Day 67 Surfer's Paradise (Dreamworld)

The sun was shining this morning, and the kids were up early AGAIN!!!  We told them that we wouldn't be going early, but they all have the attention span of a goldfish at the moment.

There was a whole array of journal writing that had to be completed before we went, myself included, so it was a slow and (I would like to say relaxing) frustrating start to the day.  Getting the kids to write a decent journal is like herding cats in the rain whilst roller skating.

Somehow we managed to get all of the journals written to what would seem to be an acceptable standard and packed a lunch for Rowan and Emma who again can't eat a meal that is bought for them, and headed off towards Dreamworld.

Dreamworld is my favourite park, and I have been looking forward to this one.  Dreamworld is about two things...Rides and Tigers.  Both are awesome, so we were all very excited to get there.




Lisa and I wanted to get as much out of today as possible, so we lashed out and bought the USB stick with unlimited photos from the rides.  It was after that that we set out on a riding Baganza!. 

First stop was the Thunder River Rapids.  I have a personal distaste for flume rides, but the kids love them so we all jumped on for our first taste of Dreamworld fun.  This ride is a bit benign and meanders through some tame rapids.  They ensure though that there is one or two spots where the water slops all over you.

The best thing about the Thunder River Rapids is that they are right next to the Giant Drop.  This was our favourite ride when Lisa and I came to Dreamworld in 2002.  Back then, we rode this 10 times in one day.  The premise is simple.  Ride the little chair to the top of the 119m tall tower and gravity does the rest. 

During the ride, you experience 4 seconds of free fall and weightlessness.  The view from the top is exhilarating and probably the bit that I find hardest to deal with.  This ride never gets boring, and it was as brilliant this time as last.  What made it even better was that Rowan with his new enthusiasm for thrill rides is sitting in the left hand most chair next to mum. 

Ashley and Emma were to frightened to get on this even after Ashley's insistence all week that he would.  So much for talk.  Rowan loved it, and had that awesome grin from ear to ear again.  I think after missing out on so much, he doesn't want to miss out on anything else no matter what it is.

We found the rest of our kids after Giant Drop and went onwards to Mick Doohan's Motocoaster.  This was the one that broke down whilst we were in line the other day.  Even Emma agreed to get onto this one, so we all went down the side car lane which bypasses the big queue.  And here the drama started.  Emma refused to get onto the ride and had a huge crying tantrum.  Eventually they just ushered her off the ride and she had to wait while the rest of us had a go.

After the Jet Ski Rescue at Seaworld, I am sad to say that this ride was just a bit lame.  I put on a pose for the photo, but I wouldn't have dared let go of the Jet Ski Rescue hand holds.  This ride was a bit slow and didn't really excite that much.  The most frightening thing about this ride was Emma's tantrum.  I am terrified at what the teenage years may hold for us after that one.

I guess each to their own, and it's ok to be scared, but seriously...this ride was a bit lame.

Lisa and I felt obliged to do something that all the kids could ride on, so we went back to the Escape From Madagascar roller coaster.  The kids rode on this the other day, so we were hopeful that they would get back on it and into the swing of Dreamworld.

Rowan is completely into the thrill ride swing of things, and has his hands in the air for most of the rides now.  Emma at least enjoyed this ride, so there was something that she can say she went on.  Mum and dad would ride this again later for the ride photo, but we were looking for bigger and better thrills than this.

Dotted all around the park are photo opportunities.  Part of the bonus of having the USB photo stick is that we were able to get our character photos for free as well, so we took every opportunity that we could.  And who can resist that Puss...In Boots.  There was to be several more character encounters during the day.


After the photos with Puss and Fiona, we had to jog to get over to Tiger Island for the tiger show.  They have some cubs at the park at the moment and they were playing together when we were on our way in to see the show.

They had some newborn cubs the last time we were here as well.  They are soooo cute.  The main show was underway though, so I had to drag myself away from these guys to catch up with Lisa and the kids who were fighting to find room on the fence line to see the other tigers.

I don't get tired of looking at these beautiful and graceful big cats.  It is so disheartening to think that there are less than 5000 wild tigers left in the world and that they are on the brink of extinction with only man as a predator.

