Brisbane Day 8: Mt Coot-Tha, Urban Xtreme, Home Sweet Home

It was the last day of our Brisbane holiday and it was a city mouse day. The kids knew that we would be visiting the Urban Xtreme park but didnt know that their dear mother had other stuff planned.

We were up by 7am and we had paid extra to book the "pick and choose" bfast. It was a luxury to enjoy the buffet spread after having to "work" for our bfast the last few days. 

Though it was similar food of eggs, ham and bread, I was secretly grinning at the thought that I didnt have to scrub egg-stain frying pan after bfast. 

The 1st itinerary of the day was another hike, much to Zaky's dismay. Despite his protests, we were soon on the way to Mt Coot-Tha, that was a mere 20 mins drive from the city center. At least we assured him that it was an easy hike. 

After some quick read up, Daddy Lim decided that we would park at the summit. This basically means that our hike will again be downhill 1st before the need to climb up to get back to the car. 

On the drive to the summit, we saw so many cyclists riding up. The gradient was no joke! Really must clap for them.

While the cyclists huff and puff up, we travelled comfortably for the summit pictures. 

I asked the kids to help me take a nice picture while waiting for the man to use the toilet. 

After several attempts, I still didnt find one that I was satisfied with. I think the problem is with the model in the picture... haha. Too much eating!

There were several routes to choose from. They were all downhill actually and didnt quite make any difference to me. Eventually, we decided to hit the JC Slaughter Fall via the Mahogany Track.

Zaky's only concern was how far we were from the turnaround point. Are we there yet?

It was an interesting trail and the hike was largely on sandy path. It was a popular hike and we met many other hikers. The hike was an easy walk given that it was mainly downhill.

I was reminded of our Treetop Walk back home bcos the trail was also right next to the road. Ok, at least we know that help would be near. 

It didnt took us very long to reach the end of the track where we met a big picnic/ bbq area and a big carpark. Hey, where is that (water) fall? After a quick break, it was time to head back up to the summit. The kids devised a kids vs parents challenge and were constantly a good 5m ahead of us throughout the way back. It was a fantastic challenge bcos they were so motivated to win and we didnt have to walk with whiny kids. I absolutely heart this challenge. Lol. I hope to do the challenge every hike. 

Soon, we were back and took a nice coffee break at the cafe at the summit.

Then we went back to the hotel and had a simple lunch of convenient food from the 7-11 and the 2 cup noodles from previous days, so that we didnt have to lug them home. On the way back, we saw that many pubs were already opened and actually crowded. The Aussies do start early.

We also had the opportunity to visit the huge Giant bicycle shop a few streets from our hotel. It was too tempting not to buy anything. I got a new pair of gloves!

Finally, after much pestering from the kids, it was the Urban Xtreme park time. The tickets were not cheap at AUD32 per piece for 2-hour slot. We had expected it to be Super Park alike. The kids agreed to go into the park without the parents. Nice, nuahing time!

We were minutes before our designated time slot. The kids reluntantly posed for pictures, which didnt turn out well and refused another one and was running off.

The Urban Xtreme park is very different from the Super Park. There were only 4 activities - trampoline, Ninja warrior, Parkor and Laser Tag. It took the kids a while to figure out that other than the Trampoline, the other activities go on an estimated 15 mins slot.

Bcos the kids missed the 1st 15 mins slot, they were off jumping on the trampoline.

Not long after, they went to Q for the parkor. Lil Shauna was a little lost with the big crowd and followed Zaky blindly to the parkor. They had to join a safety briefing.

There was an instructor to teach the kids how to do Parkor. It looks to me more like a very tiring core training. Lol. The were running and jumping over high steps, doing front roll, going under the bar - hit repeat mode. Then Lil Shauna missed a step, hit and scrapped her shin and tumbled over. Luckily, it was merely some scratches. Some time was also allocated for free style. Lil Shauna's free style = blindly follow Zaky's styel. Lol. Parkor was surely not her thing.

For the 2nd 15 mins block, Lil Shauna attempted the Ninja warrior while Zaky continued with the Parkor. The Ninja Warrior was no child play and was just like what we saw on TV, requiring a good amount of physical strength.

By the end of the 2 15-min slots, the kids were red faced, sweating and running off to the Laser Tag.

According to the kids, the Laser Tag was super fun and made friends with their team mates. They went for it for 3 consecutive 15-min slots. It was valued for money too. It would have cost us more if we had done the Laser Tag separately outside of the park.

With that, they headed back to the Trampoline for the last 15-min. I like how the park has designated coaches for all of the activities, teaching and helping the kids. Zaky was taught how to land on his feet after his front flip.

The kids had so much fun and were appalled to realise that their time slot was ending. The park wasnt strict with the time and Zaky managed to squeeze in the last activity - the wrapped wall, just like the real Ninja warrior! Not bad lah, Zaky managed the easiest wall.

With that, it ended the kids' adventure. I pointed out to the kids that we were the only Asians (tourists) and the only kids with glasses. Is it a genetic thing?

We headed back to the hotel and went Target shopping and had KFC for dinner. Daddy Lim was so impressed with how speedy the food was served. Same what. Lol.

Our Target shopping turned up empty handed bcos the kids didnt need more toys. There also wasnt the need to buy more short sleeves tee as we were heading home. At least we got to walk the Brisbane City center.

Our flight was at 2.35am. We knew that it would be painful to try to roam the streets; we didnt even know if the shops would be opened. As such, we booked an additional night at Ibis so that we could rest our legs before our flight.

It was a fantastic choice. The kids were exhausted after all the physical activities. We had a decent rest and started our way to the airport to return the car at 9.30pm. At that point, Lil Shauna was so tired that she was ready to go home.

