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 |   Nothing official here; just come chill! |
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Welcome! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Welcome to my little Den! Here you'll find all sorts of things- mostly blog challenges, but mixed in, you'll notice:  I'm a bit of a fangirl  My life is very busy I enjoy using emoticons  I don't tend to swear, but stuff happens. |
Hopefully everyone had fun exploring the city yesterday! Today, we're going to the Dandenong Ranges  , about an hour's drive from here. Its 1000 steps attraction is well known to tourists and locals alike.The Dandenong Ranges are an hour away, and since Fivesixer  , Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕  , AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th!  , and I drove last time, so looks like Kit  is definitely driving today, and I volunteer to take the other car. Norb sits in front next to Kit, giving Lyn's a Witchy Woman  a break, and Princess Megan Rose 22 Years  helps me navigate since we're the front car. Andre tries creeping up to help Megan Rose with directions, but I tell him if he doesn't start behaving, I will pull over and transfer him to the other car. Brother Nature quickly pulls Andre back, and tells him to behave.  We get there around 11 am, and park in Belgrave, where we see a steam train just coming in. Apparently, it's the Puffing Billy, and we decide to take a ride on it, so hurriedly climb out of the car and buy our tickets. It's a four-hour roundtrip journey, and Andre soon gets bored, although Joel tells Andre he'd better not try any monkey business, because this is a moving train and we'd be unable to rescue him if something happened. Kit and Norb take selfies together, and Elycia Lee ☮  , SB Musing  , Aly, and I are in the same carriage as them. We end up taking a selfie with them taking a selfie, which turns out to be pretty silly, but it's fun and I send the picture on to them. We take pictures of the scenery as well, and eventually, the train comes to a stop at Gembrook. We get out, and take a look at the village to see what's there. Lyn, and Megan Rose want to check out the bakery, so I join them, because I'm always up for a nice, baked sweet treat. I end up with a nice strawberry shortcake, and after I pay, Megan Rose heads off to Charlotte's on Main to look at souvenirs. The rest of us hang out in J.A.C Russel Park, and Andre is happy because he gets to run around.After Megan Rose comes back, we go back to the station and begin the return trip to Belgrave, where Aly, Sarah, and Hanna say they want to do the 1000 steps walk. According to the site, it takes about 1 1/2 hours, max, so everyone decides they will do it. We walk together, and Lyn grabs a map, just in case we get lost or take a wrong turn. We end up taking about 2 hours to do the walk up, because we took pictures and stopped many times along the way, but we made it, and head to the cafe for a nice lunner before heading back down. By that time, it's 6 pm, which means by the time we're back in the city, it'll be 7, so we pile into the cars for the drive back. Andre is actually too tired to do much monkey business, and judging from the quietness in the car, everyone else is pretty worn out too. I'm excited for tomorrow night, though- Christmas Eve at the Sidney Myer Bowl, where the new Hi-5 will be making their debut! |
| Melbourne is full of fun places and attractions, from good food to trampoline classes, to the Chinatown. Grab a friend or some friends and go take a look around the city today. Oooh, a free day! Kit , Fivesixer , Elycia Lee ☮ and I end up sleeping in- way past breakfast, and so do SB Musing and AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! . I suppose Sarah and Aly tired from the class last night. Kit, Sarah, and Aly wake up complaining about their sore bodies from last night's bouncefit.  "It was fun, but I probably won't do it again!" Aly exclaims. According to Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 , who roomed with Sarah and Aly, they could barely get up this morning. Which, from my memory, sounds about right for me, as well.  Kit says, as long as we're in Melbourne, she's game for anything that doesn't include scary rides. The six of us decide to check out Chinatown today. It doesn't take much convincing after I mention "dumplings", because I've sent Kit so many pictures of the food here, previously. She tells the others it's a very good idea to visit Chinatown, because the food is good, and it's in CBD, so there's some fun shops there as well. We set out and take the tram up to Flinders Street Station, and then another one to Bourke Street, and one more to Hutong, a "dumpling bar", where they make the dumplings fresh for you. We order 10 different dumpling dishes to share between us six, and a noodle dish as well, since the dumplings only come in orders of 6 or 8, which isn't much food for us. Afterwards, we go to Cha Time, a bubble tea shop, and order a cold drink for us to sip while we walk around the CBD. We walk through Bourke Street Mall, and do some window shopping. Cotton On has some fun bucket hats that we put on Norb, and us girls try on the floppy hats. We bump into Princess Megan Rose 22 Years and Andre, though Brother Nature is nowhere to be seen. Megan Rose says she's monkey-sitting for the day, and Joel went off with Andy~hating university and Lyn's a Witchy Woman earlier because they were hungry and Andre was not. We finish walking along Bourke Street after a few hours, and turn onto Elizabeth Street, and since we've just missed the tram, decide to walk over to Melbourne Central for more window shopping and potentially, snacks. We go down the escalators and pass a Woolworth's Metro store, and Norb asks where I picked up the panda cookies, because Woolworth's doesn't seem to have them. Neither will Coles, Norb, so don't bother looking. Though, if you want Tim Tams, those two supermarkets are good places to get them. Aly, Sarah, Elycia, and Hanna all ask, "What are Tim Tams?" and "What are panda cookies?" I let Kit explain the Tim Tams and Norb explain panda cookies. Hanna and Elycia perk up at the mention of "chocolate", and Sarah and Aly both look quite interested, so we stop at Woolies and pick up a pack of the original flavored Tim Tams- there's 8 cookies in a pack and 7 of us, but everyone likes it so much, we buy an additional 6 packs of different flavors- white chocolate, dark chocolate, double coat, coconut creme, caramel, and salted caramel. The store clerk looks at us in amusement, as we scan the other 6 packs, and we continue on into the food court after we've paid for the biscuits. There's another Cha Time in there, and Aly, Hanna, and I each buy another drink because we've finished the first one and those biscuits left us kinda thirsty. Sarah spots the sushi place and orders a roll to eat while we keep looking through Melbourne Central. Norb seems amused that we have a KFC and McDonald's in the food court, right across from each other. We go up the escalators to the second floor, where there's a huge Cotton On and a bunch of other small boutique stalls. Hanna finds a lacey shirt she really likes at a stall, and ends up buying it, and then we head up to the top level, to the restaurants and bowling alley. We see a sign advertising the "loaded" package, which gets you unlimited bowling, laser tag, and pool, after 5 pm. Checking our phones, we see it's only 4:15, so decide to give that a miss, and continue looking around. We end up exiting onto Swanston Street, just opposite the state library, and Elycia and Sarah want to check it out, so we go in and take a look at what the place has to offer. It's pretty big, and we spend some time exploring the galleries, until an announcement over the PA says the galleries will close in about 20 minutes. We had out, and go back onto Elizabeth Street via La Trobe, and in front of us is the King Asian Supermarket, which I inform Norb is where I got the panda cookies. We cross the street to go in, and I point out the panda cookies to Norb, who I can see is trying very hard to control himself. He ends up getting 3 packs of each flavor they have that day, which comes out to about 15 boxes. Elycia and Kit get some matcha snacks as well, and armed with these provisions, we check out and take the tram back to the hotel. Looks like we don't need dinner tonight. |