This big boy is around 200kg of fluffy pussy cat.  They have the same playful nature, and mannerisms of our domestic cats.  They had the big boy climb a tree and do some jumping to show their agility.  At the peak of this jump, both tigers were 2.5 meters in the air.  So if you are being chased by a tiger, climbing a tree or a trampoline are useless means of escape.

Tiger island is situated right next to the entry for the Tower Of Terror II.  This was the other ride that Ashley insisted he was going to go on.  Emma was adamant that she wasn't going near this ride, so we set her up with all of our bags to watch the tigers whilst we went for a ride. 

Couldn't help but snap this photo before I left the tigers though...HE'S SO FLUFFY! 

I love this picture.

Tower of Terror II is a revamp of the original ride.  Basically the same, but the engineers put the car back on the wrong way around when they serviced the ride a few years back.  Now you get shot down the track backwards and go up the tower in reverse before hanging weightless face down to the ground.  This is much more exciting than the view of the sky that you used to get. 

And here is where the ride got interesting.  In line they called through a party of four to ride.  In front of us were two groups.  One was a group of 14 and the other was a group of 10, so they let us through to ride.  However, we would not have been able to sit together as a group. So we let some other people go, and the group of 14 people (The car holds 14 riders).  That meant we got to ride with the group of 10 bikies.

This made the ride all the more fun.  As we were sitting down, Ashley freaked out and had a huge crying tantrum.  All the bikies were revving him up to get him to sit down.  He wasn't going to ride, but still had to cross the car to get off the ride.  Lisa and I grabbed him, sat him in the chair and pulled his harness down so he couldn't get up again...MWAHAHAHA!!!!  Rowan was bouncing with the excitement of being able to go.

This ride is so much better when someone is wailing with fear...

The photo's speak for themselves...stop, look closely and enjoy them.  We did. 


The bikes made this ride absolutely brilliant, and they had plenty of jokes and encouragement for Ashley when the ride was done.  Ashley insisted on going again, but we couldn't make Emma wait that long. However, when we went to ride again later he refused to even go near the entrance.  Tee Hee!

Before we had some lunch we trekked across the park to have a ride on the Cyclone which is the big double loop gravity roller coaster. 

After Escape From Madagascar, we were hopeful to get us all on this roller coaster together, but again at the gate, Emma shook her head and turned on the tears and refused to go any further.  By this time we were over the attention seeking, and dropped all of the bags with her at the bottom before making our way up to ride. 

The ride on this is a bit rattly, but because it was a slow day they let us go around a second time before we had to get off and head back downstairs. 

Again Rowan was just in raptures at being able to do the big rides.

The Madagascar show was about to start, and Lisa took Emma and Rowan to see the show whilst Ashley and I made our way across to the AVPX - Alien Vs Predator Laser Tag experience.  There were no photos allowed in the AVPX, but it was brilliant with a large series of mazes and doorways.  Not only did we fight the other team, but we also had to fight the arena which was full of traps and pitfalls for the unobservant. 

Ashley and I were on the Yellow team (Which won the battle by over 4000 points.)  I had an exceptionally good day out coming in 5th out of 15 on my team.  Ashley was stoked that he wasn't last.  It is hard to hide when you have a 9 year old standing with you everywhere you go.  I was hopeful to do this again, but it would have been too difficult to get Lisa to come with us with the young ones...maybe next time.

The kids had eaten their lunch whilst they were watching the Madagascar Live show, so it was time for Mum and Dad to get something to eat too.  We went to the extortion bar and got ourselves some food.  THEY HAD KRISPY KREME DONUTS!!!  I find this kind of forced selling is offensive, so only bought one box.  

Whilst we were eating, the other kids were playing in the Madagascar Jungle Jam which is a playground where they have all sorts of air cannons that fire Nerf balls around.  Lots of fun for the big kids and the small ones.

This playground is another one of those psycho-crack for kids experiences.  It is difficult not to go crazy and just start shooting kids wantonly with giant cannons that pump out 20 balls at a time...This place brought out the darker side of daddy...

