Day 245 - Wednesday 30 August - Seaworld

Day 245

Wednesday

30 August 2017 –

Bonogin – Seaworld

Mid week and we were ready to get out to another theme park, this time Seaworld. We were up and getting ourselves organised when we noticed Kirsty hadn’t gone to work. I saw Scott before we left and he let me know she wasn’t feeling the best.

We made our way to the park at 9.30am, following the freeway to Surfers Paradise before taking the Seaworld Drive along The Spit and then parking at the theme park. Again we noticed that it wasn’t overly busy.

We had our photos taken on entry and then made it through the gates, picking up our 7 day theme park pass before surveying the scene before us. We eventually ended up at the King Penguins enclosure where we could watch the birds swimming about below the water, everything looking so effortless. We then followed the ramp to the top where there were many more standing around. Two babies dressed in grandma’s brown fur coat were in the crèche pen. They looked rather rolly polly with their brown feather down and almost as big as the adults.

From here we found a locker to dump our bag for the day and then proceeded through the sea creatures of the deep exhibition. There were no animals in here, just sculptures and it was a bit lame.

We made our way past a large pool where dolphins were frolicking and following their trainers, waiting for a feed.

We entered the stingray touch pool where many of the tourists were feeding the rays by hand; at $9 for a bucket of mullies, we opted to watch and not feed, I did however put my hand in to feel the wings of one animal as it swam by.

We continued following the path to the Polar Bear exhibit, one sad and lonely bear sat upon the top of a man made rock ledge looking forlornly off into the distance. It was rather sad standing there and staring at him.

Next stop was Shark Bay where there is a touch pool for starfish and sea cucumbers. This spot is also a large aquarium that houses fish of the Great Barrier Reef.

We watched the colourful fish dart around form above before venturing below and getting a really good look at the array of species contained in the tank. There were many sharks and rays doing the rounds and a really large turtle.

Conscious of the time, we zipped through the exhibit and made our way to the dolphin display. Unfortunately we went the wrong way and by the time we found the large arena that reminded me of the old Atlantis in Yanchep, the show was almost finished.

We saw what we could and then re-entered the park. We attempted to get on the monorail, but it took off before we made it up the stairs, so we walked our way through the seal area where there were two seals doing laps of their pool and one lazily doing backstroke.

The seal area lead to the ride section of the park. We were disappointed yet again that many of the rides we wanted to get on were closed, on however “The Storm” was due to be open just after lunch, so we vowed to return.

We stopped briefly at our locker, before managing to jump of the monorail and complete a 20min lap of the park. This gave us a good view of the park’s layout as well as the surrounding marina and the Pacific Ocean running the length of the spit. From the monorail, we could see that the roller coaster was up and running, so once we were back at the station, we made a bee-line for the ride.

We joined the shortish cue, but were happy to jump ahead when only two riders were required. We sat down at the back and enjoyed the thrill, as the carriage zoomed along the track, finishing with a dramatic fall through misted water and crashing into the pool below causing us to become a little wet.

Excited with the ride, we raced to add our photos to our card and rejoined the queue, only to have us jump ahead once again, this time we were at the front and leading the way. It all seemed like a good idea at the time, but we soon found out that you get VERY wet sitting in this spot. We both got off feeling very damp.

I stopped to take a photo of an incoming carriage, DUMB idea. We could hear the impending landing as the group aboard were screaming, once they hit the water this giant wave was created and I was drenched from head to toe with both of us laughing at how ridiculous it was.

After collecting our photos, we returned to the locker and then went in search of food. The food court meals didn’t cut it, so we ended up at the Tavern for a decent meal and Paul could have a beer that came in a souvenir mug.

We found a sunny spot to sit overlooking the rides that allowed us to dry out thankfully. Our meals arrived and were delicious, we were glad we made the choice to go up market.

After eating, we watched the end of the stunt team show where the men were back flipping jet skis around the large lagoon and entertaining the crowd. It was quite impressive.

After collecting the camera from the locker, we proceeded to walk around the park taking in the sites and then returned to the aquarium to check out the fish from above and below, this time we were not in a hurry. We enjoyed picking out the various varieties of fish and rays and spying fish hiding amongst the reef. One rather large wrass was so still I thought he was a sculpture added to the reef; that was until I saw his eyes darting around.  

We passed the polar bear once more that was now off his rock and locking for the escape hatches into his enclosure again I felt really bad for this massive yet majestic creature, it all seemed a bit cruel.

We dropped the camera back at the locker, before finishing our time at the park with three more rides of the roller coaster. We were pleased to see that the lines were now non-existent and we could get straight on as soon as the ride was finished.  Thankfully we were able to avoid a drenching.

