8 days in Australia [Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Noosa] - Planning tips and Day 1

Planning a holiday to a foreign country is not so straightforward especially if its your first time there. I just came back from a trip to Australia, the first for my family stepping into the country. Previously, our holidays were just centred around Asia so going to Australia was quite an eye opener in terms of the culture etc.

One of my relatives asked if we were interested to go to Gold Coast and after checking the flight tickets, we booked it immediately after seeing a good offer from Scoot which was on a 50% sale. In fact, we actually were considering going there last December joining a tour group but didn't go in the end. So, going there was sort of on our minds already.

Scooting to Gold Coast

Scoot has fantastic offers going to Gold Coast. Its a 7 hours plus flight and they only fly at night around 10pm plus so we had to try to sleep on the plane. I took a Scoot midnight flight to Taiwan many years back and was so tired when I landed as I just couldn't get enough sleep. The flight to Taiwan is only 4 hours plus so it was quite impossible to get some sleep. This time, on a 7 hours plus flight, I thought I could get more sleep but was still quite tired after landing. Besides the sleep, Scoot has pretty comfortable seats on their new dream-liner with enough leg space. I could stretch my legs all the way to the front without a problem. Their normal seats do not have headrest so its important to prepare your own neck pillow etc. I brought neck pillow, eye mask and also a back rest. It brought much more comfort for the flight.


Planning for the Gold Coast Trip

Before I go into the trip itself, I think the planning info would be good for readers who want to travel to this destination. As usual, for a free and easy trip, I start by googling to see how others plan their trip but was surprised on the lack of info I could find. As compared to destinations like Taiwan and Hong Kong, this was much harder to plan because I couldn't get the full picture from the resources I find online. I had to search from different sites to piece the info together.

Furthermore, most people only stop at the gold coast area for their holidays which really just 4 days there is enough. I booked my flight for 8 days so I had to venture out further. With that, I added in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Noosa heads into my itinerary. Besides the usual attractions in Gold coast such as visiting surfers paradise, Sea World, Movie World etc, we went to glass house mountains, farm stay and whale watching. It was partially a road trip where the furthest was about 3 hours drive away from Gold Coast.

Here's my itinerary:

Day 1
Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Day 2
Whale Watching and Sea World

Day 3
Surfers Paradise, Harbour Town, Movie World, Beachfront night markets

Day 4
Mount Tamborine and Brisbane

Day 5
Brisbane, glass house mountains and Farm stay

Day 6
Farm stay, Eumundi Farmer's market, Noosa Heads

Day 7
Farm Stay and back to Gold coast

Day 8
Return to Singapore


Renting a Car in Gold Coast

With so many places to venture out to, it is inevitable that we had to rent a car. It took me quite awhile to find a good car rental company because there are just so many in Australia. Also, we wanted to cover the excess portion which is the amount you have to pay should there be any accident. Most car rental companies start with $3500 excess and for me, I covered all the way until zero excess. The car rental price turned out to be only AUD$175 for 7 days in total because they had a promotion which I realised at a later date. They were kind enough to give me the rate. Oh yes, forgot to mention the car rental company is Apex car rentals. You can refer to their website here.

This car rental company is located near to the airport. They have shuttle bus service just outside the airport to bring us to their office so its quite convenient. Just need to use a public phone in the airport and call their toll free hotline. Its only a less than 5 minutes ride to their office. We rented a Hyundai Elantra which was a mid size sedan. It comfortably seats 4 people and I personally think the car is quite good even when I was driving on gravel road and also on the expressway at 110kmh.


Driving and Parking in Australia

Another concern I had was driving in Australia. Where to park? What are the traffic rules? After the experience driving there, I would say its largely the same as driving in Singapore. Some differences I realised is they have many roundabouts and they also have this slip road on the right. In SG, our slip road is on the left so it was a bit confusing.

For the whole trip, parking was all free. They have many free road side parking with limited time. I did research on all the parking signs and here are a few of the most common ones:

If you see 1P, its means you can only park at this area for 1 hour in the time stated on the sign. In this case, its 9am to 5pm from Mon-Sat. The Meter word below the 1P means that you need to pay for parking in this area but it is still limited to 1 hour. Outside the time and day stipulated on the sign, parking is free.