| Hopefully everybody is well rested and of sound mind after yesterday's excursion. Today, we're going to Luna Park , a mini amusement park with some fun rides and attractions. Luna Park is pretty tiny, but I guess it's a chain amusement park, in the sense that there's one in both Sydney and Melbourne. I'd say the park is about 60% thrill rides, 10% pay-games, another 5% kiddie stuff, and 25% family stuff. So, I'd say even those who're not so thrilled about thrills can still enjoy a good part of the park. The first ride we go on is the Spider. Unfortunately, it’s not a very anatomically correct spider- it’s only got 6 legs, instead of 8, which Princess Megan Rose 22 Years points out and Andy~hating university has a good laugh at. Lyn's a Witchy Woman , Fivesixer , and Kit decide to sit this ride out, but everyone else goes on, and I sit with Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 , who keeps apologizing every time she slides over and squishes me. Hey, Hanna, that’s all part of the fun! I wouldn’t’ve paired up with you, or anyone, for that matter, if I didn’t feel like getting squished.  After the Spider, I spot The Enterprise, which I so want to go on, but nobody else seems willing.  After a bit of wheedling, though, I manage to convince Hanna to go with me, because it’s not that much different from the other one in Dreamworld where only us two would go. I end up screaming for my life, even if the ride is super fun, and Hanna comes out looking much worse than she actually feels, because she declares, “I could do that again!” afterwards, even though her hair is everywhere and her face looks a little paler than usual.  The next two rides, the carousel and ferris wheel, everybody go on. Most of us ride the horses on the carousel, but Andre was too small for his own horse so Brother Nature had to sit in one of the sleighs with the monkey. And when it came time for the Ferris Wheel, Andre was going safely into Joel’s bag, so he wouldn’t be peeking out and then fall over the edge. Afterwards, we make our way to the Legal Street Dodgems bumper car attraction. I guess bumper cars here are called “dodgems”.  Interesting, indeed. Anyways, there’s so many of us, that we get our own special round. It’s pretty cool that they let us have the arena to ourselves, despite all the people waiting. We race around, hitting each other for a good 2 minutes, until they stop the ride. AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! is also quite good at this, and so is Elycia Lee ☮ . Kit nearly skids SB Musing ’s car into a corner, but Sarah manages to right the path before she got stuck for the remainder 30 seconds. Once that is over, we line up for the Silly Serpent ride. It’s just one of those short, go around once or twice rollercoasters, so even though Norb’s first reaction is his signature “nope”s, Sarah and I manage to convince Kit it’s not too scary, and Kit manages to drag him along. After the ride, he admits the Silly Serpent did live up to its name- it was more silly than scary. Sarah and I high-five. Our efforts have worked! The Power Surge, which we go on next, is also really fun. Since the ride is all jolting people side to side, we all go on it. And the fun of this ride comes when you get to squish people, so Hanna, Kit, Norb, and I get to share a car/bench. Of course, it goes smallest on the inside and biggest on the outside, so the order ends up being Hanna, me, Kit, then Norb. Originally, he people wanted me next to Norb, but since Kit and I are similar sized-ish, we switch spots so that she gets to cling onto him while the ride makes us all crush him.  There aren’t that many more rides, and the other attractions are all pay-to-play, so some of us head to the Port Phillip bay to take a look around. Hey, Port Phillip is where they film House Husbands. Maybe if we wander around long enough we’ll find it.  I grab Elycia and we go out searching for a well-known-to-be-hard-to-find set. Honestly, I’d be happy just to see one of the cast members. Lewis is great, and so is Gemma, though I’ve heard the females rarely come out. We walk around for 2 ½ hours-ish before giving up. Oh well, maybe today just wasn’t the day. I head back to the hotel, and realize, since today is a Wednesday, there’s a bouncefit class.I go to my room, and grab the sticky-soled socks, and send out a message to the group, inviting anyone who’s interested to go with me. Kit is very excited about Bouncefit because I’ve told her about the class quite a few times now, but Norb is more hesitant. He says he’ll go with us to the venue, but probably will just watch us jump around and fall down, because he doesn’t want to risk hurting his leg again. Fair enough. Aly joins us as well, and so does Sarah, and the five of us head out to Melbourne Central Station to grab the train that will take us there. Everyone is quite awed by the facilities- there’s even a parkour training place for people who might be interested, and since we’ve arrived about 30 minutes early, Sarah and Aly go check it out. I head straight to the balance strip mat, so I can keep working on my aerials. About 10 minutes later, a bunch of kids begin to line up for dodgeball, and I decide to take a quick rest before the actual class starts. Once the dodgeball is over, we go onto the trampolines, and Norb stays on the side matting to watch us. We do all sorts of jumps to warm up, and it’s fun to keep jumping higher each time you bounce off the trampoline. Today’s focus seems to be ab-work, which I don’t mind too much of, but my ab muscles are weak, so they can’t handle much.  Once the class is over, we take the train back to Flinders Street Station, and I get a white hot chocolate from the coffee kiosk there, before we head back to the tram to rest in the hotel for the day. |
| Welcome to Melbourne, everyone! We'll be staying here through Christmas Eve, so feel free to get settled into your hotel rooms at The Blackman . We're going far out from the city today, so drivers, be ready and aware of the route! We're leaving early, around 8, to arrive at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice creamery around 9:15. You can either buy some bread from Breadtop for breakfast and eat it in the car or wait until we arrive and have chocolate and ice cream to start your day. They have a Vegemite-flavored ice cream- are you brave enough to try it? Next, the Valley Farm Vineyards are another 20-minute drive away, so we'll go there once we're done eating chocolate and ice cream and have a guided tour of their winery, which includes wine-tasting, for those who are interested. If not, you can go along and have the cheese they provide. For those under 21, do not worry! The legal age here is 18. We'll finish the day at Healesville Sanctuary and visit the koalas, kangaroos, and various other animals they keep here, before going back to the hotel. It's been a while since anybody drove, and I know Kit is definitely not willing to do the hour-plus drive, so I rope in Fivesixer and Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 to commandeer the cars today. Despite the time, Kit happily settles into the navigator's seat next to Norb and uses my phone to give him directions on where to go/how to get there, with a warm and buttery-smelling pineapple coconut bun in her lap. Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 grabbed a caterpillar bread and munched it up before she got back to the car, and Lyn's a Witchy Woman got a regular pineapple bun. Andre was disappointed that there was no monkey bread, but he settles with a chocolate horn that he and Brother Nature share. I decide to skip breakfast and go for the chocolate and ice cream breakfast option.  