Day 16 - Thursday, 10 January 2013

We woke up to ash all over everything from the local fires, packed up quite early and started our travels out of Tin Can Bay. We passed The Ettamogah Pub on the way which looked very similar to the one near Albury. We arrived at Australia Zoo just after 9am, ready for a huge day. Just after we had entered there was a wildlife worker holding a lizard so first photo and great start. We went to the Giant Tortoise show - they were massive and so slow when they walked! When the ranger put some food out the little geckos come from everywhere and stole the food. We walked around and saw koalas, cassowaries, Tasmanian devils and crocodiles. Stocking up on icy poles we found some seats in the shade of the huge stadium called The Crocaseum ready to watch the Wildlife Warriors. First Bindi did her song and dance show - Hannah loved that! Then they let some birds fly around, my goodness the lorikeets were so fast and flew right above the audiences heads - Hannah leaned forward and nearly crashed with one! I liked the Condoor which is from America and has a wing span of 3 metres… it was huge! These birds are all free and are let out from somewhere in the park and trained to come to the stadium and then they go to the rangers or walk back out by themselves - it was amazing! We saw a couple of snakes and then came the crocodiles. First a baby one came out which Bob feed and then the largest crocodile they have come out and Bindi fed that one. They talked about what to do around the water in crocodile territory.

After the show we stood in the long queue for lunch, it was so hot and steamy. We made our way to the tiger show. The rangers trickled milk into the tiger's mouth and got them to climb up poles, stand up on their back legs and even hug the rangers! They were amazing! We walked out to Africa and looked at Bindi's Bootcamp and saw giraffe's, zebra's and even a rhino! Then went to feed the elephants - I fed them a bit of kiwi fruit, the elephants trunk felt funny and it sucked up the fruit and left all slobber on my hand… YUK!!! With another icy pole we headed back to see Bindi's tree house and the snakes and then it was time to go.

Peter left us here to travel back home as he was not coming to the Gold Coast with us. Bye, bye Pete - thanks for being part of our trip, we are going to miss you! We travelled down to Helensvale where we were going to stay for a week. We setup quickly because we were dying to get into the pool. The pool area was amazing, with cabanas all around and a water slide too! When it got dark, the coloured lights came on and flames came out of giant pillars. It was beautiful, had a great atmosphere and we all thought this could be Hawaii!! We dried off, went back for dinner and soon it was bed time listening to the bats slurping the mangos in the tree next to our tent.

Day 17 - Friday, 11 January 2013

Today is Simone's birthday. The ladies were going 'out' for the day while the dads and kids had other plans. We started the day with some time in the pool then went across the road to Wet 'n' Wild. We were there for 3 hours but only went on 2 rides because the queues were really long. The first ride was a green waterslide and we lined up for an hour and it was so boring and the ride wasn't that great. We then went on the Tornado slide - it was awesome! You went down a small section of waterslide and then up and down the sides of half a hollowsphere.

We went back to camp and met the mums in the pool for a P-A-R-T-Y! We had booked the cabana for a few hours so put our stuff there and went in the pool. We went down the waterslide heaps of times - it was awesome. We swam for ages and Sean ordered drinks all round - mum said the tropical dacqueri cocktail was the best… she had 3! There were also chips, nachos and garlic pizza - it was yum. We eventually left the pool, came back to camp and went to bed.

Mum and the other ladies went up to Mt Tamborine for the day. Sean had spent hours cleaning out the car for a comfortable trip in their finest outfits! They had lunch at MT Brewery and Cheese factory - that's where the cocktails started… They went shopping down Gallery Lane picking up some treasures and hoping for afternoon tea but the shops closed at 3pm.

Day 18 - Saturday, 12 January 2013

Early this morning whilst we were all sleeping Darren left camp heading to Adelaide to be best man at his friend's wedding. He will be back again late Sunday night.

Today we travelled to Seaworld, it didn't take that long to get there and we saw the seal show first. It was kind of a story and the seals did lots of funny things - I thought it was really good. We went to see the penguins next and they told us a bit about them while they were feeding them. Next was the dolphin show where we watched them do jumps and flips and even lifted the people up out of the water and a girl even surfed on a dolphin! After the show we went on The Sea Viper which was a roller coaster. It was so awesome and you went upside down.

We had lunch and got a cup which for $10 came with free refills - we only bought one and proved a bargain after topping up at least 15 times during the day - soft drinks and frozen fantas, we have never had so much soft drink in one day! After lunch we went on the Flume which is like a log ride. We lined up and got on - you went on a conveyor belt and then down a hill and got sprayed with water at the end - which was really refreshing as the day was really, really hot and humid. We went back on The Sea Viper and then the Jetski Rescue. After lining up for quite a while and we got to the front of the line, the ride got too hot and broke down. We waited 45 minutes and then got on the front seats! We walked past a relaxed polar bear and went to Shark Bay. There were so many sharks and fish and stingrays. We walked underneath so we could see the underwater aquarium, it was amazing!

Nearing the end of the day now, we were to meet the others near the entrance to watch the jetski show so mum thought we would be really clever and we hopped on the monorail which then went all the way around the park, outside the entrance and finally back in before we could hop off. We sat down (a bit late) to watch the exciting show only I accidentally sat in bird poop L. The stuntmen did flips and jumps and everything. Great way to end a fantastic day.