If you see 2P, it means you can only park at this area for 2 hours. This 2P does not have the Meter word below so its free for 2 hours in the stipulated time and day. Outside of these hours, its free for unlimited time.

There are other Ps such as 3P, 1/2P and even 1/4P. Just follow the signs and know how long you can park there. Every parking lot is fitted with a sensor so they will know how long you park there. For meter parking, there will be a meter box for parking payment near to the parking lots. Its not too difficult to spot.

One last thing is if there are no parking signs and there is no yellow line, parking is essentially free. You'll see other cars parked along the roadside as well so I guess it'll be safe to follow as long as we don't block other road users. I didn't pay a single cent for parking while driving in Australia so its really convenient.

For Brisbane, parking is hard so we walked instead. We also took the free city hopper which is their ferry service to get to some of the most popular places in Brisbane.

Petrol in Australia

When I was there, petrol prices were really cheap for the first few days. It was only $1.11 per litre for unleaded 91. It then went up to $1.41 for the last few days of my trip. All together, I spent about $80 for petrol for the 7 days trip. There are many petrol stations around Australia so its not difficult to find one. If you want to compare prices, you can refer to the website here.


Day 1

We arrived at Gold Coast airport at around 7am plus which was Singapore 5am plus. Not all planes fly to Gold coast airport so taking Scoot was quite convenient. I realised people in the past fly to Brisbane and drive 1 hour down to visit Gold Coast. Now from the airport to the main beach only takes less than 30 minutes. Something to take note is Australia is quite strict on bringing food in and they use dogs to detect any food which tourists bring in. We still brought some instant noodles which went undetected so I guess its ok to bring in.

Coming down from the plane at Gold Coast airport

We proceeded to collect the rental car from Apex car rental where they provide free shuttle service at the airport itself. It was only a 5 minutes ride to their office. After collecting the car, we went to have breakfast at this beautiful surf club called Currumbin Beach Vikings Surf Life Saving Club. This place was just next to the beach so the atmosphere was very nice.

The cafe overlooking the beach

The food was excellent there. The breakfast set was quite big and we only ordered 2 sets for 4 people. Anyway, most of the food portion in Australia is quite big even though its expensive.

After breakfast, we proceeded to Currumbin wildlife sanctuary. Here, you can see Kangaroos, Koalas and many other animals. There's an area where you can interact with the Kangaroos and take photo with the Koalas too.

Sheep shearing show

Koalas all sleeping

The place is quite big and it took us about 2 hours inside. For the tickets, the usual price is $49.95 but we got it at Groupon Australia for $21 each. Quite a good deal from Groupon. If you're considering visiting Australia, definitely can check out Groupon Australia for some good deals.

For lunch, I discovered this place called thrower's fish and chips. There wasn't anyone when we went there but I can say the fish and chips were good and really big portion. We ordered the family pack which consist of 4 pieces of fish, 4 scallops, 6 prawn pieces and $4 worth of chips (fries). When they say $4 worth of chips, its like one big box of it. We couldn't finish it at all. Looks like Australians really like to eat fries and lots of it.

Now, time to check into the apartment. For the 3 days stay in Gold Coast, we booked an apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a kitchen with living room at Narrowneck Court Holiday apartments. It cost about $150 per night. The location is about 5 minutes drive and 15 minutes walk to Surfers paradise so its quite convenient.

The best thing about this apartment is all the rooms face the sea even the living room and kitchen. Its just 5 minutes walk down to the beach.

Before we checked into the apartment, we also went to buy groceries to cook dinner at night in the apartment. In Australia, there are a few main supermarket mainly Aldi, Coles, Woolsworth and IGA. Aldi stuffs are really cheap but there's not a lot of choice to choose from. Coles and Woolsworth are the next best choices.

That's the end of day 1. Next up is day 2 for whale watching and sea world.