There's some nice flavors there, even if they are a little odd, like eucalyptus paired with other bush berries and nuts. Some are good, some, not so much, but the ones that are, are also quite unique. Their Bush Tucker range is cool, and I liked the wattleseed flavor, so I try a bit more of that one. There's also mountains of chocolate flakes you can scoop out to eat, so I take advantage of that and get a few scoops of the white chocolate. I buy a scoop of the Vegemite Ice Cream, and have a seat in the cafe for a bit to enjoy it. Elycia Lee ☮ joins me with AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! , who orders a breakfast from the counter. The three of us have a nice discussion about which chocolate is our favorite, and why. Aly finishes her breakfast rather quickly, and then we head over to see what sort of souvenirs to get. I end up with some T-shirts and chocolate bars for the family, and we head out to the next destination- the Vineyards.The Vineyards are really fancy, and we get a tour of the factory, They show us the whole process- from the fields, to the machines that crush the grapes, and then the fermenting process, complete with purple-stained barrels and an explanation of why the glass bottles have the little indentation on the bottom. Afterwards, they take us into a basement-like room, which is set up with tables, flutes, and cheese, and give us the drinks to taste. Everyone gets a full flute, but I abstain from it, and so do Kit, Hanna, and Aly. Looks like Kit and I will be driving everyone to the Sanctuary after this. We munch the cheeses instead, which are quite yummy, unlike the wine. Once everyone has finished, we go to the gift shop to take a look at what sort of souvenirs we could get. Unfortunately, not much non-alcoholic stuff. So we pile back into the car, some more sober than others, and drive down to the Sanctuary.SB Musing and Princess Megan Rose 22 Years go to the gift shop first, because they saw some cute parrots they wanted to check out, so everyone else goes into the sanctuary and takes a look at the animals. There are bilbies, dingoes, wallabies, kangaroos, and more, here, and a bird show to top it all off, and everyone has a great time. We split into groups again- Norb, Kit, Hanna, Elycia, and I go off in one direction, while everyone else go off another way. Andy~hating university says we should meet back at the gift shop a half hour before the place closes, which is a good idea. We end up meeting them all at the bird show, anyways, which is pretty exciting and unique- instead of showing off the birds in flight doing tricks, they explain their natural adaptive skills to us, and then let the birds show us what they do.After the bird show, it's nearly 4 pm, so we decide to check out the gift shop. It's where I bought Matilda the Bilby, and Kit is rather excited because she wants one as well. I get myself a pair of kiddy koala slippers, which is quite fun, and Norb gets a crocodile plushie. Hanna gets a koala and Elycia buys a wombat. After we're done paying, everyone else comes in and start looking around for souvenirs, and when everyone else is done paying for theirs, we pile back into the car. We're not about to get caught on RBT for having drunk drivers, so Aly and I take the wheel on the way back to the hotel, to let everyone else rest. Kit does my navigating, and Hanna helps Aly, and we're back before dark! |
| Welcome to Canberra, the nation's capital city! We're staying in the Avenue Hotel today then checking out Parliament House around noon and the National Library later on. We'll continue flying down south tonight, into Melbourne. Today seems to be a sleeping-in day, which everyone seems to be happy about, even though yesterday was a late start as well. First we hit the Parliament House. Princess Megan Rose 22 Years doesn't seem to thrilled about it, because, politics, so she ends up more wandering around the garden than going in to do the tour with us.We walk into the House, and the foyer, also known as the Marble Foyer, looks really neat  . There's a free tour that's supposed to start in about 20 minutes, so decide to join. While we wait, Kit and Fivesixer take some pictures peeking from behind the columns, and Andre wastes no time getting out of Brother Nature 's backpack and running amok. The tour guide nearly steps on Andre, though, which makes the monkey a little more cautious about going anywhere he wants, despite being a plushie. The tour begins, in the Great Hall  and I can see why it's called the Great Hall- it definitely lives up to its name! The tapestry at the end has a hidden partition thing that leads to the Member's Hall as well. Afterwards, he leads us to The House of Representatives chamber, which is quite neat. Elycia Lee ☮ asks if we can sit in the Speaker's chair, and since Parliament isn't sitting today, the tour guide shrugs and answers with a "why not?" We pile into the chair, taking group pictures and everyone having a go at sitting in the Speaker's chair. Once we're done with that, he explains whom each side sits- Opposition sits on one side, and so do the Independent and minority parties, while whichever other party (Liberal, right now I believe) is in the majority/the leader sits on the other side.We go into the Senate gallery  next, and once more, we take turns sitting in the President's Chair and taking photos. He introduces the Press Gallery, President's Gallery, and Public Gallery, each name indicating where people may sit. The tour ends in the same place it begins- the Marble Foyer, and we thank the guide, then hang around for a bit longer to take more pictures and roam around the outside. We meet up with Megan Rose after the tour, and Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 and AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! point out we can see the library from the top of the grass hill-ramp, so we decide to walk there. It's a pleasant 20-minute walk, which, of course, lasts way longer than 20 minutes because we take pictures and goof off along the way, but it's good company and good fun so nobody really minds. Lyn's a Witchy Woman , SB Musing and Andy~hating university head to the bookshop immediately to browse around for books and souvenirs, but Elycia, Kit, Norb, and I decide we want some food first, so give the Bookplate Cafe a try. It's quite nice, though definitely expensive (what else do you expect from a cafe, though?) and afterwards, we check out the Wordplay activity space- it's family oriented, so gotta be good, right? we're big kids at heart, anyways. Plus, you can be loud-ish in here. Not screamingly loud, but talkative/chatty sort of loud, which Andre soon finds out and heads to join us too. We hang out at the library a little longer, and then head back to the hotel so we can prepare for the flight down to Melbourne. Tomorrow will be fun! |
| Sleep in today, as you have a choice of what you'd like to do. There are two big points of interest here in Sydney, Bondi Beach , and Taronga Zoo . Take your pick of which you'd like to see- the beach, the zoo, both, or neither. Maybe you'll end up going somewhere else. Just make sure you're back tonight to fly down to Canberra! I'm sure everyone is happy we get to sleep in today. Most people were exhausted from yesterday's activities, though I think Andre was still a little sore over being put in Brother Nature 's backpack during the Opera House Tour, but hey, he had it coming. Today's weather is extremely warm, so our room opts to head for the beach. We also rope in Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 and Elycia Lee ☮ for some more company. Andre and Joel went to the zoo, because where else would the monkey feel like he was finally at home? Princess Megan Rose 22 Years brought Andy~hating university and Lyn's a Witchy Woman with her to see all the cute koalas and kangaroos at the zoo, as well. And I suppose AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! went with them but then made her way to the beach afterwards, because SB Musing spots them from afar while we are sunbathing. I share my SPF 70 sunscreen (yes, it's a thing and it works quite well!) with everyone, and Kit is happy at the prospect of not becoming a red Kit. Aly, Sarah, and Elycia go for a swim in the water, and Kit, Fivesixer , Hanna, and I stand in the tidal area and let the waves try to pull us into the ocean. We get to where the water is about knee-high before we stop going in. The water is super cold, but it's nice, considering