Hello and I really appreciate you for coming back!
Around early-March, my partner and I went to a gathering on the Sunshine Coast for this group of local content creators. He added a surprise trip in between ☀
NOTE: I’m writing in past-tense since I was not done typing by April 4th (sorry-me lazy)
Our day started at 6 in the morning. Since we live on the Gold Coast (an hour away), we left at 6:30 to avoid the morning rush traffic.
The event was from local content creators with a podcast on theme parks, you may listen to their latest episode here:
Episodes also on Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio and more.
Aussie World is a theme park made of low-to-high thrill rides and experiences which makes the place perfect for kids and families!
They’re also located sixteen minutes away from the late Crocodile Hunter’s sanctuary, Australia Zoo.
I’ve been to the Zoo myself a few years ago and this is a go-to for first-time international travellers. Here’s a pic of me 2021:
I’m smiling 3rd place from your right
I always pass-by Aussie Worlds’ advertising billboard every time we visit the Sunny Coast, so I was always curious to peek inside. Finally, I have to at least take a few pictures.
Upon entry, my impressions were the colors and its carnival-esque theming. I like how they made the area crowdy (or narrow) using decor. I won’t lie-colors were a teeny, tiny bit overwhelming since the colors are mixed-up, all around the park.
The staff also welcomed and walked us on various parts and their operations prior to general entry. Finally, we got to scare and complete a run on their horror-themed experience, the Mayhem Maze!
The experience is for kids 12 years above with a starkingly different exterior compared to its light colors surrounding the park. The maze is located next to their swing (Ballroom Blitz)
A SMALL *DISCLAIMER:
My WHS experience is from my educational and work background. We have specialised experts more capable when it comes to interpreting, applying and managing WHS based on industry and safety standards.
Generally speaking; Australia does workplace health and safety seriously. The WHS framework encourages collaborative environments, legal responsibilities for businesses and focuses on identification and risk management rather than future liabilities.
A national agency (Safe Work Australia) reviews and recommends changes based on scientific data and applicable legislation (Safe Work Australia Act 2008).
Before we head inside, team members divided to groups to jumpscare each other and walk through and vice versa.
It’s a version of hide-and-seek with scares.
We picked to be the first walking through, so we had to wait for ‘scarers’ to hide inside before our turn. Weather is gloomy than usual (Alfred) but the sun is still out with a little drizzle.
Upon entering, I started sweating profusely, my body heated up similar to body flushes. Now, I wasn’t sure if it’s made to be hot because of its atmosphere, or anxiety but my persistence and interest to look got me to stay.
The other team was not effective at pranking us (lol jk) but it made me think and worry about things, safety-wise.
The climate within Queensland is really hot during summer (peak) season. Guests, given the range of sizes (children to adults) can be stuck at strangest of circumstances and with team members wearing make-up and outfits, performing indoors without any temperature control or sufficient ventilation worries me.
I noticed one ceiling vent at their holding area, the area where you get briefed (different from waiting queue).
The area is very cramped, with around ten of us including two staff members.
Again, this is my first time entering and we got in before their general opening hours so it’s a behind-the-scenes look.
It’s likely that the team members were testing and polishing the rides. It’s one of their busiest weekends, after all.
The maze is also made of repurposed shipping containers. Using repurposed containers, while competitively priced and simple, come with its own disadvantages.
Heat can transfer really quick, especially when it comes to materials such as steel. Conducting a simple search on Google may show different temperatures depending on your localities, but the point is without insulation or cooling, such materials can get very hot inside.
Based on a study on Australian wines and the issues they face during freight (Marquez et al., 20121), temperatures on the Australian-leg of the wine shipments reached max of 42.5 C° or 108.5 F°, a significantly high amount than the journey throughout US and int’l seawaters.
On the positive side, they have processes and designs that mitigates any risk, like a crowd rush.
However, given the changes to climate and an increasing trend to Australians hospitalised from extreme weather (AIHW, 20232), I think it’s something to take actions further.
On behalf of their team members, I think that the sufficient ventilation and climate control features will benefit, productivity as well as improve performance.
The pieces inspired from notorious serial killers and the ‘horror-slasher’ subgenre is well-executed with cohesion on some rooms.
Personally, I like art that observer speculates into, better if it creates us a whole library. The vintage machineries and the human chair are creepy, if the overall ambience suited.
I hoped that they’d work on creating a spooky but PG atmosphere than jump-scares since the audiences are kids and I will be honest, jump scares are boring after the first.
The exterior needed some detailing to match, since it contrasts the whole park. Better if they made sub-themes within each areas of the park-a world in another world-a tech/slasher sort of planet.
As of writing this post (April 2025), Aussie World opens at 10 AM and closes 4 PM most days. They also have music playing in the speakers for kids to dance as well as shading for parents to rest their poor legs on.
