We had originally decided on a free overnight stop at Canungra, before heading to Southport on the Gold Coast. But after some discussion and a look at the map we decided to push on through and get to the big smoke. It was only a 220km trip from Queen Mary Falls to Southport.

The king parrots, crimson rosellas and bower birds called in for a quick feed while we were packing up and the girls made sure to say good-bye to their new best friends. We were on the road by 10am. The road to the Gold Coast led us back through Warwick and down the Great Dividing Range by way of Cunningham's Gap. This range had also been affected by the heavy rain experienced by the Downs region in recent times. The drive provided some remarkable views of both rainforest type areas and the range itself, as we descended into the small town of Boonah. Apart from a run in on the 40 (UHF radio) with one cockhead, intent on annoying every truckie on the road, the range trip was quite enjoyable. We decided to pull into Boonah for some lunch, let kids have a play in the park and stretch our legs. After spotting plenty of roadside fruit stalls Kylz had made a decision to stop at the next stall no matter what! So spotting one up ahead the silver bullet & I (caravan and all!) made a braking manoeuvre Lowndsey would have been proud of!? So with purse in one hand, Charli hanging off the other, Kylz headed in the direction of the stall. Chels and I had the good sense to wait behind and keep an eye on the car?! After about a 200m walk down hill, which seemed about 4km with Charli having to stop and look at everything, we finally made the fruit stall. Let's just say I have seen better fruit and the prices where a bit over the top. Then there was the uphill battle of getting myself a bag of fruit and Charli back to the car before Easter.As I got back to the car I had decided to do the fruit stall shopping on my own and only if I can see the fruit from the road, my bad. The drive through Beaudesert to Nerang had many highlights also but one thing in particular stood out to us both. The amount of Horse properties was on eye opener, we had never seen anything like it. You need a $100K entrance just to be average in this area. It was awesome to see such beautifully presented properties as well as the horses. We had just finished admiring this scenery when we come to the top of a crest! There it was, all you could see was high rise buildings, this was the perfect photo opportunity, but like lot of other times on this trip so far, we missed it.(big braking manoeuvres are reserved for fruit stalls only remember!?)

We made our way from Nerang through the traffic, down into Southport Tourist Park. After finding our site and setting our little camp (a process we are refining each time) we were able to grab a drink and take in the sights. With views of SeaWorld(which was our main reason for this stop) across the Broadwater to our east and kite surfers and windsurfers racing amongst cruise boats and kayaks there was plenty to see from the small bench just in front of our site. A couple of our greyer neighbours had little tinnies that they were able to launch straight of the beach on those small rollers that attach to the side of their tinnies. Makes good sense, and quite easy for two of them to accomplish. The fishing had been "better"? was the most common comment, however we did see a couple of good bream and a few whiting come back to the beach over the course of our stay.

This park is close to all the major tourist attractions, approx 15km to Dreamworld,Movieworld and Wet'n'Wild, 5km to Surfers Paradise, 5km to SeaWorld(which has a bike track from the van park to SeaWorld) and only 1km to Australia Fair Shopping Centre. There are parks, bbq table and chairs, playgrounds even a water park right along the beach front. A netted swimming area at the beach with cover to sit under, a pontoon and some kids play boats, there is so much to do.Not only all that but the van park itself had a pool, playground, games room and a tennis court.

Our first bit of bad weather, since leaving, hit us a couple of days into our Gold Coast stay. A few showers, nothing we have not seen before! With a few bananas past there used by date, I mentioned that Kylz should bake a banana bread. Now Kylz, being a complete recipe freak, upon realising she was missing some of the ingredients she would normally use in her recipe for banana bread, was reluctant to proceed. It was at this time that I reminded her of our sister in-law Amanda's complete disregard for specifics when it comes to recipes and the many unique dishes she has concocted!? Kylz decided to take on the challenge! By substituting ingredients and doing what she could with what she had, to our amazement out of the oven came one of the best looking Banana Breads she had ever baked. It was all high fives, back slapping and "eat your heart out Amanda" until with one last over confident lift from the cake tin to the cooling rack all her good work landed on the floor before our very eyes!? After the laughing and photos were over we assessed the damage. As it had landed the right way up, we decided to eat it and duly christened it the "the great gold coast bananafloor cake" Funnily enough Chelsea gave it the thumbs up and ate more banana floor cake than any other time before.