today is such a hot day. After I stumble and nearly drag Kit, Hanna, and Norb into the water with me, we decide it's about time to call it quits playing with fate like that, and head back to the sand. There is a small shack nearby serving refreshments, and I get an ice cream cone, which serves as lunch. Aly encourages us to go take a look at the Zoo- she says the koalas are mega cute, and there are some great photo opportunities for souvenirs. Plus, plushies waiting for adoption in the souvenir shop. The last sentence really grabs my and Kit's attention. Norb, Kit and I head up to the zoo, which is an hour and 15 minutes away on public transport, but we don't mind too much, because with the three of us constantly chattering about what everyone else on WdC is missing out on, and how Norb is going to go onto YouTube and seriously attempt the didgeridoo, the time passes quite quickly. The next thing we know, the bus driver is announcing "Taronga Zoo!" The entrance looks very much like Flinders Street Station, and I find it amusing, since we're in Sydney, not Melbourne. Aly failed to mention that today was particularly crowded, though I'm not quite sure why. What I did notice, though, was that there was no shortage of young families, and I heard some buzz from the kids about a Lachie and Courtney... and those names sound somewhat familiar, though I can't place what it's from. Suddenly, the Hi-5 theme begins playing over the speakers, and a voice announces an upcoming show in the Concert Lawns. "We HAVE to go." I start dragging a somewhat confused Kit along, and I hear Norb mutter something about his street cred. It's not too hard to find the Concert Lawns- we just followed where all the young kids were heading with their family. The show is just starting when we arrive, and even though Norb tries sneaking out, Kit and I tell him to sit down and shush! He shakes his head and somewhat mopes through the show until they ask for parent volunteers and I volunteer him.  "Watch your language!" Kit and I both remind him as he trudges up to the front. He pulls his bucket hat even lower on his head as he makes his way up, and the cast welcome him. "What's your name?" "Norb." "Whom are you here with?" Kit and I wave from the back. "My girlfriend Kitti and friend, Dragon." "Wow, so your friends have names from animals, too?" "Yeah, I guess." "That's great! We're actually going to teach you a song about animals today. We're going to teach you a very simple set of moves, and then you'll dance them with us when the music starts again, okay? Can everyone teach Mr. Norb the lyrics?" The kids all scream, "So many animals inside of me, so many animals set them FREE!" Bailey- I think it's Bailey- applauds them and commends their good job. Meanwhile, Norb is shuffling his feet, looking somewhat confused. The kids are giggling at him now, and Joe is trying to not laugh as well. "Okay, mate. It's set- them- free." he flicks his fingers out at each word. He steps in, trying to teach Norb the choreography. "Okay, got that." "On 'So many', we guys bounce down, so pat your legs twice, for 'so many,' yeah, good. Then 'animals' is up. Bounce up. Raise the roof. Good! Great!" Kit and I watch from the back, highly entertained as well. "'Inside' is two pats on the legs again. And then go up, on 'of' and then raise the roof again on 'me'." Lachie watches, impressed at the newbie's ability to teach choreography. "So, it's "pat pat, up up, pat pat, up up?" Norb asks, marking the steps. "Perfect!" Joe replies. "Moving on, on the second, 'so many animals', you jump in, double bounce, and then again, jump in, double bounce, which leads you to 'set them free'." Norb nods, and Joe asks, "can we try that from the beginning?" "Sure." "So many animals inside of me," Joe starts singing, half-time. "So many animals, set them free." "Great job, man!" Joe raises his hand for a high-five. "Let's do it with the music, regular speed. And..." "So many animals inside of me. So many animals, set them free!" All the kids applaud when Norb does it perfectly, and Kit and I grin when Joe gives Norb a bro-hug of sorts. Norb returns to our seats, and he shakes his head at me and Kit. "You did great!" We both grin. "He gave me this paper when he bro-hugged me." Norb slips us a folded up sheet of paper. "Thank you for participating and being a good friend today. Please see us at the end for a special prize." "Oooh, I wonder what that is!" Kit whispers, because Shay is introducing their final song. "...And to get us in the Christmas spirit, let's wish everybody here a Merry Christmas! It is Christmas all around the world, after all." They begin singing, and invite everyone to sing along, since there are song lyrics on the paper program, so Kit and I sing along, while Norb is still in disbelief that we managed to get him on that stage. "Thank you for coming, everybody! We'll see you soon, Taronga Zoo!" The five cast members wave, and the parents try to usher their kids out, because today is not a photography session or meet-and-greet. Norb, Kit, and I make our way up to the stage, afterwards, showing the security people the note from Joe. "Hold on." One of them radios into their shoulder. "We have three guests here, and one who says they have a note from Joe?" He nods, then steps aside. The five cast members reappear from backstage. "Hey, thanks for being a good sport about it, Norb." Joe shakes Norb's hand. Kit and I introduce ourselves as well, and seeing that most of them are around my age, and some share similar hobbies, we hit it off quite well. Bailey ends up following me on instagram, provided that I post more drawings, because we both have that interest, and adding both me and Kit onto her personal Facebook. After that, we walk around the zoo for a bit, and look at the platypus, seals, elephants, and the pigs. The koalas and kangaroos are asleep, unfortunately, but we still get some cool pictures with a snoozing koala and a waking up kangaroo. We check the time- 4:45. Probably time we hit the gift shop, since the place closes at 5. We take a look around, and Kit finds a bilby plushie, and immediately decides she wants that. I get a wombat, and Norb buys a platypus and Taronga Zoo bucket hat, the second of which at Kit's urging. We head back to the hotel via public transport again, and Kit and I make a point of avoiding the Hi-5 topic, even though we each got swag bags and a group picture with the cast. His mood steadily lightens with the successful avoidance of his dancing, until Elycia sees us with the Hi-5 swag bags and freaks out because she knows my huge fan-girl personality. I tell her I'll fill her in later, on the plane ride. |
| We're in Sydney today and staying at The Grace Hotel . Make sure you get some decent sleep, because we're getting a VIP tour of the Sydney Opera House at 7 am, for which we must arrive at 6:45 am! We'll grab some breakfast afterwards, then head to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and for the adventurous souls out there, do the Bridge Climb . We'll spend the rest of the day at the Royal Botanical Gardens . The rest of the day will be yours to spend as you wish. The Grace Hotel is quite nice, although the rooms are definitely not as large as the ones in the Meriton in Brissie. We get a couple family rooms, which is 4 people each, and Kit and Fivesixer request to be together. And naturally, with Kit, is Fraidy, with whom Nellie declares she must room. So I'm in the room as well, and I rope in SB Musing . During this trip, I've come to learn that it only takes me about 10 minutes to get ready, more or less, so I set my alarm for 6:20. Just in case. Unfortunately, the four of us end up chatting way past midnight, and with four of us in the conversation, well, it's kinda hard to stop talking once you've started. We get about 2-3 hours of sleep, max, only because Kit notices the time and points it out to us. My alarm goes off at 6:20, and I see nobody's awake yet. I stretch out and force myself out of bed, because if nobody else wakes up, and I fall back asleep, we'll all miss the tour. and that wouldn't be good! I get dressed and then proceed to wake up Sarah, Kit, and Norb, but none of them want to leave their