Another Year Comes To A Close

With Christmas only 5 more sleeps away and the New Year only another 6 days following that I have to stop and take stock of the last year that has passed by at what appears to be warp speed. This year has gone passed so quickly that when I think about it my head starts spinning. 

Obviously the biggest thing this year was the birth of my daughter, Molly. She just turned 8 months old this month and I have no idea where all that time went. Sleep deprevation can really mess with your observation of time. She has come so far and grown so much from the tiny little bundle that came into the world way back in April. She brings us so much joy and we are so glad that she has started to sleep through the night with minimal disruption to her sleep. It gives Sharon and I a chance to catch up on some of the sleep that we have lost. 

Maddi joined Scouts. She absolutely loves it. THere's a lot of fundraising going on so we can send troop members that are old enough to the next Australian National Jamboree in 2013. So far we have had quite a few successful events that are going to go a long way to getting all the kids to the Jamboree. Maddi and Scouts area such a good fit. She's going to learn a lot and she is so keen to meet all the achievments that are in the Scout book. 

So with another year drawing to a close, we are looking forward to our next big event, and that's planning our wedding. Sharon and I have sat down with Maddi and asked her if she would like me to adopt her after Sharon and I get married. Maddi responded with giving me a great big hug. Soon after she started using my surname on all her schoolwork. Our location for the wedding and the reception are booked and secured and we also have the photographer booked in as well. Our pastor has been also booked. Phil was so excited when we asked him if he would marry us. Sharon has Maddi as her Maid of Honour, and her bridesmaids are selected. I have my best man, who also asked me to be his best man as well (there's a certain symmetry in that I think). All I need now is another couple of groomsmen and I'm all sorted. Then all we have to do is select a menu and do invitations. 

Next year is looking like another good year

 

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Gold Coast Trip 2011 Day 10 - Seaworld, Timezone & More

21 Sept 2011: 

Today we headed back to Seaworld and catch some things that we didn't get to see or do the first time we were there. The main thing that we all wanted to do was go on the Jet Rescue ride. It's like a rollercoaster but instead of sitting in cars, you're actually riding a jetski around the track. And you're moving really, really fast and the turns are pretty tight. It's a really fun ride. Maddi and I also went back on the Sea Viper a couple of times too. 

That afternoon we went to the Timezone, which is a massive gaming arcade. Sharon had a couple of Timezone cards from a previous visit and we started using the to accumulate points on which we can use later to exchange for prizes. We spent a good couple of hours there, during which time we got to catch up with a close friend of mine, Jenni French, and her family. It was really good to catch up with Jenni as it's been far too long between visits. 

Back at the resort that night we started to pack for our journey home. This was a now or never situation for me. Something that I have had on my mind that I needed to get out. I sat Sharon down, looked her straight in the eye and asked her to marry me. She said yes. 

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Gold Coast Trip 2001 Day 09 - Rest Day

We had a rest day today. Even Molly didn't wake up until 8:30am. Today we spent a bit of time in the pool, firstly Sharon and Maddi went in for about an hour and had a bit of one on one time without me and Molly around. Then Molly and I went and joined them. Molly is still a little nervous about being in so much water but she stilol had a good time. So much so that when we were getting ready to go to luch we fed her in her stroller and she fell asleep while she was feeding. 

We went and had lunch with Sharon's friend, Christina, and her husband, Adam, at Sizzler. It was a great time and we had such a laugh over lunch. we spent a good 3 hours at the resaurant just talking, laughing and catching up. 

Finally, to finish of the day we walked from the resort to Cavill Mall and took Maddi into Timezone. We all took turns choosing a game to play so we could earn ticket points we win prizes. I found out that next to the bowling alley that joins to Timezone that there is a live fire shooting range where you can shoot pistols, rifles and shotguns. I'm going to check it out when we go in there again tomorrow to see how much and what you get to shoot. 

Tomorrow our plan is to tackle Seaworld again in the morning, just to get what we missed last week. In the afternoon we plan on going to Timezone again, I'll also be checking out the shooting range and then we'll be heading to the twilight markets that are held on the beachfront near Cavill Mall. 

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Gold Coast Trip 2011 Day 08 - White Water World

Well, today we went to White Water World for a few hours to cool off and beat the early Summer heat. White Water World is a water park that's attached to Dreamworld. It's pretty decent, there's stuff for everyone of all ages.

We started out in the infant and toddlers area and gave Molly a bit of a play in the water. She watched with intense interest at the different water features. They had small jet of water going straight up out of the water and were no higher than Molly herself. She loved these as I'd stand her next to one of these jets and she would start waving her hand through it and look at Sharon with a big smile.