We were able to get our photo taken with the Madagascar Penguins, and even the photographer said that this was one of the best photos that she had been able to get during her time at the park. 

Love this shot.

Not quite sure what Lisa is doing in this photo though :)


Now that we had everyone riding, we were a bit hopeful that we could get on with having some fun.  We went to the Tower of Terror for a second ride, but both Ashley and Emma freaked out and would go on, so we gave it a miss and went back towards the Giant Drop which Emma said she would ride.  We got to Mick Doohan's Motocoaster, but Emma refused to get on, so we gave that a miss too, because even Rowan was saying it was lame. 

We got back to the Giant Drop and lined up with Emma and Rowan.  By this time Lisa and I had agreed that we weren't going to let the kids spoil our fun.  We got to the front of the queue and when Emma saw the chairs, she started crying and tantrumming again.  We just waved her off, and went with Rowan again.  AWESOME!!!

Flume rides were promised, so it was across to the Rocky Hollow Log Ride.  Mum and dad only went once, but the kids went around a couple of times to ensure that they were thoroughly soaked.  At least Emma got on to this.

The opportunity to get a photo of the kids in stocks was too good to pass up and the results speak for themselves.

Who would have picked Emma for being a horse thief.  In fact, I am not sure if this is too far from the truth.

She Loves her ponies.

The kids rode on the Rapids again, and it was starting to get late in the afternoon.  Planning was important from here. 

Emma actually agreed to go on the Claw again.  Now I don't understand this.  The Claw is one of the most frightening rides I've ever been on, but this was to be Emma's third ride.  For someone who won't do the Tower of Terror or the Giant Drop, or even lame Mick Doohan's Motocoaster, she certainly has picked a doozy of a ride as her favourite.

Lisa and I agreed to go on with Rowan as he wasn't able to do this on Monday when we came.  I love his excited squeals on this sort of ride. 

Rowan, Lisa and I went back to Tower of Terror (TOT) for a second ride whilst Ashley and Emma took of to Escape from Madagascar again. 

On the way out of TOT, we got some postcards for the kids, and the one that Rowan got was a list of the big 7 thrill rides.

The Claw, The Cyclone, Tower Of Terror II, The Giant Drop, The Wipeout, The Buzzsaw, Mick Doohan's Motocoaster.  Of these rides, Rowan had done all except The Wipeout and The Buzzsaw.  Lisa and I had done The Wipeout last time we were here, and hated it.  We braved it one more time though for our little guy.  Unfortunately, The Buzzsaw is closed for maintenance which sucks big time, as it was the only ride I really wanted to do.  This did not exist the last time we were here.

How cool does that look though!

It was time to leave though, so we collected ourselves and our kids, and headed for the exit.  We were so tired that I forgot to collect the last half dozen photos that we had taken...DOH!

Who was it that said a picture speaks a thousand words.

It was back to the caravan for nice hot showers, and off to dinner and trivia night at the park.  We had a great dinner of schnitzel and came third overall on the trivia which was within 1.5 points across the top 3 teams.

Mum and dad had to suffer our way through a horrible cocktail that was way too small in the end.  The Chocolate Camper...Butterscotch Schnapps, Baileys, Kahlua, Milk, Chocolate Syrup.  Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!

I'm sure the kids are gonna sleep well tonight, and I know now that I am too tired to write this, so we have another next day retrospective blog.

Wet and Wild tomorrow...(Today) if we manage to get out of the caravan.  The body is not cooperating much any more.









 

Day 66 Surfer's Paradise (Rest Day...Supposedly)

In a week of theme parking, it is vitally important to schedule a rest day, you wouldn't want to burn out mid week.  So today in the middle of the week, we had planned to have a breather, and relax in beautiful Queensland. 

Our day began like most others at the moment with the kids up ridiculously early, so the planned sleep in went right out the window.  The blog is starting to take its toll on me as I find myself up until midnight with the content and artwork. The kids then wake me stupidly early so I have been pretty tired for the past week.