Happy with our rides, we made our way back to the car and drove onto the end of the spit. We parked up and then went for a walk along the groin. We passed Layne Beachley who had been out surfing with a group of learners. We watched the waves come pumping in and the surfers attempting to tame them.  This spot also gave a good view of the skyline of Surfers Paradise.

We made our way back to the car and continued back down the drive stopping in at the marina for a quick walk and a drink at the tavern, before we made our way home through the commuting traffic. Dad rang me as we drove along getting ready to catch the ferry fro France to the UK. The line wasn’t great so we didn’t chat for too long.

When we finally pulled in to Bonogin, Scott and Kirsty were sitting out on the patio and once we had unpacked and grabbed a drink we joined them. We spent the evening chatting about our day and reminiscing about Hamilton Island days. I Skyped Brad to enable he and Scott a brief catch up.

Paul and Scott made up a yummy dinner of BBQ squid, that we ate as we continued to chat. Kirsty was the first to call it and then we came inside to listen to Beach Boys songs and sing along until we figured we should probably take ourselves to the van so Kirsty could sleep.

Day 244 - Tuesday 29 August - Golf and the Gold Coast Strip

Day 244

Tuesday

29 August 2017 –

Bonogin – Mudgeeraba – Currumbin – Burleigh Heads – Surfers Paradise

After a slightly later evening, I didn’t wake until 7am with Paul stirring a little after. We both read our books, before I decided it was time to get out at 8.15am. After having a shower and breakfast, we gathered our things and took off for the Boomerang Farm Golf Course in Mudgeeraba.

The course was on a farm with a rustic style club house. Once Paul had paid for his 9 holes, we jumped onto the course and began our morning stroll. The course was very open, with the holes crossing over each other. It was a little confusing trying to work out where you were hitting to and then walking between holes. The greens had also been recently cored and sanded so putting was somewhat hit and miss. Paul’s round reflected the poor condition and he wasn’t happy with his result, when we finally finished, but it was still a lovely morning spent in the sun.

We returned to the van just as the hay truck arrived to drop off the feed for the horses. We chatted to Scott who was getting busy around the house and yard. We packed up our lunch, said goodbye and then took off for Currumbin. We found a quiet park along the Currumbin Creek where we could have lunch looking out over the water and watch the Stand Up Paddle boarders drift by.

I checked out the pelican sculptures lovingly wrapped in scarves and beanies before we drove a little further around the creek to Currumbin Beach where we parked and took off for a walk.  We made it to Elephant Rock where the morning shows often broadcast on ANZAC Day. We climbed the hill to the lookout on the top to check out the view and then we made our way back passing the bronze statue of the female bather.

We continued our journey on to Burleigh Heads where we parked again and followed the path into the national park. We opted to stay at the base of the headland and follow it around for the 1.2km. Above us a young girl was standing on a rock, arms out stretched like in the Titanic.

At one stage I stopped to take a photo only to have my sunglasses take a dive so I had to duck under the fence on the sandy slope, hope I wouldn’t slip, retrieve the sunnies and scoot back under the fence. Thankfully I managed.

We returned to the car via the roadside and then continued further north to Surfers Paradise. We parked in a multi storey and then got out amongst the high-rise buildings. We navigated to the beach side and walked along the strip checking out the people on the beach and the art that was around. You could see that this was most definitely tourist central.

We wandered about, completing a loop before heading towards the Q1 building and its sky deck. With our Dreamworld ticket we also received entry to the 77^th floor viewing area. After flashing our passes, we entered the lift lobby before taking the very fast lift to near the top floor. When the door opened, we were inundated with Chinese tourists pushing their way into the box we were tyring to get out of, as you can imagine Paul was super impressed and let them know it.

Once out on the floor, we moved about taking in the views of the Gold Coast from the large glass windows. It certainly provided a terrific perspective of the metropolis from this point.  We stopped at the café for a drink before completing our 360° panorama view where we could make out the Robina shops and roughly where Bonogin was. Paul even suspected he saw a Bull shark cruising in the canals.

After making it all the way around, we returned to the ground floor and made our way back to the car. We struggled to find the pay machine, walking around in circles until we found it and then we joined the traffic making their way home for 4.45pm.

We chatted to Scott in between his horsey chores and then Kirsty came home and we stood around chatting again as it got cold and dark and she worked on her stallion Leuwin who is suffering with arthritis and a hoof abscess. We decided to have a quite evening retreating to our own quarters for dinner. I then went through the photos and computer bits before finally thinking about getting to bed.