It was a long wait at the airport. Fortunately we could connect to the wifi but had to sit on uncomfortable big wooden chairs. Of course the kids didnt mind.

About an good hour before boarding, I had to insist that we moved on in search of more comfy seats. My back! Towards the boarding gates, there were long rows of sofa that made perfect beds but no wifi connectivity. The kids grumbled a little until their mummy dearest showed them what they could do with the must-be-the-most-comfy-sofa-in-the-world-at-that-moment.

We really all dozed off except for Daddy Lim who probably was watching his Netflix. Great, we needed somebody to wake us up for boarding.

The kids made it onto the plane and continued to snooze. It was afterall in the middle of the night. It was a Qatar/ Qantas flight, which means a different selection of movies. I attempted to watch one but was dozing off in front of the screen like an old lady in less than 20 mins. Lol. When I woke up, it was already the credits rolling.

While the seats were not much more comfortable than the earlier Qantas flight, we were definitely much more tired and sleep we did. It was Australia's 7ish when we woke up and just in time for bfast and to catch up on the movies. Hehehe. The kids were served their kids meal 1st. The presentation was great but Lil Shauna said that the taste was not. Every other thing was organic, too healthy lah.

We survived the 8 hours flight very nicely and touched down in Singapore on time at 8ish. Woohoo! It was an absolutely fantastic trip.

Mummy Lim

Brisbane Day 7: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

It was time to say goodbye to the Britz that had served us well for the past 4 nights. Although it was a little noisy and I very much missed a normal comfy bed, it was an enjoyable experience. The kids like the campervan too but were starting to display wifi withdrawal symptoms. The last night, they were yearning so much to watch their youtubes. Lol. They were so bored with the few games that they have in their phone. Ya, their parents didnt share hotspot with them. Hohoho.

We had to finish the food in the fridge and made bfast, finishing the remaining 7 eggs at once. Kids chef in the house.

Tadah! Our last bfast in the campervan.

With final packing up, we started our journey back to Brisbane city to return the campervan.

It was about an hour's drive. I was so hoping that we didnt have to wait another 2.5 hrs just to return the Britz. We tried finding a petrol kisok to top up the LPG gas tank but were not able to find that service both at our campervan park or the petrol kisok near to the Britz center. We gave up and opted to pay an extra AUD165 for the express return package, which will take care of the LPG gas tank and petrol. Maybe it was that, we walked out of the center in less than 30 mins. Yay! The kids were thrilled to find wifi at the Britz center but soon complained about how weak the signal was. Still no youtube. Sorry.

We took an uber to the city center to pick up our other drive from the Hertz rental center that will ferry us for the next 2 days. I had wanted to book the cheapest possible sedan car but the booking was amended on the spot by Daddy Lim, who opted to top up for a Kia SUV. He said that it is bigger and more comfortable. Zzzzzz.

We literally had a jerky start. Daddy Lim took some time to get used to the car; the Britz had a much longer braking distance and he needed to step harder on Britz' brakes, which was totally different from the sensitive brakes of the Kia. We were jerking forward whenever Daddy Lim stepped on the Kia's brakes, which was like every other second upon driving off. So funny. Fortunately, he adapted quickly or you can visualise a Kia jerking along the roads of the Brisbane City and pukey passengers.Lol.

Our hotel for the night - Ibis Brisbane, was located 5 mins' drive away, right in the middle of the city center. The only down was the lack of parking facilities at the hotel and we had to park at the car park building 1 street away, at a subsidised rate of AUD 36 for 24 hours. The kids didnt care; they were just dying to get to the hotel room for wifi.

Finally, after wifi starvation for 6 days.

They wowed at the big room for a moment before they were all hooked on their gadgets. Only their dear mother was excited about the big comfy bed that was so missing in her life for the past 4 nights.

It took some good effort to lug the kids off to the next destination - Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We were finally off to see some animals in all natural Aussie land.

The koala Sanctuary was about 30 mins' drive away. It was a small park but there were so many Koalas. Big and small ones.

Mummy and baby koala.

And even very active ones. I have never seen such active Koalas, including one that appeared to be trying to escape its enclosure.

The other star must be the kangaroos. There were not many of them but many people were attempting to feed the few. The kangeroos were obviously not interested and mostly in food coma.

Truth be told, we didnt bother to catch any of the shows. The only one was to the Platypus keeper talk, which was for 10 mins and Daddy Lim and I actually dozed off. For some reasons, we were all very tired.

By 3pm, the kids were asking to leave the park too. I did read somewhere that there was a market near to the Sanctuary but wasnt able to locate it or it probably didnt exist anymore. With that, we headed back to our room. The kids were more excited at staring into their screen than roaming the park.

It was dinner time before we finally got out of the room and explored this huge bridge across the road.

There were so many cyclists and there were long destinated cycling paths for them.

We almost wanted to rent a mobike alike but reckoned that it was too troublesome. We spotted one of those escooter only to be restricted by the minimum age. So it was back to a good stroll before some little people scream how hungry he was.

It took us (ok, it was me) some time to find dinner. There were definitely more restaurants opened in the evening as compared to Perth but they were either not interesting or too crowded. Eventually, we had to turn back and settled for Japanese food, yes, in Brisbane.

Ok, the Japanese restaurant was opened by Koreans. The Japanese food didnt quite taste like Japanese food. Why dont they just sell Korean food?

Yes, Zaky was very interested in my udon as you can see from the picture. Lol. For the rest of the night, we were just contended with nuahing in the room until the sleep monster came.

Sleep was so good; the big bed was so, so nice. Haha.

Mummy Lim