beds. I try a trick Mom used to use when sis and I wouldn't wake up... I open the curtains and let the sunlight stream into the room. It's summer in Australia, so the sun is already up and shining by 6:30. "C'mon! We have an opera house to tour!" Norb grumbles something about the insanely early hour, and Sarah retorts, "That's how it's been this whole trip. Be glad you weren't roadtripping with us." "We could roadtrip down to Canberra tomorrow." I suggest. "Actually, if you don't get up, I think we should!" That gets them out of bed pretty quickly. "At least it's warm!" I chirp. Norb shakes his head, in a style not unlike Uncle, and Sarah rolls her eyes. I open up a window, and even the breeze is warm, so I open it even further. "Oooh, it IS warm!" Kit exclaims. I I check the time. "Hey, people, not to rush or anything, but it's now 6:37, and if we have any hopes of making it to the trip on time, we need to leave now!" Sarah pounds on the bathroom door. "Norb! Kit and I need to brush our teeth!" "Let's go!" I pull the keycard from the slot, which cuts the power in the room, and I hear Norb choke inside the bathroom. "Ay eed eh igh!" We hear, over the running water. "Get out, Norb! We need the bathroom!" Sarah calls, jiggling the handle. 6:40. "We're cutting it really close!" I warn, as my phone goes off. Sarah's phone starts ringing not long afterwards. It's Elycia calling me and Hanna calling Sarah. "Where are you?!" both phones resonate at the same time. "Ask Dragon!" Sarah semi-yells back into both phones. "And Norb!" She pounds the door again. "We... erm, I had some issues getting a few of these peeps out of bed." I nab Sarah's phone before she pounds that to smithereens on the bathroom door. "Norb! We're leaving without ya!" I yell. "You can meet us at the bridge climb." "Waiit!" The door miraculously opens, and Norb comes rushing out. "Where's your glasses?" Sarah asks. "Ahhh..." and Norb mutters some expletives. "And back into the bathroom he goes," Sarah narrates. "C'mon. We really need to go now, it's 6:39. Sarah, Kit, sorry, but you may as well forget about brushing your teeth this morning. Let's go!" We race downstairs to meet the rest of the group, and run out the door to the waiting cab. "Sydney Opera House!" I instruct. Thankfully traffic is light and it only takes about 3 minutes to drive there. "Out out out!" I pay the driver and we go to the box office, where they say the tour guide will meet us at the back in 10 minutes. We take our time, looking the outside of the building and taking pictures as we go. Kit and Norb take some cute selfies together and Joel decides to photobomb one of them. What else would you expect from a monkey, though? Brother Nature , you'd better make sure he doesn't wander off somewhere in the theatres or else we may never find him! And also get in big trouble. The tour guide seems very proud of his employer's company. giving us random facts like the internationally acclaimed teen show, Dance Academy has had scenes filmed on their stage, and introducing upcoming programs or shows to us, as if to prove the opera house isn't all about opera. Even though about 75% of the shows he mentioned were opera related.  We get to see some costumes and props- which he very explicitly states we are NOT to touch. "Only looking. No touchiing. And no flash photography!" He glares at Andy~hating university 's camera. Andy sheepishly pushes down his flash, only to have it pop up again. Andy pushes it down again, making sure it clicks into place. A couple minutes later, as the guide is saying something about how the theatre is a great cultural addition to Australia, Andy’s flash pops back up.  “Sir, I said no flash photography. If you cannot comply, you’ll either have to leave the tour or surrender your camera.” We look at Andy, only to find an Andre hanging off the bottom of his camera, looking cheeky as ever. Joel shakes his head and pops the monkey into his backpack. No more mishaps happen after that, and the tour guide visibly relaxes. He becomes more chatty and less script-y, and everyone seems to enjoy the tour more, much to Andre’s disappointment. The breakfast really is top-notch, like Wordsmitty ✍️  said. They gave us a menu with various choices, all sounding extremely delicious, and I go for the eggs benedict with a tomato substitute for the bacon-ham, and a side of spinach and mushrooms.  Full and happy, we walk from the Opera House to the Harbour Bridge and I decide to give the climb a go. It looks pretty intimidating, and Norb and Kit absolutely refuse to go up. Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 , Elycia Lee ☮ and I shrug and let them watch while we climb. It’s a pretty long program- 3 ½ hours long- and I don’t blame them when they head off to find a café to go and wait with AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! , Lyn's a Witchy Woman , and Princess Megan Rose 22 Years , though. When we are done with the climb, I feel pretty accomplished- it was 1332 steps in total, and even though I requested extra help from the climb leaders, I didn’t actually need it. I got a nifty certificate at the end of the program and we take a group selfie with the climb leaders- it’s not every day they get a group of virtual bloggers-become-friends who embark on this trip!We climb back down the stairs- another 1332 steps, and meet the other group at the café- the location of which Kit had texted to me. Us climbers get a bite to eat as well, and then we head off to the botanical gardens. Kit, Norb, Sarah, and I end up in a group together and we wander around the gardens, looking at the flora and fauna of the place, and then we come upon the place where Delta Goodrem hid the wings in Sydney. “This is supposed to be Delta Goodrem’s favorite thinking spot,” I inform everyone, and Sarah makes a joke about how Delta must be related to Winnie the Pooh, since they’ve both got thinking spots. We keep meandering about until some security people tell us the gardens are closing in 20 minutes, so we make our way out of there and back to the hotel, where I’m too tired to have dinner so flop onto my bed and call it a day.  |
| Today's our last day of fun in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, so we're headed to Time Zone , an indoor entertainment center, to stay out of the heat! It's open until midnight, but don't stay out too late because we're still flying out to Sydney tonight! Two of my friends (twins) had a birthday party at a place like this in either 6th or 7th grade, I remember. It was definitely middle school because it was the time when Abercrombie and such was what you'd wear if you even wanted to be considered semi-well dressed. And their father passed away in 8th grade so it definitely wasn't that year, either.Anyways, TimeZone! Looks like Kit gets her bumper cars. Except they call it Dodg'ems here. Before we do that, though, we have a good look around the place and decide what we want to do. There's dance machines there- Dance Dance Revolution- and I openly challenge anyone in the group, because that used to be my favorite arcade game of all time. It was something I was good at, even if it just consisted of stomping on arrows to the beat of a song. Okay I'm not crazy like this guy but I was good at a novice level. Anyways, most of us end up deciding on the Ultra Combo package, where you get the unlimited standard games, a couple ticket games, and some prize games as well. Plus it gets you entry into most of the attractions as well.We head to the main counter to buy the packages, and then Andre bounds off to somewhere unknown. Brother Nature doesn't notice Andre is missing until about 15 minutes after our arrival. Yes, looks like that monkey has a very short attention span. We go around the place looking for Andre, asking everyone if they've seen a plush monkey. Joel describes Andre to them, but most people frown and shake their head. Kit and I ask Nellie and Fraidy, "If you were to wander off, where would you go?" The plushies would know where to find a missing plushie. Fraidy says the carousel, because it's nice and simple and fun. And not scary. Scary! That's it! The House of the Dead 4. We rush back to the front of the venue and