The first thing on our agenda was to take Rowan to the shop for some new shoes in the hope that this would assist with getting him onto a few more of the rides.  His feet have gone up two sizes since we bought his last pair 10 weeks ago.  Whilst we were there, Ashley pointed out that he had destroyed his shoes too, so the boys both got new footwear this morning.  In the shop we measured Rowan, and came up with 123cm...I don't quite think so, but here's hoping.

The tummy rumbles had started by the time we were leaving, so we stopped and grabbed some Krispy Kreme Donuts.  If you have not had them, you don't know what you are missing out on. If you have heard of them before, yes they really are that good.  If you have had them before...well, I can taste the envy in the air. 

Funnily, Ashley and Rowan went psycho after their donut.  Who would have guessed it?  Anyway, with our mini mission accomplished, we set off to go back to Seaworld for a short while to see the things we missed yesterday. 

During the trip back we got to drive around parts of the Indy Car Circuit including the Front Straight, The starting grid, past pit lane, the hair pin at the bottom of the course, the back straight and the chicane.  Took about 30 minutes in the Prado with traffic.  I believe an Indy Car is a lot faster.  I was in no danger of breaking the track record held by Dario Franchitti at 1:35.1552.


Seaworld isn't far up the spit from the Surfer's Paradise, so we arrived fairly early in the morning still.  The one thing we all wanted to do was the sky climb, so we jumped straight onto the chair lift to get to the middle of the park.  The dolphin pens below the chairlift had a mother and calf frolicking around together, and posing for  photos.  It is pretty hard to go past this sort of sight without being a little bit moved.  It has the "Awwwwww" factor about it.


From the chairlift, we me headed into Castaway Bay, but the Sky Climb didn't open until 1200.  It was just coming up time for the Dolphin Show which is in the stadium right across the road, so we went in to see the show a second time.  I am glad we did as the trainers and Dolphins were all different, and we got to see a whole array of new tricks.  It was great too to see the kids totally immersed in what was going on.

After the Dolphin show, we only had a 15 minute wait to get onto the Sky Climb and we were the first ones in the queue for the attraction.  Sky Climb is a ropes course set over 3 levels with various challenges including tight rope, single and double boards without railings, stepping stones and various rope bridges.  Whilst we were waiting the kids went back into the Castaway Bay Jungle Gym to play in the gigantic maze of walkways and obstacles.


When the Sky Climb opened we faced the first big test of Rowan's new shoes, and he was super excited to find out that he was finally tall enough to go on one of the "cool rides" as he put it.  The staff set us up in Harnesses, and we had a tether rope that slid through an overhead series of channels. 

I don't know if Rowan really wanted to go on this, but after missing out on so many rides, he was extremely determined and put on his bravest face. 

Rowan was the first one up the stairs and then stopped at the first platform very uncertain on how to proceed. 

He spent the first 10 minutes shuffling around a couple of the walkways with handholds before getting braver.  All of us were on the course, and Lisa had gone all the way to the top to try the most challenging hands free rope bridges and stepping stones. 


My better judgement took over, and I freaked out a bit at the heights.  Lisa and I changed over the supervision of Rowan (Who eventually went to the second level) and I went up to the second and top tiers of the course as well determined not to be shown up by a girl...pfft. 

The most frightening traverse was a pair of ropes on the second level that had no hand rails or overhead holds.  I was only able to cross clinging to my tether with a death clutch that Conan the Barbarian would have been envious of.

Much to my relief, they called us off the Sky Climb, and we made our way back down to the safety of solid ground.  Oh blessed sweet lady of Terra-firma.  I'm sure that these attractions would be much more enjoyable in the absence of gravity.

Emma and Ashley seemed to enjoy the experience as well.  I am sure that my legs and arms will remind me of this attraction long after the enjoyment fades.


One of the rules about Sky Climb is that you must be dry to go on.  So the kids had show massive restraint to not get soaked being so close to the Pirate Bay ride.  Emma and Rowan bolted around to get onto the boats, and a very cheeky father gleefully soaked them at three...or maybe four of the stations around the course.

Dad caught a few water  strikes to the torso and legs, but I fear that the pirate ship was decimated by a relentless daddy attack.  "Suffer ya scurvy scourges...Feel the sting of my water cannon me hearties!"