While walking and talking around the park we met another couple in the midst of an Australian tour. They were from Perth, Western Australia and have been travelling for the past 12 months. The girls became good friends with their children, Maddie (6) & Locky (2) we also came to have happy hour sessions with Jim & Deb in the arvos while the kids played. These kids where inseparable, every waking moment they were asking to go play with each other. Charli has learnt to ride her scooter quite well by this time and joined both the older girls and Locky in a noisy procession around our vans each arvo. Locky was unbelievable on his scooter, everyone between our van and his would watch in amazement. Looking out the van window we see new neighbours setting up camp. This set up looked awfully familiar?We then realised that they had been camping just up from us in Toowoomba. It was not until now that we had got talking. They are a lovely couple, Ed & Jen, from Moree, NSW. There are also in the final stages of their trip around Australia. It is amazing how many people are taking on this big adventure and travelling our amazing country.

Having watched the weather we had decided that Thursday would be the best day to attack SeaWorld.Being an RACQ member we got a discount of $25, but had to find a RACQ shop to purchase the tickets, luckily one was at Australia Fair.So we loaded up the kids on their scooters and took to the bike track along the waterfront until we came to Australia Fair.James stayed and played with the kids at the playground directly opposite Australia Fair while I approached the very busy shopping centre, to get those tickets to SeaWorld.Returning about half an hour later I could see James had had enough. The kids needed a rest (I needed a beer!) if they were going to survive the next day at SeaWorld!

We arrived at spot on opening time @ 10am. We checked out the map and times of the shows, gathered a bit of a plan, than we were off. First stop Penguins! They were fantastic, such beautiful animals. Polar Bears, one of the big things to see for Kylz and I, were big amazing animals to see up close. We don't want to sound too picky here or judgemental,but we were a bit disappointed to see him eating a muesli bar box, which I'm sure wouldn't be one of their dietary requirements. There was also wheelie bins and witches hats lying around his enclose!? These may have been his toys? Maybe they like choc-chip muesli bars? Who are we to know? But with the amount of money they have spent on such a realistic and safe enclosure, they could have had stuff made to blend in rather than just look like there is crap lying around and no one gives a damn! This was a bit disappointing especially after being to the Australia Zoo where everything is immaculate.

We pulled into the new and much talked about Castaway Bay to grab a quick drink and some chips before heading in to the grand stand for the Dolphin show. Unreal! This was fantastic! They are such amazing creatures to watch! Chels loved watching them. The power they have in the water is mind boggling. They push the trainers through the water at amazing speeds then launch themselves and the trainers high up into the air. Sitting in the amazing auditorium, and watching the dolphins at such close range, I wondered if maybe Steve Irwin had gained some inspiration for his "crocosium" from this amazing facility. After the Dolphin show we headed into Shark Bay. This area also has the pools which have starfish, sea cucumbers and other sea creatures that you can touch.Charli was amazed at being able to touch so many unique new animals, and had to be held back from jumping in with them! No questions asked hands, in touching anything she could get her hands one. Chels she was a bit winky at first but eventually came round. It really got the kids involved and we weren't the only parents restraining their kids! The sting-ray feeding is another hands on activity the park offers. We could not convince the girls to feed these though. We eventually got to the sharks at Shark Bay. The girls were pretty wrapped in this also; mind you there was not much they didn't like. The walk downstairs was their favourite as they could see so many fish in with the sharks and wondered why they were not eaten up by the sharks?! They could not remember their trip to Reef HQ in Townsville when they asked the same question.Chels was keen for the Merry-Go- Round, at Sesame Park. Kylz had to participate in this as our little Charli was too short to go on her own. Charli was keen for the plane ride, so Chels jumped on with her. Charli also had a bit of a play in the water park, while Chels decided on heading on into the games room with Maddie & Locky (kids from the van park), James decided on a quick beer (to gather my sanity) with fellow travellers.

We decided to take a look at the pirate show, a lot of acrobats, boats and jet-skis, this was pretty good, (just a little note get to this one a bit early or you end up sitting in the sun like we did) Our last show that we caught was the seals, this was great, and the look on Charlis face was priceless! This would have been by far her favourite (from my point of view anyway). The time and effort that must go into training these animals to do what they do is amazing. Before leaving we headed back to Castaway Bay to have ago in the boats, (pirate boats on a track with rotary water pistols on them to shoot the crowd) when we got there Chels decided she didn't want to go, so Kylz sat with Chels.James on the other hand was dressed and ready to go quicker then Charli! He was keen! As I looked around I realised the amount of grown men that were having an absolute ball at this water park. Our girls really enjoyed the big day and blow-ups were few and far between. SeaWorld has something for all ages, it was a great day.

The next day was pack up day again. This next leg finds us heading a short distance over the border and into cockroach country. Hope they drive on the same side of the road as us? Ah well guess we will just have to find out aye!