, the daring group that we were, we decided to take up the challenge. It was certainly longer than the Superman ride and hence the adrenaline flow lasted more than we expected, although it wasn’t as scary. Slowly we were getting used to the different rides and felt like we waned more. We stopped at a street performance of Scooby Doo and then ventured into something called the Looney Tunes Spooky Roller Coaster. All of us thought that it was going to be a kid’s roller coaster and that is how it started. We were at ease until our car went up in an elevator of sorts and suddenly from nowhere we were being pushed down on our back and rose up at the same speed, going zig-zag with a beam of light pointed at us. It ended up being a real hit especially when it was so unexpected.

By now we were starving and were searching for a good place for lunch. There was this Nachos place where we had some vegetarian Nachos before continuing on with our adventure ride. We went to the Looney Tunes village and had a look at the different rides they had for children. It was amazing to see what a world they had created. It was then time to go for the Police Academy Stunt Show. It was held in an open air auditorium where people were requested to assemble half hour before the show. The guy taking care of the seating arrangement was hilarious. Without uttering a word, he was able to keep his audience enthralled. The show itself was superb and it was shocking to see the type of stunts the guys performed right in front of our eyes. The helicopter burning scene was once of the most spectacular.

After this show, we needed more adrenaline rush and hence decided to try out the Wild West Falls Adventure. This was another roller coaster, but with a change. It was all in water and the ride was really smooth making us wonder if it was actually a roller coaster, until the great drop into the water. It was a nice end to the truly enjoyable Movie rides.

After coming back to our apartment, the women voted to check out the Friday Market and the men voted to try out the spa and sauna in the building. After our respective activities, we were searching for a good Thai restaurant for dinner. We couldn’t find one and hence decided to go for an Indian cuisine that night. The restaurant was called the House of India. We had 4 banquets and shared it among the 5 of us. The food was tasty and the ambience was good. That night was a long one, when we went home and played Uno – the card game – until 2 a.m.