ask the attendant there if he's seen Andre. They shake their head. Thing is, Andre is a plushie monkey. And the attraction is dark. And meant for humans. If Andre is, indeed, in there, he's probably lost somewhere, in there, trying to avoid being trampled on by the humans who don't see him.Joel asks the attendant if he can go in and take a look. "Sorry, sir, not until the current round is over." "And how long until that?" we ask. "The timer here says a half hour. So come back in 30 minutes and I'll let you in." Meanwhile, to take our minds off of the missing plushie, we wander around the venue a bit more, taking a look at the prize games, ticket games, and other attractions. SB Musing wants to try her luck at a claw grab, so Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 , Elycia Lee ☮ , Kit, and I all head over to help her position the claw just right. "More a bit to me!" Elycia calls from the left. "Now to me!" Hanna says from the back left corner. "A bit front...." Kit instructs. "Now!" The timer is approaching 0, and Sarah whams the button. The claw opens up, descends, and grabs a plush pillow! The five of us cheer when the claw drops the prize into the flap. We head to the mini-golf area next, figuring that after a game of golf, the thirty minutes should be up. It's an 18-hole game, so even if the 5 of us took a minute to hit, it'd be quite a while before our game would finish. I have practice from Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, but that's about it, but it's mini-golf among friends, how hard can it be? The first few holes are straightforward and let us get used to swinging the putter, and how much force to put on the ball to make it go where we want it. Turns out, it's not actually that hard, and before we know it, we're on the 8th hole, and Joel is saying that he found Andre. Nellie gives the monkey a good telling off, about how he shouldn't wander about and get himself stuck in scary situations when their human friends aren't looking. After that, the monkey keeps his distance from the bear. We get to the 17th hole, and the scores are close: it is a current tie for first place between Hanna and Elycia. The next hole will determine the winner. If I do well, I could tie for second place with either of them, or third place with Kit if she does well. And Sarah and Kit could also tie for 4th if one does well and the other doesn't. Andre, as a payback for Nellie's tell off, pokes me in the ribs right when I hit, which makes me miss, and tie with Kit, who does get her final shot in. Sarah ends up as 4th, and Elycia is first. Unfortunately for Andre, his monkey business did not escape Nellie's eyes, and she gives him another tell off, at which point he gives up trying to hang around us humans and finds Princess Megan Rose 22 Years because she's nicer to him than Nellie is. We find Fivesixer at the basketball hoops, impressively getting in most of his shots. It's a ticket game, and he's earned 15 of them already so far. He says it's his second game, and he intends to stay there until he uses up the ticket swipes. "That's another 18 games, Norb. Are you sure?" Kit asks him. He doesn't quite respond, but grunts with the effort of throwing in another basketball. Oh-kaaay. "Maybe we should leave him to concencrate." Hanna suggests. Sarah and I nod, pulling a reluctant Kit away from him. "Hey, let's do the bumper cars!" Elycia calls out, getting in line. AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! joins her as well, so Sarah and I drag Kit towards the cars. "Here, it's safe to hit anything you want." Hanna jokes. "Maybe not like that in the real world, but here, yes!" Turns out Kit wasn't joking when she said she was good at bumper cars. It felt like I was her target at least 70% of the times I was hit. I'm definitely better at real driving than bumper car driving, but I did get a few hits in on Aly, Elycia, and Sarah. Kit was too fast for me and Hanna was surprisingly good at dodging my attempts. The emcee of the cars announces the time is up, so a little fazed by the bumping, we get out and I have a go at the prize claw, also winning a plushie, with the help of everyone else. Andy~hating university , Lyn's a Witchy Woman , Joel, and Megan Rose join us for the laser skirmish. They said they tried to pull Norb away from the basketball hoops, but to no avail. He was on game 15 when they checked on him, and the tickets were accumulating into an impressive pile. "That is one determined Norb." was all Lyn had to say. The attendant introduced the rules of laser tag to us, and split us into the red and blue group. Megan Rose, Kit, Lyn, Sarah, and I were on the blue team, and Andy, Joel, Elycia, Hanna, and Aly were on the red team. The goal was to get your whole team through the maze first, while avoiding being tagged, and tagging as many other people on the other team as you can. Each team started at different ends of the maze, so you couldn't see the others' progress. It was a fun time, and even though the red team got more hits, the blue team got out first, so the attendant called it a tie. Kit went back to check on Norb, who had apparently disappeared from the basketball hoops. "Looks like he finished all 20 games." Andy quips, but before long, a tired and sweaty, but determined-looking Norb reappears, only giving us a nod as he passes by. "Are you okay?" Kit asks. "Yeah. Fine. Don't worry." is all he says, as he swipes his card again and waits for the machine to start up. His tickets are in a clear bag next to him on the scoring platform. "Do you want company?" Kit asks. Norb grunts again, which confuses all of us, because it's neither a clear yes nor no. "We'll be over by the DDR machines if you want us!" Sarah calls out. Norb nods as he continues throwing the ball into the hoops. Sarah and I drag Kit to the DDR machines, and we play a couple rounds with different songs. After 5 rounds, we hear someone clearing their throat behind us. We turn around to find Norb, holding a huge purple plushie jaguar, and looking somewhat embarassed. "Ummm this is why I was so weird at the basketball hoops." He holds out the jaguar to Kit, who goes . Everyone else goes "Awwww!" He continues, "Yeah, anyways, I was trying to win this for you because it's purple and you love cats, sooo yeah." Kit gives him a big hug, and then goes "eewww! You're all sweaty!" Everyone laughs at that, and checking the time, it's almost 7 pm, so we decide to head back to the hotel and pack up our belongings before flying out to Canberra tonight. |
| We're just in time to make it after Dreamworld's re-opening on December 10. This park is the largest in Australia, and is known for their Big 9 Thrill Rides . Are you brave enough to try them all? I remember Dreamworld- White Water World is right next to it, and they filmed The Shak there- another show I used to really like watching but they cancelled. It used to air right after Hi-5, so I'd watch Hi-5 at 3:30 then The Shak right afterwards at 4. Anyways, back to Dreamworld: there's a door separating the place from White Water World, so if you have a wristband or something you can move seamlessly between them. We arrive at the park and hear the machines whirring and warming up the rollercoasters. Right at the entrance, we see two koalas - apparently their names are Kenny and Belinda, and they greet us with enthusiastic waves. Kit nearly melts, going "Awww, how cute!" So Fivesixer helps take a picture of her with them. Kit gives them a hug, saying "you're so fuzzy!" and then we go off to explore the rest of the park. The first ride we see, the Buzzsaw , looks incredibly dangerous, but Brother Nature decides it's something he wants to try. This ride ticks most of the boxes on my "Nopes" list: Upside down, backwards, and not to mention, the lack of the shoulder harness for when it inevitably goes backwards! Thanks but no thanks. Nobody seems to be really into it, either, though AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! seems to be wavering a little bit. "C'mon, I need someone to go with!" Joel wheedles, and that's all it takes for Aly to shake her head, hand over her purse, and march to the line with Joel. The attendant sees Andre in Joel's arm