We headed back to camp stopping in at Safeway for food and dinner only to find it closed… 5pm on Saturday - we are spoilt in Melbourne! We resorted to emergency food and had a game of Viking Kubb (a wooden block game) before dinner and bed.

Day 19 - Sunday, 13 January 2013

Today we went to Movie World thinking maybe not a great idea, being Sunday there would be heaps of people with horrendous queues BUT as soon as we got in we headed for Green Lantern with hardly any queue at all! We moved around the different rides and found that due to no coach tours running on Sunday - this is the day of the week to come so we were very happy and enjoyed plenty of rides. I went on the Superman ride 3 times, the Green Lantern again, Arkham Asylum, Batman Drop, Scooby Doo, Road Runner rollar coaster, Wild West Falls twice and Justice League once.

We went to the Hollywood Stunt show which was awesome. They started the show looking for volunteers… it was so incredibly funny when they asked for a couple, the camera went onto Sean and Christina who were not sitting with us at the time. All our group squealed with delight. They ended up being part of a mini video they played on the main screen where they looked shocked and then kissed! The motorbikes did wheelies and the cars drove on two wheels and there was a huge explosion with a fire too. We saw the parade through the main street where all the cartoon characters come down on their floats.

My favourite ride for the day was the Superman ride which goes from 0 - 100 km in 2 seconds … amazing and fast!

Day 20 - Monday, 14 January 2013

Today was a free day to relax and do as we please. We went back to Movie World in the morning but found the queues were huge, a lot different from yesterday! We went to the Ice Age 4D movie - the seats moved around in time with different events in the movie, air blew on your neck and we got sprayed with water when the animals sneezed - well I hope it was water! We only managed one other ride - the Superman ride before we gave up for the day.

I had a Chiropractor appointment this afternoon because my neck has been so sore and the massage at Eumundi market hasn't helped. Everyone is so sick of me whining so hopefully this helps!

Day 21 - Tuesday, 15 January 2013

Today we were going to Wet 'n' Wild to spend the day there and hoping to do more rides than last time! We got there early so we could get a base setup for all of us with shade and line up before the rides opened. We found a great area with picnic tables, banana lounges and chairs and I was walking quickly to start to line up when I stubbed my toe on the concrete, it had ripped open and was bleeding heaps and mum took me to first aid. They cleaned it and put some strong band aids on it and I was ok even though it really hurt L. The first ride I went on was The Black Hole which was a waterslide that was pitch black inside. After that we went The Tornado with my family - it was awesome but the water was freezing and mum screams too loud! Next I went on the Side Winder with Dad - it was ok. Then I went on Match 5 by myself, it went straight down after a slow start - Hannah hurt her back on this one as her rashie crept up and sort of burnt her. Next was the Aqualoop which was so scary because you went in this cylinder thing, they locked you in and with countdown 3,2,1 … the floor disappeared and you dropped vertical into the loop, went upside down before looping out - I made it through and then went on the Aquaracer with Hannah and Brianna. Next I went on the Surf Rider twice and after lunch went on the Kamikazee and it was so awesome. We lined up for Mammoth Falls even though the others didn't think much of it - it was ok though. The last ride we went on was the Constrictor, we lined up for about an hour and although it was good, it was not worth the hour wait!

At least now I have been on all the rides at both Movie World and Wet 'n' Wild. We quickly went back to camp to shower and put on some nice clothes as we were going to the Outback Spectacular horse show. When we got there we were given a straw hat and had our photos taken. We had a look at the gift shop and had a drink in the entry hall before we went inside to our seats. We watched the start of the show which was about how the horses came to live in Australia. It was really good how they did it because part of it was on a projector and some of it the horses and people did the show. It was so awesome! The second part of the show was about Phar Lap. They acted out his life which was really sad. The show ended with some acrobatics on the horses, the girls were standing up and went upside down trailing their hands on the ground - it was fantastic.

Entrée was salad wraps with a mango sauce and although Hannah and I didn't like it mum and dad loved it and had 2 each! Main meal was a huge thick steak with vegetables - it was so yummy! Dessert was pavlova and although I was looking forward to it, it was way too sweet for me, so dad had 3!

Day 22 - Wednesday, 16 January 2013

This morning we started packing up our gear, it's funny but the longer you stay somewhere the more stuff comes out and longer to pack up. Hannah and I have been sleeping in our own tent but we packed this up and moved our beds in the big tent with mum and dad. I had another chiropractor appointment this morning, following up on the last one. Although my neck was better yesterday it is just as sore today so hoping after some more bone crunching it will get better.

We went to Harbour Town to go shopping at the DFO shops and I bought a T-shirt and a pencil case for school and I went to every surf shop there except for Hurley. I don't know why? We returned to SeaWorld for a couple of hours and climbed the adventure obstacle course, went on the Sea Viper once and the Jetski ride twice.

We drove into Surfers Paradise to meet the others for dinner and the market. We were celebrating Sean and Christina's departure in the morning. We found a great restaurant with yummy meals and then headed to the night markets. I bought a yoyo ball and a necklace. We thought ice cream at McDonalds was a good idea but it took 30 minutes to get through the drive through!