There's also this big play area for the older kids to climb over, spray each other with water canons and generally have a fun time on. At the top of this giant waterbound jungle gym is this huge bucket that fills up with water and around every 5 to 10 minutes it tips, dumping half its contents, which I would estimate around 500 liters of water at a minimum onto tue shaped roof bellow. The water was then broken up so as not to injure anyone who got dumped on.

As for me, I hit the slides. Maddi and I went on the Green Room. You sit on a rubber raft that can seat up to 4 people. You then get sent on your way through a darkened tunnel until you are dropped out into this giant green cone. You slide and spin up and down the sides until you are finally spat out and deposited into the pool below.

Upon our soggy return back to our room at the resort we showered, dressed an headed out for dinner. We dined at La Porchetta, a pizza and pasta restaurant which 95 percent of the chain in New South Wales went out of business several year ago. Unfortunately, one if those NSW restaurants that got closed down was the one in Coffs Harbour leaving the nearest one to home a good 4 hours drive away. Sharon ordered a Penne Tropicana that had several large prawns included in the recipe. While she couldn't finish all the meal she made sure not a single prawn got away. Nit too sure what Maddi ordered but her tortellini was in a tomato base sauce that had a distinctive lemon flavory which was both surprising and very nice. Then there's me. I had the Penne Carbonara. I have had a La Porchetta Carbonarra since I left Townsville in 2007. And this one dis not disappoint. It was as creamy and as flavour rich as I remember. Dessert was as equally evil. The girls both had New York Cheesecake and I had the Chocolate Mousse. All I can say is I'm glad we chose to walk to dinner as it gave us a chance to walk it off on the way back to the resort. All in all a damn fine end to a good day.

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Gold Coast Trip 2011 Day 06

17 Sept 2011:

Today we bid a farewell to our travelling companions, the Curries, as they had to start to head back to Melbourne this morning so Steve can return to work on Monday morning. They set out just before 8am while we took our time to get our car packed as we were leaving one resort and heading to another for the next 4 nights. Today we had planned on tackling Warner Bros Movieworld, but as both Sharon and I are still recovering from our respecting illnesses we decided to have another rest and relaxation day. We set out for Pacific Fair shopping centre pnly to have to turn around and go back to the Harbour Side Resort to retrieve 2 of Maddi's teddy bears that she only remembered she hadn't packed when we pulled into the carpark at Pacific Fair, about half an hours drive from the resort. 

After retreiving Maddi's 2 missing teddies, and a quick lunch at MacDonalds to feed a rather hungry Molly, we returned even more slowly along a congested highway. We finally reached Pacific Fair shopping centre. Now this shopping centre is huge. We didn't go though all the shops there but we did have a chance to meet Darth Vader at JB Hi Fi who was there for the launch of the complete Star Wars Saga on Bluray. After picking up some DVDs and CDs for Sharon and I, some Smiggles gear for Maddi, a book and a new toy for Molly, and half a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts we headed around to Pacific Island Resort, our neew home away from home for the remainder of our trip. 

This resort is impressive. While not the largest, or most lavish on the Gold Coast it's not a dingy little roach motel either. Our balcony (yes, we have a balcony) overlooks the pool, which has a waterfall, and the resort also backs onto part of the Nerang River. what's even more impressive is that this view is from the ground floor. 

Now after watching a gorgeous sunset, and a simple dinner it's off to bed to get ready for a big day at Warner Bros Movieworld. 

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Gold Coast Trip 2011 Day 07 - Warner Bros Movieworld

18 Sept 2011: 

Today was an awesome day. We spent all day at Warner Bros Movieworld. I suppose you could say I let my inner child out for the day. We had a couple of family family photos done in the morning, one with Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian. I loved this one as Marvin is my all time favourite Looney Tunes character. The other family photo was with Scooby-do and the gang. Valma fell absolutely in love with Molly, and she wasn't the only one at Movieworld that fell in love her. Molly stood out that much with Valma that at the grand parade in the afternoon, Valma saw Molly, who had a change of clothes since the morning, and she came over to say hello to Molly. Molly and Maddi also had their photo taken with Daffy Duck and Tweety Bird. Molly wasn't too sure of what to make of Daffy though, but that black duck can be a little full on lol. 

Sharon and Maddi were the first to go on a ride for the day and took on the Road Runner roller coaster. After that we wandered around to the Batwing. This ride is unbelievable. You get strapped into a chair on this platform which is raised up about 10 feet. You are then launched straight up the shaft, pulling around 4 Gs until gravity realises that you're not where you're supposed to be and starts to bring you back down to earth. you then slowly bounce back down to earth like you're on a bungie cord. The two teenage girls that were sitting next to Maddi and I must have thought I had lost my mind as I started to laugh like a maniac on our way back down. And I didn't stop giggling for another 10 minutes after my feet once again touched the ground. 