and shakes his head. "Sorry, sir. All accessories must be stored in the cubbies." "Andre's a real monkey," Joel tries to argue, but the attendant, conveniently named Andreas, shakes his head again and holds out his hand for Joel to hand over Andre. Joel shrugs. "Sorry, Andre," and hands the monkey over. Andre takes the opportunity to jump out of Joel's arms and onto Andreas, biting him on the finger. "OW! What the-" "I told you he was real." Joel retorts. Another attendant stops to make sure the harness is locked in correctly, and then gives the ridemaster the all clear. Before Andreas can say anything more, Andre hops back into a laughing Joel's arms, and slips himself into the seat as well, just as the ride begins moving. Looks like he'll be riding the Buzzsaw after all. We watch Joel, Andre, and Aly scream their heads off, and when they come back, Aly's legs are slightly shaky. "Hey, 1 down, 8 more to go." Andy~hating university jokes. With that, we head around the bend to the Giant Drop. I'm actually a little excited about this one, because free falls are fun (in my opinion, at least). Looking at it, it's an 8-seat gondola, which means three of us don't go on. Aly is more than happy to stay behind, and Kit almost does too, before I convince her to go with me. And Norb is valiant enough to gulp down his fears and take a seat next to her. SB Musing and Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 both go "Nope! We didn't do the Batman ride yesterday, so what makes you think we'll go on this one?" Fair enough. So that leaves Elycia Lee ☮ , who files in next to me, and then Princess Megan Rose 22 Years and Lyn's a Witchy Woman , Andy, and Brother Nature . The ride up is rather pleasant, and we yell-chat about the day, and the nice view of the park, and the weather, to keep our mind off the inevitable drop. The gondola stops, and Elycia grabs my hand, so I grab Kit, who grabs Norb, and wel all begin screaming even though nothing has happened yet. I swear, it's the wait that makes it bad. "I wonder when we're going to fa-aaaaaa" Elycia yells out, and as if on cue (probably on cue), the gondola drops. Before we know it, we're near the ground and being slowly lowered even further down. "I think I just got a facelift!" Megan Rose exclaims. We stagger out of the ride, some looking a little worse than others, and decide, once more, to part ways so it'll be easier to ride rides together. In the same groups as yesterday, Lyn and everyone else heads to the Dreamworks land, and we head into the Corroborree, arranging, once more, to meet at 4:30, like yesterday, but this time, by the exit. Turns out the Corroborree is pretty much just "Australiana land". There's all sorts of animals there, and Kit squeals when she hears there are bilbies. We we see the dingos, wombats, and emus, then head to the bilby house. I see Kit trying very hard to not freak out over the creatures, as she kneels down and strokes the fur of a nearby bilby. Hanna wanders off to have a look at the Saltwater Croc with Elycia, and Norb stands near Kit for when she's ready to go. Sarah and I keep an eye on the two girls from the bilby house, just in case the croc gets agitated and decides humans would make a nice meal. Once we're done in the bilby house and have picked up Hanna and Elycia, the aviary is next on the path. We meet some kangaroos, Tassie Devils, and an assortment of birds, before heading into the woodlands, for Koalas, Aussie wildlife, and even more kangaroos. The nocturnal house is next where we see snoozing owls, a cane toad, another bilby, and a squirrel glider. It takes lots of restraint for Kit to not squee or squeal over the animals, because we don't want to wake them, so we head out to the Koala house. Kit and Norb hug a koala together and have a photo taken, and then we move on, deciding to skip the Yarning circle and go to the rainforest to see the cassowary. Playing with all the animals has made us hungry so we stop at the Billabong Buffet Restaurant . The food is pretty good for hungry stomachs, and we all eat our fill before heading back out to the park, where we enter Wiggles World/ABC Kids World.We explore the Wiggle House in the Big Red Car, and then have fun getting dizzy in Dorothy's Tea Cup ride. Kit, Norb, and Sarah challenge me, Elycia, and Hanna to see whose cup could be the spinniest. They say they won, but we're pretty sure we won, and the ridemaster shakes her head at us and shoos us along when we try to ask her. Oh well, I suppose it'll have to be a tie. The Big Red Boat ride is pretty fun, and another mellow one to ease us back into the park after a big meal. After the ride, we get out, and find that Captain Feathersword has brought along Wags the Dog, Henry the Ocotpus, and Dorothy the Dinosaur to meet some kids. We get a group picture with them, and Captain Feathersword tickles Norb's neck just as the shutter goes off, so the photo has everyone looking happy, and Norb making a funny expression and looking rather uncomfortable. "Okay, okay, one more time!" The Captain says, so we pose again, and he tickles Hanna on the arm, so she's a blur of flying hair and a twister body when the picture comes out. "Captain!" The photographer calls, "You can't keep doing that! There are other visitors who want to get a picture with you!" "Oh all right," the Captain shakes his head. "I promise I'll behave this time!" "Say 'cheese'!" The photographer calls out. "One, two, three, Cheeeeeese!" And the Captain, true to his word, doesn't mess with us anymore. We give the characters a hug and wave each, then head off to the next ride. We look too big for the Giggle and Hoot Pirate ship, so we skip that, and the fun spot is just toys and games, so we pass by that as well. The next activity seems to be the Bananas in Pyjamas maze. We decide to race each other again, Kit, Norb, and Sarah against me, Elycia, and Hanna. We time each other, and Kit, Norb, and Sarah come out in 3 minutes, flat. Elycia, Hanna, and I run in, deciding that splitting up is the best option, and we'd yell directions if we found a clear path. Turns out it worked quite well, because we beat Kit, Norb, and Sarah by 5 seconds. Finally, the Hop and Hoot looks like a very minor version of the Great Drop, so we all ride it for fun. The little kids stare at us, like "What are these big kids doing on our ride? " But we dismiss them, and head off to the Tiger Island after the ride is over.We look at the tigers, making sure to keep our distance, and once we feel we've had enough of them, head down to Dreamworks World. The first ride we encounter is Pandamonium. Apparently, there's a soft-style and a Hard style The hard style looks extremely scary, so we all opt for the soft style. We're not wimps. We value our lives. After the ride, Po is there, in person, to congratulate us on riding the ride, so we get a nice picture with him, too. "You're so fuzzy!" Hanna exclaims as we say goodbye to him and go onto Gingy's Glider. We lay out superman style, and the ride takes us up and down, around the place. The Puss in Boots Sword Swing is fun as well, since we get to play on regular swings that are also flying around, and they're not too scary, either. We skip the Ogre-Go-Round because the line is long, but Dronkey Flyers looks fun so we give that a go. We then head into the Mad Jungle Jam and have a mini foam-ball fight, just randomly throwing foam balls at each other, and blasting each other with air cannons. Once we've almost exhausted ourselves, we go onto the Escape from Madagascar ride, which is mildly scary but mostly fun. We make our way to Ocean Parade afterwards, and I try to convince everyone to go on Shockwave with me. It's mostly spinny, and the other motion is back and forth. Hanna goes for it, but everyone else shakes their head and looks at us like we've grown another head. It's categorized under Family rides on the Dreamworld site, but nobody seems to care, so Hanna and I shrug and get in line. After that, there isn't much else in Ocean Parade we're willing to try- most of the rides go upside down, so we head to main street, because the motorsports experience is too extreme for us. It's only 3 pm, so we go on the Tower of Terror II, and then went to try the Island Noodle Hut we saw in Tiger Island. By the time we finished eating, it was about 4, so we made our way back through the Wiggles World and ABC Kids World, re-rode some of the kiddy rides, and then met back up with the other group at the exit. We get onto the pre-arranged shuttle bus back to the Apartment Hotel and talk about our day, armed with souvenirs and memories. Today was definitely fun, and I can't wait for tomorrow. I know I'll have a good sleep tonight! |
