Finding Nemo (pt1)

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Hi Everyone,

We're in Alice Springs at the moment, waiting to get the train to Adelaide tomorrow afternoon. The train is called the Ghan and we booked the tickets in September last year ensuring we could have one of our few real bits of luxury on the trip: we're travelling Gold Kangaroo Class which means our own private cabin with bathroom and all meals included. After our awkward overnight train journies of the last few weeks we're looking forward to the improved conditions.

This is the first of a two parter, and hopefully i'll do the next entry in the next 48hrs. This covers our days in Surfer's Paradise and Brisbane. Hope you like it.

The last blog had us leaving Byron Bay from where we got the coach to Surfer's Paradise. We only had one night booked in Surfer's as our main reason for going there was to go to Australia's Sea World. Thankfully the day of the Sea World Trip was blessed with excellent weather aftre some heavy downpours when we arrived in town. Our visit coincided with the world premiere of a film called Nim's Island that was filmed on the Gold Coast. With the premiere taking place in the theme park we managed to get a good spot as the star of the film Jodie Foster made her way down the red carpet. It was afun hour watching the press and photographers jostling for position and seeing how long it can take one person to walk about 20 meters. Apart from Jodie Foster there weren't many other famous people there, indeed they got so desperate at one point that they interviewed a girl who played the body double of the main child actor in the film.

Around this event we did exactly what you're supposed to do at Sea World: went to the dolphin show, saw all the sharks (very cool), visited the Sea Lions and generally part with as much cash as you can afford. The whole day really took us back to theme park visits as chilren and it was certainly different to the Kiwi and Prawn based theme parks we'd visited in NZ.

From Surfer's we moved on to Brisbane where after arriving and watching a great film at the cinema (it's a documentary called King of Kong, if you're interested) we headed off the following day to Australia Zoo - built up by the late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin.

Australia Zoo was fantastic and we watched the otters being fed, got up close to Koalas and fed the Kangaroos that roam through part of the park. We also saw the Crocodile show that Steve Irwin used to host and it was certainly impressive. In spite of this we both had a really strange feeling while at the zoo. It's like the place hasn't really accepted that Steve Irwin isn't around anymore and that they're trying to manufacture his personality, which being a real one off is proving very difficult. They use his image and catchphrases everywhere and he even does the video introduction to the crocodile show but there's no doubting that the real heart and sould of the place just isn't there. The area that comemorates Steve Irwin's memory seemed cobbled together and pushed to one side like they can't face dealing with it. This is in contrast to the rest of the place that is slick and incredibly well organised and presented.

We had a brilliant day there and would recommend it to anyone that comes here but I just thought we should share what we reflected on as were going round the zoo.

Even recalling this has made me feel a little down, but as I said the day was fun. We had little time to reflect however as the following day we were flying to Cairnes, home to a tropical humid climate and the Great Barrier Reef. I'll update you on this very soon.

Hope you're all well,

Martin and Jaime

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Photos

It's Jodie Foster!
walking the red carpet at the Nim's Island premiere

Dolphins at Sea World
Scientists proved that attaching wings and jet engines to the dolphins definitely improved the show

It's Brad Pitt!
Only joking. It's George Clooney.

Crocodile Show
Steve Irwin's wife now takes the main billing, alongside the crocodiles.