Maddi and I also went on the Superman ride. Oh my God. I looked at the track an I got a bit nervous. I was speaking to a guy who was going on it for the second time in 10 minutes. He said once you go through the tunnel yu get launched out into the world, pulling 4.5 Gs up a ramp. All you can see is sky. then it feels like that world falls away from underneath you as gravity once again decides that you're not supposed to be there and you are suddenly looking directly at the ground in a vertical drop. Then your basically hanging on for a sphincter clenching, lunch launching minute until you pull back into the station. There was at least half a dozen points on this ride that I thought I was going to die. 

Molly got to have a couple of rides too. I took her on the merry-go-round and she rode on Marvin the Martian's rocket. Sharon then took Molly for a turn on Tweey's cage ride, which is a kiddies version of the octopus. 

The whole day was a real blast. We went through all the retail shops. Maddi walked away with the Elder Wand from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I bought Sharon a necklace, and I, ever the geek, bought a light and sound sonic screwdriver. What can I say, I love sci-fi lol. 

Tomorrow we plan on going to White Water World until lunch time and then spend the afternoon relaxing. now it's time to get some sleep. 

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Gold Coast Trip 2011 Day 05

16 Sept 2011:

Day 5 of our little holiday was supposed to be a day of relaxation. Unfortunately it started out with a trip to the doctor for Sharon. she spent all night being rather sick and with a fever. I finally convinced her to go to a doctor. The good news was that it wasn't anything serious, possibly mild food poisoning according to the doctor. The doctor gave Sharon an anti nausea injection and prescribed antibiotics and anti nausea medication to take over the next few days. After a trip to the chemist I took Sharon home and got her to rest. She, however made me promise to still go on the jet boat ride that her and Kath booked both kath's husband, Steve, and myself on. 

As per my promise I kept my appointment with the jet boat. I was a little nervous at first but once we got going I know that it was going to be an awesome ride. David, the boat pilot, and I call him a pilot because once we got into water were we could do anything (within reason he added) he litterally made that boat fly. At some point it felt as though he had us about 10 to 15 feet in the air. He took us though some high speed spins and turns. Basically he was doing his best to make sure that we were all wet. 

After our high speed drenching Steve and I went with Kath to her gift from Sharon. Kath got to be a Boeing 737 pilot for half an hour in a flight simulator. This simulator was totally accurate except for the feedback and the motion. Kath didn't do it alone though, she had a flight instructor giving her direction. Kath really did an amazing job and just watching her for that half an gave me an appreciation on how hard it is to pilot a large aircraft. 

We arrived back to our resort and Sharon, after having some rest, was still feeling off but much better thank you very much. As it was our last night in the Harbour Side Resort apartments we spent most of the night packing all our bags up so all we had to do in the morning was pack the car. 

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Gold Coast Trip Day 04

15 Sept 2011:

Day 4 of our little adventure had us at Dreamworld. Boy, has this place changed since I first went there in 1994. Gone is the Gravitron, Which was always fun to see how many goes on it it took before you threw up, gone also is the Thunderbolt rollercoaster, and it has been replaced by the Cyclone. Far too many other rides and attractions have been added to even name. 

The first ride of the day that Sharon, Maddi and I went on as a family was the Shockwave. Not only does it travel up and down, quite quickly I might add, along a rail that resembles a halfpipe with a hill in the middle of it, but the platform on which you are harnessed to also rotates. Sharon was absolutely terrified to go on this ride, and I'll admit that I was more than just a little nervous about it myself. I was fine until that damn platform whipped sharply clockwise just as we began to begin our decent the G-forces grudgingly ellicited a groan that rather sounded like someone who was about to throw up. This was enough to distract Sharon from her own fear and ask me if I was alright and if i was going to be sick. My reply to this question was no, but I appear to have a stream of drool running from the left side of my mouth up into my left ear. This reply broke whatever hold her fear had over her and she laughed for the rest of the ride. It was only when she saw me wiping the left side of my face that I did indeed somehow manage to drool into my left earhole. 

One thing that I really loved was watching the Tiger show on Tiger Island. All the tigers at Dreamworld are bred in captivity, not taken from the wild and are trained to display behaviour that they normally use in the wild. it was an impressive show and we were told that Mohan, the white tiger, who is the oldest of the 3 males in the show, and also the father of the 2 other males in the show funnily enough, picks and chooses his participation level in each show. After all, he is 16 years of age, and also a father, so why not. And true to the trainers word, and no matter how much Mohan's own trainer bribed him with rewads of milk or meat, Mohan decided that this time, he was going to have a more passive role in the performance. 