More on this trip:
Day 2 and 3

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3.50% Cashback on everything with the newly launched HSBC Advance Credit Card

[Update] Flash Sale: 
Citi Premier Miles card: $170 NTUC Vouchers
OCBC 365 Credit Card: $100 Chope vouchers + $80 cash back on apple pay

Apply here

Does getting 3.5% cash back on everything you spend sounds good to you? Yes this is on everything and not just on selected items which most credit cards limit on. You can get cashback on your online purchases, paying your bills, dining out, petrol and even paying your school fees. Its simple, get cash back on everything you spend on.

The 3.5% cash back is applicable for HSBC advance banking customers who will get additional 1% cash back. For all other customers, receive 2.5% cash back on all purchases with a monthly spend of >S$2,000, or receive 1.5% cash back with a monthly spend of S$2,000 and below. No minimum spend required. Cash back is capped at S$70 per month (S$125 for HSBC Advance Banking customers)

What’s more, for the month of June only, if you apply through the below link, you’ll get an exclusive offer of $150 NTUC FairPrice vouchers upon meeting a minimum spend of $600 in the first month of card approval.

HSBC credit card holders have many great benefits including the eligibility for a GV movie card for movie tickets of $7 on weekdays and $8.50 on weekends. This is good for movie lovers.

Apply for the HSBC advance credit card below to get your $150 NTUC FairPrice Vouchers:

*Bank's standard offer is not applicable

If 3.5% cash back is too little for you, how about a 10% cash back? The CIMB Platinum Mastercard gives you just the cash back you need with 10% cashback on Travel and Health, Beauty & Wellness. Charge a min. of S$500 with at least 8 transactions of $30 or more posted within the same statement month. Cashback is cap at S$60 per statement month.

There is additional 0.2% cash back on all other spend with no cash back cap. No minimum spend required. This card is free for life with lifetime annual fee waiver.

In addition, get $70 worth of EZBuy vouchers when you apply for the card by clicking on the image below. If you're not familiar with EZBuy, they are a dedicated provider of professional online shopping services. You can get good deals on the website where they ship goods from China, Taiwan, USA for more than 500,000 Singaporeans. If you see people queuing up to collect their goods near some MRT stations or neighbourhoods, they are most likely collecting from EZBuy.

Apply for the CIMB Platinum Mastercard below to get your $70 EZBuy Vouchers:

If NTUC or EZBuy vouchers are too boring for you, there is also a promotion to get $125 Tung Lok vouchers. This is applicable for the American Express CapitaCard.

Get 20,000 STAR$ after first successful transaction. Additional 30,000 STAR$ with a total spend of S$888 within 6 months of card approval. 5000 STAR$ gets you $5 CapitaVoucher so 20,000 STAR$ is equivalent to $20 CapitaVoucher. Earn 15 STAR$ for every S$1 spend in CapitaLand Malls and 5 STAR$ for every S$1 spend anywhere else.

Apply for the American Express CapitaCard below to get your $125 Tung Lok Vouchers:

There are other cards on promotion such as the popular OCBC 365 credit card which you can find here. You can get $100 Chope gift card and more NTUC vouchers for each application.

Apply for the cards that suits your needs today.

All vouchers/promotions are only valid for sign ups in the month of June 2017 only

ComfortDelgro Stock Analysis- Will It Survive the Uber & Grab competition?

Recently, a stock familiar to most of us caught my attention. I've been wanting to write on ComfortDelgro but did not do so until now as I had to read and dive in deeper on the company. ComfortDelgro is known to us as a taxi company where Comfort's taxi ply the roads of Singapore day in and day out. However, its business is more than the taxi business itself which makes it harder to analyse. Their annual report also didn't really break down the information I needed so I had to go to different sources just to find the info I wanted.

What got me interested in ComfortDelgro's business is that its stock price have fallen significantly after a bad financial result in Q1 FY2017. The stock price is at a 3 year low now and its quite fairly valued in my opinion.

Here's the share price of ComfortDelgro for the past 3 years:

Let's get deeper into ComfortDelgro's business to understand more about whether this would be a good investment?