Once the park opened and the crowd starts to arrive, it turned the whole park into a whole frenzy party funtime of some sorts, you rarely notice the colors around the park. Most of the rides are also catered for kids including carousels of various sizes, a ferris wheel and this ‘Antz’-inspired ride!
Cute-this is my favorite ride.
We rode this water-log ride that plunged us in two different heights and the most thrilling of them all…
the Dingo Racer!
This ride is fun, not because of the track or its g-force but rather, the seat rotates 360 degrees and is easily influenced with your weight. Unfortunately, loose items like phones are not permitted due to safety. For now, enjoy this pov on YouTube by @CoasterLife and one day, I’ll show a pov + reaction for you, lol
Theme parks rely on regional culture, technology and intellectual properties (see: MovieWorld and DC Comics) to incite tourism demand, while also creating imaginations. The parks garner new types of coaster fans including g-force adrenaline junkies and engineering nerds.
Aussie World caters for events as well as parties. I personally think the place is a big choice for large events, particularly ones for children (think of Nickelodeon Awards with slime-lol idk) with carousels of different sizes, mini ferris wheel (I didn’t ride) and a mini golf course!
My personal favorite was an ‘Antz’-esque ride. It’s not special, really. There’s large-scale ants and flowers. It’s just so tiny and I’m fortunate to be light enough to ride the thing, it’s so cute!
Before I continue, appreciation to their creative art department and the park staff as well for being kind and wonderful throughout the experience! Since it’s a weekend there were parties everywhere so we decided to leave.
After riding the Dingo Racer one last time, we left around 2:15 with my partner taking a ‘detour’ at the nearby interchange-heading left instead of our usual Brisbane-Gold Coast (M1). I’m not aware as to how our road works but I honestly didn’t care, I just wanted to add paragraphs to this post.
I also can’t wait to be home for Marvel Rivals and bed-nap (lol). However, bunch of trees and midrise buildings pass when I start to notice that we were not going home-not just yet. The surrounding look unfamiliar but still looked any other Queensland beach town; we have ocean, sand and the wind.
The sun is too bright at two-thirty, as it slowly falls in the shoreline while my partner idled and went inside this building facing Bulcock Beach (yes, it sounds EXACTLY like you’ve read). Couple of minutes later, he returned with hotel keys, telling me he booked a room for us for the night before returning tomorrow!
The ocean and the breeze on the fourth floor feels good, though it didn’t help with the weather until much later (picture was taken later at sunset). The sky looks so much better than in the morning, no signs of the rain at all.
After going inside our motel room, I head straight to their queen-size bed, turned on the AC with the temperature on lowest and on blast mode, snooping at my phone since I’m tired and wanted to sleep at home (and play Marvel Rivals)
My partner laid next to me before suggesting we stroll around. I prefer the indoors on summertime. Other than the sun burning me to death, a lot of things happen during summer; schoolies, wedding and functions, families and sometimes you have MAFS filming on the beach.
When I was living at Surfers Paradise (Gold Coast’s CBD), I’d always encounter a crowd of teenagers with their pink badges and stinky hangover breath every November – December with their eskis and large-ass speakers playing tunes for ALL to hear. It’s more annoying once you miss the stop because of how loud and crowdy it gets everytime its Schoolies-season.
So yeah, I prefer the indoors or the rural areas during non-peak seasons. I do not enjoy crowds, weird since I’m from the Philippines where there’s a large population. I think foreign people and crowds just triggers my anxiety, and I’m really scared to turn into a Karen
(sorry for the sweet Karens out there, including cousin and mum-in-law :P)
After strolling, there wasn’t anything much to see other than the few stores open. After buying some drinks, we decided to swim at the motel pool! Fortunately it was just us two and we had the pool to ourselves.
I’d asked him to take pictures of my floating skills, but his photography and directing skills needs a tiny bit of improvement (hehehe). I mean, what is this?
We didn’t do or see lot of stuff other than sighting the beach. Caloundra is a tourist town and since the season is quiet, there’s an eerie-like vibe around the area, similar to a doomsday event. Most of their local shops were closed and restaurants doesn’t open until dinner
Anyway, I don’t a lot of sh*t to write anymore since like I said-not a lot happened other than dinner and the park but I still enjoyed it and caught some photos.
References and other stuff:
- Marquez, L., Dunstall, S., Bartholdi, J., and MacCawley, A. (2012)
Cool or hot: A study of container temperatures in Australian wine shipments
Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, 18 (3) 2012 pp 420 – 441 ↩︎ - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023).
Let’s talk about the weather: injuries related to extreme weather
Retrieved via the internet on 3rd of April 2025 ↩︎