Santa baby

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Today we were going to check out a theme park. You know, I've said before you can take the girl out of the theme park company but you can't take the company out of the girl? Well here on the Gold Coast you've got a selection of theme parks to tickle your taste buds. From water parks to Warner Bros movie world, you've got something for everyone. Today was meant to be the day I got to try them out.

You'll have got the hint from that sentence that all didn't go to plan. Correct. The weather let me down in terms of attendance at the water park(s). Cloudy and windy. Not good. I'd heard Dreamworld looked tired and outdated. Less good. So Warner Bros world it would need to be. Except....$80...each...for the day. The equivalent to £55. In backpacker terms, this equates to needing to remortgage your house, and for a girl that has become accustomed to flashing an employee 'free access all areas' to theme parks back home, it's too much to swallow. Reluctantly, and I mean reluctantly, I settled on going to Surfers Paradise with Emma, Alan, Julia, Siobhan, Cat and Eve to watch an Ironman competition and to get into the festive spirit with the Christmas festival taking place.

But not without a bit of glamour. First up, we walked 50 yards down the road to go the Palazzo Versace hotel, home to every single I'm a Celebrity contestant there's been whilst in Australia, as well of course as Ant, Dec, and the crew. Sadly we're two weeks too late to see any such celeb, but we wandered round like we owned the place, dressed in our finest backpacker gladrags (ie shorts and tshirts). Failed to be rumbled, although I think the pianist on the grand piano in reception would have thrown us out, had it not been for the plethera of residents sipping earl grey tea listening to his rendition of something resembling Tchaikovsky...

Walked into Surfers past the swarms of families enjoying picnics and barbecues at the many parks along the way. The Aussies have this down to a tee - loads of kids play parks, free to use barbecues and shaded seating areas, meaning that literally streets of families just head down to the park to have a sunday afternoon relaxing in the open air, a million miles away from the sedentary lifestyle of us Brits on a Sunday. Mind you, if we had the television choice that the Aussies have, we'd be in the park too....television is one thing that they're truly terrible at over here. I never ever want to see another rerun of One foot in the grave or that Bucket woman as long as I live...

Still, down at Surfers and it's sushi time, followed by watching the ironmen from the beach. Once we'd given marks out of ten to each runner (based of course entirely on looks and ability to wear ridiculous clothing, rather than physical aptitude), we headed for ice cream and cider. Decided it was a good idea to get a balloon-modelled hat or two to pass the time - one Christmas hat and one Smurf version - before walking back along the beach for sunset, with just a brief stop for a photo with Santa - real life Santa - on the way. Did you know it's not reindeers but kangaroos that pull sleighs in this part of the world? Amazing how they can transform in the middle of Christmas Eve mid-shift!

Anyway, back to the walk home. What a view. The skyline started to light up, as the sky turned a deep bluey purple. I really thought Surfers was horrendous the last time I was there - too commercial, too congested and, in my head, with a horrendous beach. Couldn't have been further from the truth as it was stunning, as the pictures will attest. It took over an hour to walk the half hour home, due to our photography stops but it was worth it. Looking at the sky, the stars came out to play and you then realise you're on the other side of the world - all constellations that you've ever become used to seeing in the Northern Hemisphere are upside down. Orion is at a jaunty angle, flying horizontally across the sky. It's bizarre but somehow calming. Because one thing you know for sure is that no matter how far away from home you are, you can still look at the stars and realise that you're looking at the same thing, just thousands of miles apart (and kind of upside down...).

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