The rest of the day seems like a blur. Molly was taken by Sharon for a ride on the Wiggles' Big Red car which she thoroughly enjoyed. We got to ride in vintage cars, and take a ride on a small steam locomotive. This was also Molly's first train ride. She absolutely loved the ride on the train. 

In another example of conquering her fear, Maddi joined Kath Currie and myself  on the Cyclone. Again, for those that haven't been to Dreamworld in sometime, The Thunderbolt no longer exists, and has been replaced by the Cyclone. This rollercoaster was far more enjoyable that the Sea Viper at Seaworld and the wait to get on it wasn't anywhere near as long. Madds was absolutely terrified, more terrified than she was of the Sea Viper. She was almost hysterical until we reached the top of the start area and once the rollercoaster started it's downhill run, she was starting to change from fear to extcitement. When we got out I gave her a big hug and she was shaking that much from the adrenalin I thought that she was going to vibrate through the concrete floor. She said that while she wouldn't go back on it straight away, she'd go on it again with me if we go back there again. She's a real little troooper our Maddi

Steve and I ended the day with a mission through the Alien vs Predator laser tag game. It was pretty cool and I felt the the wait was worth it. It was pretty awesome and it'll definitely be something that Steve and I will be playing again next year when we have another combined family trip up here. 

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Gold Coast Trip 2011 Day 03

14 Sept 2011:

The end of another day. Today was a day of relaxation and rest. We took a trip into Cavill Ave Mall and went to Ripleys Odditorium. A very interesting little tour. I finally found out how headhunters made shrunken heads. It's an odd thing to want to know the process is done but, hey, I'm an I'd kind of guy.

We finished off our day by all going to Sizzlers. It was a good night out and little miss Molly was all tuckered out and didn't even wake up when Sharon got her out of the car.

Tomorrow, Dreamworld.

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Gold Coast Trip 2011 Day 02

13 Sept 2011:

"To the dolphin alone, beyond all other, nature has granted what the best philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage." This was said by the ancient Greek philosopher, morolist and biographer, Plutarch, over 19 centuries ago. Much closer to our own time, Margaret Tufty, commented that "dolphins also exhibit friendly willingness to cooperate with other earth creatures." both of these statements, though almost two millenia apart, ring true. Dolphins are wonderful, highly intelligent creatures that are just as curious about us as we are of them. Over the last few centuries there have been many reports and tales of how dolphins have rescue humans from drowning and sharks, some have even nudged smaller fishing boats that were lost at sea towards the shore.

What has this to do with our Gold Coast adventure??? Day 2 was our trip to Seaworld. What can I say, You can obviously tell that from my introduction that I am as captivated by the dolphin as many other people. One of the main things that we did at Seaworld was to see the dolphin show. It was a wodnerful 30 minutes of education made entertaining which showed the deep bond that the dolphins have with their trainers. Actually trainers seems too strong a word to describe the relationship with between these people and their dolphin charges. It's more of a friendship, one that Plutarch descibed around 19 centuries ago. Miss Molly was the only one that didn't enjoy the show. Well, she wouldn't, she slept through the whole thing.

The second big thing that happened at Seaworld was that my 11 year old, Maddi, conquered her fear of rollercoasters and going upside down on rides by going with me on the Sea Viper. For those of you that know Seaworld on the Gold Coast, the Sea Viper used to be known as the Corkscrew. It's just had a rename and a new coat of paint. Back to Maddi however. She was such a brave girl, and to her credit never paniced. While we were waiting for our turn, Maddi, Aunty Kath and I counted the seconds from start to finish to show her that the entire ride only lasted about a minute. At the very start of the ride she got a little [aniced but once I put my hand on hers she was right. We got of and the poor thing was a little wobbly on her feet from all the adrenalin but she was so happy and so excited that she told me that she would like to do it again. Bring on the Thunderbolt at Dreamworld on Thursday.

Miss Molly also had her very first mery-go-round ride with mummy. Our gorgeous little angel loved it. Sharon said that she chatted and giggled nearly all the way around. Molly had a blast on the merry-go-round, playing with the reigns and occasionally wanting to chew on the horses mane.

After a long day we journeyed back to the hotel were I discovered that, even though I didn't get very sunburnt, I was showing some signs of heat stress. That'll teach me for not drinking enough water. Lesson learneed for our trip to Dreamworld this Thursday. I bought some Powerade's to take and drink throughout the day.

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