Rhapsody Resort: Our Home in Gold Coast

I woke up to the whistling sound of strong winds hitting our floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Occasional heavy drizzles added to the gloomy morning scene in Gold Coast. We planned on going to the beach that day but decided to just stay at the comforts of our huge two-bedroom suite at Rhapsody Resort. It wasn't sunny in Australia’s sunshine state of Queensland after all.

Australia was never on our travel plans but after a blissful happenstance, we traveled to one of our neighboring countries for a two-week adventure—my first trip outside Asia.

Me and my buddy got hitched on a simple backyard wedding last February. It was during the preparations when we thought of a celebratory honeymoon trip afterwards. We originally planned on having a winter trip but after a Manila to Sydney sponsored flight from Scoot, we totally changed our plans.

Check out Scoot's year-round fares to key cities in Australia from Manila via Singapore

One Vine Migration assisted us on our visa processing (check my guide on How to Apply for Australian Tourist Visa in the Philippines). We then sought the help from our favorite travel buddy, Klook App, for deals on tours, transportation and activities in Australia and booked our chosen tours. We usually book airport transfers and sim card during our trips.

Our spacious two-bedroom apartment

Our Manila to Sydney flight had a 16-hour layover in Singapore. We used this time to go to downtown and fulfilled our laksa cravings. We then embarked on our Singapore to Sydney Scoot flight and experienced luxury for less onboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Our first stop was Sydney. We had a lovely five-day stay which allowed us to experience the 40th Mardi Gras Parade as our trip coincided with this annual Gay and Lesbian Parade. We then headed to our next stop, Gold Coast.

After our Sydney to Gold Coast flight, we headed straight to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary for our first Aussie wildlife experience then went straight to the hippie coastal town of Byron Bay, our second stop.

While some are taking their nth selfie with their chosen kangaroo, I sat somewhere and watched as they're having their afternoon siesta. I'm cool with not having close encounter with them. Haha 😀 #BlissfulLakadDownUnder

A post shared by blissfulguro (@blissfulguro) on Mar 10, 2018 at 10:16pm PST

After a night in Byron Bay, we traveled one hour to Gold Coast. It was around one in the morning when we arrived at Rhapsody Resort. Just like our hotel in Byron Bay, there was no available receptionist that night and we were just given an instruction over email on how to retrieve our key cards.

Located on the 17th floor, we were greeted by a 82-sq.m. area that we called home for the next three days.

Resort-style residence

Our Two-Bedroom Ocean View Apartment was enormous (check here for discounted room rates). Several doors led to a certain area and everyone seemed to perk up with the sight of something, well, two of our best buddies somewhat crashed our honeymoon trip but we weren't complaining though.

Fully-functional kitchen

Our self-contained apartment had two bedrooms (one bedroom with twin beds and another one with a king-size bed plus a walk-in closet and private toilet and bath), a laundry room, a guest toilet and bath, dining area, lounge area with TV and entertainment center, a fully-functional state-of-the-art kitchen with almost every kitchen utensil that you could think of, and a balcony that opened up to the Pacific Ocean. It's as if we're on somebody's house and not on a resort apartment.

Main bedroom

The sound of crashing waves greeted me as I pushed the glass doors to the side. This will be our coffee nook tomorrow morning, I mumbled. I went back inside and found my buddies busy stocking up the fridge with their beer hoards from the liquor store, too afraid to get thirsty in the middle of the night or mornight.

Second bedroom

Our unit was surrounded with floor-to-ceiling glass windows which made the room more spacious. We chatted a bit before calling it a day.

The weather wasn't on our side the next day. Surfers Paradise was covered with rainwater and heavy winds which prevented us to even have our quiet morning musings at the balcony. I then went to the kitchen and decided to prep our brekkie.

Main walk-in closet and bathroom

Like most hotels in Australia, our room didn't come with breakfast. We were ready though as we had plenty of foodstuff that we bought from a local grocery store which helped us to get through each morning (Asian thing). Good thing was that coffee and tea were provided at Rhapsody Resort. 

I cooked up some stir-fried corned beef, steamed rice and sausages. Our kitchen had almost everything I needed that morning. I was actually having fun cooking that I mentioned that we should have a spaghetti party.

Guest toilet and bath

We planned on great things that day but decided to just stay at the comforts of our apartment while catching up on work deadlines. Our room had its own internet router which provided really fast WiFi connection to almost every gadget we had.

Laundry room

I also used this lull time to do our laundry and just popped everything on the machine and forgot about it. It truly feels like we’re back home minus the ultramodern household features.

When we all got too hungry for real food (read:rice meal), we headed to an outlet shopping center and did a little shopping after our hearty lunch. After a night stroll at Surfers Paradise, we went back to Rhapsody Resort and started our beer night sesh.

Floor-to-ceiling glass windows

We planned on trying out one of the bars in the area but were all too tired from, well, from nothing, we're all just down at that time (old age, perhaps?).

It was a fun night as we talked about everything and nothing for hours. It feels good to have the liberty of laughing out loud and lounging while popping some cans of ale, cider and beer. It was probably our best booze night in Australia.

Pacific Ocean view from our balcony

Me and my buddy woke up to the sound of nothingness of our room. It was just last night when it was filled with laughter and chaos. It was eerily quiet that morning.

Our buddies were already gone and me and my buddy had the huge apartment all to ourselves. We decided to spend our last morning at Rhapsody Resort in lazy style before our check-out time.

The view of Gold Coast from our balcony

We didn't get to see the pool, gym, or the sky deck with stunning views of the beach and city as we were happily stuck in our apartment. It doesn't matter if you're traveling solo or with the whole gang, the apartment selections at Rhapsody Resort will definitely suit all travelers’ needs for a comfortable stay—a legit resort-style residential experience in Gold Coast. 

Rhapsody Resort (check here for discounted room rates)
3440 Surfers Paradise Boulevarde,
Surfers Paradise, QLD 4217 Australia
Contact Number: 1.300.742.776
Website