After buying the kids some dry t-shirts to wear for the rest of the day, we walked back past the polar bear exhibit.  There was only one of the bears out again, and he was relaxing atop the tallest rock smelling all of our strange scents. 

These guys are so beautiful, I could sit and stare at them for hours.  I know that they are also a favourite of Lisa's as well.  These guys are just so cute...When they aren't stalking you for their breakfast I'm sure.

One of the other exhibits that we weren't able to see yesterday was the Dinosaur Discovery Centre.  This was fascinating.  They have found many fossils in China which lend to the theory that dinosaurs were not cold blooded reptiles as we first believed, but predecessors to the birds, and covered in feathers.  I can believe that with a close encounter with a cassowary that we had a couple of weeks ago.  All of the exhibits were depicted with feathers, which would also mean that the dinosaurs were warm blooded and able to regulate their own body temperature...Confronting.

We then went back to see the Sea Lion show for a second time.  It is such an entertaining show, and the kids got really involved with it again, screaming out the location of Al Baloney the fish thief.  The sea lions are brilliantly trained, and very cute.

We had had enough of Seaworld for the second day though and decided that it was well time to depart and go and find something else to do. 

It is only a short drive back into the heart of Surfer's Paradise from Seaworld, and we found some parking on the foreshore.  The winter has not been kind to the beach and there is a large scarp formed along the shoreline with a 2m vertical drop.  The waves were smashing in and churning angrily.

The last time we were here, we loved Ripley's Believe it or Not, so we took the kids over to show them as well.  They have improved the exhibits since we were last here, and there are a heap of interactive exhibits now that you can touch and poke and wave at madly to make them do their thing.


We came across the cursed fertility statues again.  I warned Lisa not to go within 2m of them.  There will be no more of their assistance in our family.   Emma wanted to pat them but thankfully I was able to keep her out of arms reach.

Ripley's is still a winner in anyone's book, and well worth the entry fee even if it was a bit steep.  We would have spent two hours inside without the kids once complaining of being bored, hungry, cold or fighting with each other.  That is worth the entry fee in itself.

But we were craving more adrenaline filled activities, so went back to the car to visit the famous Sling Shot.


When we arrived, there was a sign there saying that the minimum ride height for Sling Shot was 110cm.  I found somebody who thought that was the most awesome thing in the world.

After missing out on so much at the start of the week, there was no way in the world we were going to walk away from the Sling Shot without Rowan having a go.  Dad was the fortunate soul who got to get on with him, and the first thing I noticed was that the ride has changed slightly since we were last here.

The Sling Shot used to be a set of chairs encased in a pipe ball so you were fully surrounded.  Apparently this changed about eight years ago, and now the chairs are attached directly to the wires, and they are in open air...GULP!

For the second time today I was to challenge my dislike of heights.  It's not the height itself that concerns me, but more the impact with the ground at the end that plays on my mind.

Some slingshot facts...0 to 160kmh in one second, 0m to 80m in just over 1 second.  6G's at release to 0G's at the apex.

It is quite the extraordinary feeling being shot into the sky like a cannonball, and Rowan was in raptures.  He laughed and his eyes were huge with excitement.  He begged me to ride again with him, but in the interest of being unselfish, I let Lisa go with him for a second ride (Sucker!)

This is truly a must do if you come here...just get over your fear, sit down, shut up and hang on. 

Totally buzzing from the ride, we walked back through Surfer's Paradise to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

This was also a little blast from the past as it is where Lisa and I went for dinner after our last slingshotting. 

We bought a little cocktail for Lisa to get a second matching glass to go with the one on our shelf at home.  Again we got the Nachos as an entree, but this time we shared it amongst the 5 of us.

Dinner was fantastic again, and the atmosphere in Hard Rock never disappoints.

I fell asleep 4 times from exhaustion before I had finished the third paragraph, so the blog has had to wait until this morning for typing.  I am so glad that Ashley woke me up at 0600 again, because I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I was rested.  I guess it's off to Dreamworld then.