Day 21 - Gold Coast - Hervey Bay

What a day! It took us along time with a lot of traffic to get from the Gold Coast to Hervey Bay. We drove just short of 400 km and it took us 5.5 hours (just of driving time). We stopped off in Brisvegas to catch up with a Jankowiak family friend. After the visit Maciek has  decided thanks to Darek's amazing polish heritage tattoo, that some body art is in order.!!....you will all have to wait and see when we get back home (when we suss out a top tattooist in Hobart town).  We swung past the newly refurbished Big Pineapple to find it closed on a Monday and Tuesday. I (blonde) was very disappointed!! Never the less we took photos from the car park just of the pineapple just to add i to our collection of Australia's big things.

We finally arrived in the rain into Hervey Bay around four thirty. This was our quickest set up yet in around 20 minutes from woe to go! With night fall rapidly approaching the poor kids had a dinner of 2 minute noodles. After dinner we set off on a walk around the park to check out our surroundings. It was on this walk that the kids had their first introduction to Bats and Cane toads!! Bella "not like froggies" but she loves Hurley (my sisters dog) LOL. Which when Hurley is near she "not like" him either. Shower and bed time quickly approached for the kids; and finally we had some time for quiet. 

We sit here together, alcohol beverage in hand, listening to tunes wondering what the poor people are up to ?!

Day 20 - Gold Coast (for the last day)

Thank the lord the sun re appeared!!! .....well it did have little short bursts of drizzle but nothing we couldn't handle after last nights epic "shower" of 180mm (of rain) just overnight. We really did think we would have to abandon ship and head for higher ground! It was so noisy in the tent with the pounding rain that it seriously sounded like you had put a bag on your head and turned the shower on, all whilst trying to sleep. Hence why Maciek slept with ear plugs in not as dumb as it sounds; he slept soundly. Me on the other hand, was too busy getting hit, punch (by the third body in our bed - Bella)  and snorting Bella's hair up my nose to even think about deep sleep. Thankfully around 5 am the rains cleared and we awoke to the clouds parting and the sun trying to shine through. After a quick freshen up and breakfast we headed for the much anticipated and longed for..... Seaworld! HOORAY!! we finally made it. We really thought we were going to miss this theme park all together due to the weather (and the fact that we are suppose to be on Fraser Island today but extended our stay on the Gold Coast till Tomorrow).
It was great for all of us to get out and get some fresh air. The kids really enjoyed sea world and all it has to offer. We enjoyed watching a couple of the shows - Dora the explorer (for Bella); Sponge Bob square pants (for Krystian) and the Jet ski stunt show. all the while squeezing in some of the rides for some thrill seeking excitement to go along. Our favourite ride was the Jet ski rescue roller coaster. Krystian LOVED this ride the most!

Jet ski Rescue Coaster

Bela LOVED Dora, Krystian not so much.

Krystian, Bella & Maciek on the Pirate climbing experience. 

Bella after big day at Seaworld !

Time flies when your having fun!  Before we knew it it was 5 o'clock! After another long day, we headed to the kids favourite restaurant "Outback Jack's" for some dinner before heading back to camp for bed (and Maciek and i have packing to do). Tomorrow sees us departing the "not so sunny" Gold Coast heading for Hervey Bay.

Day 19 - Gold Coast

You guessed it, its has rained and rained and rained! The tent has finally, after three days of being saturated begun to leak. Off to Bunnings and 100 dollars later we have a heavy duty tarp to fend off some of the water.Seems to be doing the job nicely  and one wet husband through to his undies (and a kind man from next door).  The rain just doesn't let up. I don't think i've ever seen rain quite like it. It sounds like we are camping beside an amazing waterfall; sadly my waterfall is just the water falling from the tent roof and surrounding sun sails in the camp ground.  There's just no way to describe what it is like to sleep on a damp pillow. I think this rain has re-surfaced the inner grouch in all of us! We are all, kids included sick of the rain and can't seem to find anywhere to escape it. Today saw us venture not far away from the caravan camping kitchen/sitting room. Here the kids have watched tv, played on the laptop and coloured in. We did treat ourselves to the movies to just get away from all the water for a while. We went to see The Lorax. It was a wonderful feel good movie that both the kids enjoyed. Not surprisingly the surrounding odour in the movie theater was that of wet dog! Never the less when we ventured back outside, to no one's surprise the rain was still there in the same heavy fall. We returned back to the camp grounds and enjoyed some lunch at the bistro here at Treasure Island. ......and then what else could we do but venture back to the camping kitchen to retreat from the rain.

We are at a bit of a loose end to know what to do when we leave here and where we should go. It looks as though Fraser Island is, sadly, off the cards for this holiday. I think we have decided to stop over at Hervey Bay for the couple of days we were suppose to be on Fraser Island. With this in mind, lesson number two learnt today (strangely familiar to lesson number one). Don't book and pre- pay for accommodation because without fourteen days notice it is not refundable!
We have now managed to waste another day here in paradise, and dinner needs to be cooked for the starving children.
Lets see what tomorrow will bring!

Day 18 - Gold Coast

It has been constantly raining ALL day today! with no sign of it clearing up for (what is broadcast) two weeks. We are bitterly disappointed that the road from Cooktown to Cape York (the development track) has been closed again. This means that no grading of the roads have taken place either. From the Gold Coast we are suppose to be heading to Fraser Island but are now re thinking our plans because there may not be any point in its just going to rain the whole time we are there. 

