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Published: January 8th 2011
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We’ve had a busy few days since we last managed to write a blog! Steve and Tess have let us borrow their car so we drove to Wet and Wild on Tuesday. We paid $99 for unlimited use of Wet and Wild, Movie World and SeaWorld until June 2011 so we can visit all the parks. It was sunny for the first time in ages so it was very very busy. We had to queue for up to an hour to get on the rides and there was even a queue for the lazy river! We went on a couple of big ones together on the rubber rings and Oli went on one by himself (because I’m a scaredy cat) where you climb up several flights of stairs, get into a tiny capsule and then the floor opens up beneath you and you speed down and do a loop the loop before coming out the other end. Problem was if you put your hands out and tried to stop yourself, you ended up not making the loop, which we saw happen to several people. When they don’t make it they just slide back down to the bottom and then a lifeguard
comes and opens a trap door to let you out, although some people didn’t realise this and it was amusing watching them trying to scramble up the loop and falling back down again. We went to Woolworths (not the same as our Woolworths) on our way back and got a cooked chicken for tea and filled up Tess’s car with petrol, we didn’t realise this but petrol is around 116 cents per litre for unleaded on a Tuesday and Wednesday, then it goes up to 134 cents per litre for Friday to Sunday and then its somewhere in the middle on a Monday. Not sure on the reasoning for this!
The next day we decided to shuffle the schedule around a bit and go to Byron Bay early. Pity we didn’t check the weather forecast first or we would have seen it was set to thunderstorm the whole time! Accommodation in Byron is pretty steep (more expensive than Sydney) and its peak season so we struggled to find somewhere to stay. Eventually found a place at Glen Villa Resort (they seem to use the word resort loosely in Byron) and booked the last “deluxe” cabin for 2 nights. The drive
down there took a few hours, we stopped off along the way at Surfer’s Paradise which we really liked, lots of sky scrapers practically on the beach and the beach was the longest beach we’d ever seen, it went on for miles! The water was a lot warmer than Sydney and I went for a swim before we carried on to Byron. We took the scenic route from Surfers to Byron and stopped off at a couple of nice beaches on the way for a look around. When we reached Byron we checked in and I went to sit by the pool for a bit as my tan isn’t as dark as I was hoping it would be! Then we went for a walk along the beach and got some very tasty takeaway fish and chips from Fish Heads restaurant on the beach.
We went to bed quite early, only to be awoken through the night by thunderstorms and torrential rain which lasted all night. Next morning we were up early hoping for a nice day on the beach only to find it was still chucking it down, which did not bode well for tanning. We drove up to the
lighthouse in the morning as this is the most easterly point of Australia but it was too wet to have a look around so we went back to our room and stayed there! We ventured out in the car again later for some dinner and ended up getting drenched. We bought some cheap wine and went back to Fish Heads again for more fish and chips and ate it in the comfort of our deluxe cabin.
The next day we checked out of Glen Villa and headed back up the coast. It was still raining but thankfully stopped once we left Byron. We stopped off at SeaWorld for a couple of hours and saw a massive polar bear, some huge sharks, a turtle that was bigger than us and some standard penguins. Then we went over to Movie World where each ride is themed around a different Warner Bro’s movie and spent the day riding the big roller coasters. We also watched a 4D movie and got wet on the log flume. We drove back to Steve and Tess’s, got showered and Oli and I headed out for dinner at Ginga which is a Japanese restaurant in Brisbane. We
shared a platter with lots of different Japanese food on which was really tasty. Then we headed back for a game of poker with Steve and Tess using cocktail sticks, pasta and cereal which I won!
Today we went out on the jetski with Steve which was one of the highlights of the trip so far. I wasn't sure what to expect but we donned our lifejackets and got on the back behind Steve and held on tight (really, really tight) and then we set off. Within a couple of seconds we were going 60kph and Oli was screaming like a girl. Although 60kph (around 40mph) sounds slow if you were driving in a car, when youre on the back of a jetski bouncing over choppy waves it feels more like 100kph! We went to a little cove area and then Steve took us out individually to show us what the jetski could do, then Steve let us drive it for a bit. It was very scary but I managed to get up to 60kph. On Oli's first go, he only did 55kph, so he went back out for a second go so he could say he went faster than
me! Then we headed back. On a normal day Steve can go really fast, above 100kph, but the waves were really rough and the wind was strong so our limit was 70kph (not that we would want to go 100kph!). Now its 4pm and we are back at Steves and Oli is asleep. We are going out for a chinese tonight then back to Steves to go in the spa and for more poker.
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M and G
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Great photos
Great photos you are certainly getting around. What is Steves address so we can look on Google earth. Couldnt find your Deluxe cabin, or wet and wild, but followed the road trip from Brisbane. Sorry you have had some rain, but so have many unfortunate people north of you, it is horrific on the news. We came back to cold and rain, and they say snow this weekend. Take care but have a wonderful time, hope you can stick to the programme.