Dissecting ComfortDelgro's business 

ComfortDelgro's business is not just in Singapore. They have businesses in 35 cities and 7 countries. The countries are Singapore, China, Australia, UK, Ireland, Vietnam and Malaysia. 64% of its revenue comes from Singapore and 36% from the overseas markets.

ComfortDelgro breaks its business into the following segments:

1. Public Transport Service Business
2. Taxi Business
3. Bus Station Business
4. Automotive Engineering Business
5. Inspection and Testing services Business
6. Driving Centre Business
7. Car Rental and Leasing Business

As we can see, their business is all in the transport industry. Close to 90% of its revenue comes from the public transport service and taxi business so I will focus more on these areas in this article. 

For the public transport service business, it is further broken down into the bus (scheduled & unscheduled) and rail business. For bus, it is operated under the subsidiary of SBS transit which we are all familiar with. ComfortDelgro also have their own bus chartering service with a total fleet of 348 buses. For rail, it is also operated under SBS transit which runs the North East Line (NEL), Punggol and Sengkang LRT as well as the new Downtown line (DTL). 

Latest Q1 FY17 Financial result of ComfortDelgro

Public Transport service business

For FY2016, SBS transit's revenue was $1098 Million. Base on its latest Q1 FY17 results, SBS transit contributes about 50% to ComfortDelgro's public transport service segment with about 75% from bus and 25% from rail business. In Q1 FY17, revenue for the public transport business segment was up about +0.75%. This was mainly from the increase in SBS transit's bus revenue after the transition to the bus contracting model (BCM) effective 1 September 2016. It seems like under the BCM, it benefits the operator more. Another increase was due to higher rail revenue from higher ridership from the DTL and NEL/LRT. DTL ridership grew by 19.1% while NEL and LRT ridership is still growing as well. This was offset by the lower fares which was implemented in 2016. 

For Australia business, revenue increased due to favourable currency of a stronger AUD while for UK, revenue decreased due to unfavourable currency of a weaker pound. 

Taxi Business

For the taxi business, revenue decreased by about 5.7% due to lower rental income in Singapore. Elsewhere in UK, China, Australia and Vietnam, revenue from its taxi business decreased as well. For UK, the decrease is due to an unfavourable currency from a weaker pound while in other countries, it is due to lesser rental fees and also a smaller fleet. This reflects a challenging environment for the taxi business due to the rise of private hire cars such as Uber and Grab.

For its other business segments, the rest remain stable except for automotive engineering services which see a lower revenue due to lower volume of diesel sold to taxi drivers and a drop in the repairs and maintenance of taxi and bus assembly jobs.


Should We Invest In ComfortDelgro's Business? 

The situation doesn't look that good for Comfort's taxi business but for the public transport service business, I would think there is much optimism ahead. Furthermore, its share price has dropped significantly from about $2.70 to about $2.40 in less than a month. It is currently trading at a PE ratio of 16x with dividend yield of about 4.2% and with gearing of 12.8%. I think this is a fair valuation for a big company like ComfortDelgro. If we compare to other similar companies such as MTR in HK, they are trading at a PE ratio of 32x, not forgetting SMRT which was delisted at 22x PE ratio.

Moving forward, I believe ComfortDelgro's bus revenue will be higher as it reflects a full year of revenue under the BCM. We have already seen higher revenue due to BCM in the last 2 Quarters since the bus industry in Singapore transited into it. DTL 3, which is run by SBS transit will also start revenue service in October this year which we should see higher revenue for its rail business as well. The straits times has reported that ridership on the DTL will double to about 500K daily ridership compared to about 245K now. Adding on, fares in Singapore are expected to continue increasing as the government has already signalled to the public transport council that fares have to keep up with costs involved to continue to be sustainable. The fare review is ongoing now and expected to be completed early next year.

The competition in the taxi industry should also be more or less stabilised now with the impact already factored in. Once the currency for the Pound turns favourable, we should see positive results for them again. I've bought some shares of ComfortDelgro at $2.42 as of now. There are certainly some risks and many factors to consider but personally I've weighed them and invested an amount I'm comfortable with. Let's see how things evolve later on.

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