Due to the unfortunate weather we were suppose to be going to Seaworld, but instead spent the day wandering around shopping malls and doing what the kid would see as "boring" stuff. So for a very expensive treat we found a shop in Centro Surfers Paradise called "Make a bear workshop". The kids had a ball choosing their brand new teddy bear skin, filling it with stuffing and placing a heart inside their bear. Before they could put the heart inside the bear the shop assistant made them "put life" into their teddies by saying and doing the following: Hold your bears heart in your hand and rub it to make it nice and warm; pat your hands together strongly to make a strong heart beat. Hold your bears heart over your eye to ensure it always looks out for you; Hold your heart over your ear to ensure your bear always listens to you; Rub your bears heart over your chek to make sure your bear always has a little bit of cheekiness and then kiss your heart, make a wish and place it inside your teddy bear.

It was so so cute watching my babies follow these instructions. They have carried their teddies around EVERYWHERE today and are now both fast asleep in their beds with their teddies (plus hundreds more). Bella has so many teddies in her bed that you can barely spot her from the teddies LOL. 

Bella and her new bear Kirra.

Krystian ad his new bear Michael.

We really have done nothing exciting today apart from stay out of the rain. For the rest of the night we just sat up in the campers kitchen, watched some tv with the kids and cooked a delicious red curry for dinner.Tomorrow, come rain, hail or shine we will be going to Seaworld!! We are hoping for sun but its not looking promising!

Anyone have any suggestions where we can go to escape the rain (especially if we don' end up on Fraser Island)??.......We are hoping for some inspiration!

Day 18 - Gold Cast

ITS PI......SING DOWN, DANG IT. This is Maciek's inspiring words of wisdom for the day! LOL

Day 17 Gold Coast

Today saw an action packed Movie world day! Annoyingly NOTHING opens up here  till 10am. Time wasting I say! Movie world, whilst it was still fun, isn't as exciting and fun as Dreamworld for smaller kids. Krystian was terribly disappointed that he couldn't go on ANY of the Roller coasters that he had so badly wanted too. so he sadly, only went on two rides because there was nothing else there for his age group that he could ride on. We (mummy and Krystian) went on the Scooby Doo ride. It was AWSOME fun (a roller coaster in the dark). Krystian wasn't so thrilled by the dark in the beginning and all of the scary things that jump out at you; but he loved the roller coaster part of it. The WB kids area was fun, but more fun for little litte people like Bella's age. They had a cute little Taxi ride and mini Bumper cars which Krystian went on for shits and giggles.

Krystian in one of the mini bumper cars!

After eating lunch, we wandered around admiring the park and of course watched the stunt car show which Krystian LOVED! Maciek wasn't so fussed cause he said he drives like that everyday LOL 

We called it a day around fourish after watching the stars parade. We promised Krystian we would bring him back to Movie World once he grows 11cm more (you need to be 140cm to ride on majority of rides). 

Krystian's self portrait 

Another of Bella's self portraits!

Heading home there was no swimming tonight as it was cold! Queensland and cold???.....Who would have thought. Must be cold if Tasweigans are complaining! 

Day 16 - Anzac Day - Gold Coast

Anzac day, "Lest we forget"
Whilst we didn't get to any of the Anzac day service (for lack of knowing where they are around here) we did spend some time discussing with the kids the meaning of ANZAC and its importance in our lives and society.

Today saw us taking it easy. We had no plans as such so we took it as a day t just chill and relax.

The morning saw us do the usual breakfast and some daily chores. Whilst us poor adults did the washing and tidying, the kids decided to hire one of the local carts and drive them selves around the park.

Kids being kids, the pleasure of having to self power themselves around the park wore thin after about 30 minutes, well it was fun while it lasted. At around noon we decided to head out and explore the local "natural" attraction, Tambourine Mountain. It was described to us as a National Park with beautiful walks and rainforest with waterfalls.But.......

Upon arrival we found restaurants, shops and generally a busy bustling residential precinct, in which, one can find nestled deeply within the undergrowth, small pockets of National Park areas, no bigger the a couple of football fields. To us Taswegans, where 40% of the WHOLE state is national park, this seamed a little bizarre. Not really a National park like you would find in Tassie. However, the toilets were drop dunnies!

View of the Gold Coast form the top of the mountain

Once we got to the top of the mountain, we first stopped for lunch at a local indian place for some curry. Dodgy??.....well maybe! We won't do it again. We have our favorite Indian restaurant in Hobart and i don't think anything will top that. We did first look at some of the "poshier" places, but could not justify the price tag some of the places were asking for nothing more then a sausage in bread or a schnitzel. With lunch completed, we decided to take a walk in the national park to visit Curtis falls. Just a short walk for the kiddies (as Bella's leg are always broken and never want to walk).

Curtis Falls!

The walk down to the falls is rather nice and generally easy with many steps, winding it way through a thick lush green rain forest. We did notice that the trees here do grow rather weird, with the root system being almost spaghetti like. We were very  intrigued by these.

In the afternoon, with our walking done, we decided to head back to camp for a swim in the pool.

It was here that we found out Bella is really not afraid of the water. Jumping right in and deciding she too would like to go on the extremely slippery fast water slide, ALONE. This was the begging of the end, with the next hour or so spent going down the slide, till the cool night air got the best of all involved.

I see you up there................

After the pool and an easy tea of Spaghetti on toast, we began planning our next day and settled in for an early night. This night would see us use our woolen blankets for the first time in weeks as the temperature plummeted to a mild  8 deg C. (Wog) Hay the colds good for one thing......wink wink...

Tomorrow will see us hit the second fun park, Movie World........