Welcome to Benidorm

---

We took a detour on the sunshine motorway, hoping for a more exciting trip south, though it was much the same as the trip north. We arrived in Surfers for lunch and the Sunday session at Hard Rock Café, somewhere that has become a holiday tradition. We are staying at Budds Beach Apartments, just far enough from the centre to avoid the rowdiness, although within easy walking distance of the bungy jump park!

Not a lot happens in Surfers during the day. The main attraction of the area is the theme parks. We purchased the three park pass to Movie World, Sea World and Wet n Wild. All were pretty good although movie world wins out as a result of the Superman Escape rollercoaster and the lack of queues. 0 to 100 km/hr in 2 seconds experiencing 4 positive and 1 negative g force. We even had the chance second time round to sit at the front, which was even more scary! Other rides worth a mention were Lethal Weapon, the equivalent of Nemesis at Alton Towers and the Shrek 4 D movie. The Scooby Doo ride made us feel like we were in Blackpool pleasure beach. It was basically the Crazy mouse ride indoor with added Scooby Doo music! Whiplash included! We also went on the log flume where Aly got a soaking and was not a happy bunny.

The following day we headed to wet n wild, thankfully it was cloudy, so we didn’t have to worry about burning too much walking around in our swim wear. Aly was too scared to go on any of the individual slides by herself, so we went on all the tube slides of which there were many. After lunch we went and sat on the fake beach. It appeared the Germans (or is it the British?) were in since all the loungers were reserved within an hour of the park opening!

Sea world was our final park. We went to the dolphin show twice, the sea lion show and the water ski show. Then we wandered around the viewing areas to see the polar bears, sharks and dugongs. We shared a seafood basket for lunch overlooking the dolphin nursery. At closing we took a walk down the spit to the Marina Mirage, the Sheraton’s shopping centre next to the Versace hotel, no Ant and Dec unfortunately.

In our time away from the parks we went to the beach and to King Tuts Putt Putt. Aly lost to James by 1 shot! Got to love crazy golf.

Basically Surfers Paradise is a concrete jungle, with the skyline and beach aside it could be Blackpool. Someone even tried to con us in to a time share ha ha. The evenings are lively, if you like Irish bars or strip clubs. We have been to Starbucks nearly every night for their Christmas coffees and music, got to get into the spirit somehow.

Next stop Broadbeach where we are upgrading to 5 star for Christmas. We have had a good time in Blackpool (Sorry Surfers), but are looking forward to staying in a real hotel! The budget has been relaxed for the next few days so Aly will be able to drink cocktails and James will be able to drink real beer (rather than the weak Australian stuff). Next update will come from the comfort of the spa…..

---

Photos

Cavill Avenue
Surfers Central

Wet Aly
After Log Flume!

Dolphin
Sea World

Spot the Sea Lion
Sea World Eye in background

Comments

[Lorry]

Wet Aly
Hey, I had to laugh at this photo...I bet you were really miffed getting your hair wet!!!! Sorry, I'm being mean! x x x x