| One of the perks of being in Brisbane is its proximity to the Gold Coast, which is where all the theme parks are located. Today, we're heading to Movieworld , Australia's answer to Universal Studios in the United States! Yay! Movieworld! I'm quite excited to go back there. We start the day off by going to see a stunt driving tour- the performers ask for volunteers and Lyn's a Witchy Woman and Princess Megan Rose 22 Years get chosen to do some acting as spectators! They're made to point at an invisible run away person and yell "thief! Stop!" After the show, we decide to split up into 2 groups so it's easier to ride rides together. Brother Nature , Andre and Andy~hating university decide they want to stick together, and obviously, so do Kit and Fivesixer . Kit has brought along Fraidy, and I have brought along Nellie as well, and the two plushies are adamant about sticking together, so I go along with Kit and Norb. Lyn and Megan want to go together, and Megan wants to be in Andre's group, so Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 comes with us, and so do SB Musing and Elycia Lee ☮ . AlyCatAuthor HAPPY 4th! goes with Joel's group, and we decide to meet back at the entrance at 4:30- a half hour before the park closes.Norb comes up with the idea that we should ride every single ride in this park before we leave. Everyone thinks it's a great idea, except for me and Hanna. "What if there's a ride we're really not comfortable riding?" Hanna asks, and the others think she has a good point. We come up with a solution that, for every ride you don't ride, you'll just re-ride another ride you're more comfortable with. It sounds like a good plan, so with a park map in hand, we set off for our trek around the park. First ride- Green Lantern. "The steepest drop in the Southern Hemisphere!" Oooh, heights. I'm not necessarily afraid of them, but this one looks a little steep for me. But hey, who knows when will we ever be back? We line up in the queue to ride, and since it's still early, we're able to get on immediately. Norb, Kit, and Sarah are all in the same row this time, and I'm riding with Hanna and Elycia. The first 85% of the ride is pretty fun- and then we start to slow down. Way, way down. I suppose that means we're approaching that steep drop. We stop at the top of the curve, and I'm extremely grateful we're in the second row and not the first. I don't think I would have been able to handle seeing the distance between us and the bottom of the track. Our car jerks forward, gravity takes over, and we all scream for our lives.  The camera flashes at some point, but I'm too busy screaming to notice. After the ride, we head to the shed to take a look at our picture. Hanna decides she wants to buy the photo, so once she does, we all take pictures of it so everyone has a copy of the memory.Next up is the Batman ride. I love freefall rides- they're the most straightforward rides and you won't be too surprised at the speed you fall. I also learned all about freefalls in high school physics, like what makes them work. Back to the ride, though, I remember being too scared to ride this one in 8th grade when I came with Mom, sis, and uncle, and looking up to the top of the tower, I still don't blame myself. However, I'm determined to face Batman and his flight and fall this time! Sarah and Hanna take a look at the tower and go "thanks, but no thanks." I don't blame them, either! So Kit, Norb, Elycia, and I line up, which is perfect because each side is for 4 riders. We get strapped in, our legs dangling from the seats. "If we don't make it back, I just wanted to say this has been an-" Elycia starts to say something, only to have her words jerked from her mouth as we shoot up partway. "AMAZING TIME AND I LOVE YOU ALL!" She yells once her breath is back. We get to the top of the tower- 61 meters (200 feet!) high, and everything looks so small. Elycia grabs my hand, so I grab Kit, who's already holding on to Norb as well. We scream as our legs fly up from the 64 km/h descent, and in a few more moments, the ride is over. I think I left my stomach somewhere up there at the 50 meter mark. We stagger off the seats, and return to find Hanna and Sarah happily munching on churros. "So what's next?" Sarah asks.The Justice league ride is right behind Batman, so we decide that's next. Thankfully, that's considered a "kids' ride", which means this should be fun. Not scary, fun. Turns out it is! It's like the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland- you're put into a "pod" on a conveyor belt, which will slowly take you through different backdrops, where you blast baddies. This was a nice way to have fun and bring our heart rates down a bit. And let our stomachs settle after those two drops.We ride the Superman Escape afterwards, which accelerates from 0 to 100 km/hr in under 2 seconds. Besides that, though, the ride is pretty tame and we survive it without too much trauma. SB Musing decides to buy the picture this time, and we all take photos of the photo.After Superman, we walk a little bit, and come upon the Scooby Doo ride. I warn everyone against it. Mom and Sis went on it when we came, and it was not a pleasant experience, despite the theme. Unfortunately, Norb pays no heed to my words, and neither does Sarah. Kit is a little apprehensive after my warning, but Norb manages to convince her into riding it. Scooby Doo is considered a thrill ride, folks. If you're not one for ghosts and apparitions, stay well away from this! Sarah manages to rope in Elycia, but Hanna decides she wants to stay with me. Good choice, Hanna. Good choice. We wait outside for them, and while walking around, stumble upon a Ben & Jerry's so each buy a scoop of ice cream to eat while passing the time. We finish the ice cream and look around for the four others, but they're nowhere to be seen. Weird. It's been almost 5 minutes and rides shouldn't take that long! We walk around the ride, looking for the exit, and once we find it, we see some people coming out, looking ashen and shaken. Sarah and Elycia come out first, both looking a little worse for wear, and then Kit and Norb emerge, neither looking like they enjoyed the ride. "So was it fun?" Hanna asks, as we merge back into a group. "That was terrible!" Kit manages out, and Sarah and Elycia nod in agreement. "So scary. Like, I don't know why they'd make a kid's ride that scary." Elycia shakes her head. "Actually, it's categorized under thrill rides." Hanna laughs. "Not misleading at all," says Norb, facepalming. We decide to grab lunch first, to give the four scooby-riders a break, and a chance to recover from the haunts of Scooby before we ride the Wild West Falls. Gotham City is nearby, and smells delicious, so we go into there and order burgers to eat. The Wild West Falls are fun- we all get splashed, which is refreshing on a hot day like today. Afterwards, we stroll through Main Street over to the kiddie world- the WB Kids (Warner Brothers Kids) Zone, and let our clothes dry in the sun and warm breeze. We get there and see all sorts of Warner Brother characters: Sylvester and Tweety, a roadrunner rollercoaster, a Yosemite Sam train, and a Tweety Splash zone! It's a fun, mellow way to end the day- we ride the Sylvester and Tweety cages- two at a time, so the other four can help us take pictures, and some of us go on multiple times with different partners. We're all too big for the Yosemite Sam train, unfortunately, though they allow us to play the driving school attraction. We all get fake licenses at the end, which means we've passed our P plate test! There's also a mini freefall with Sylvester trying to catch Tweety, so we ride on that for fun- and to finish up the day, we go on the Roadrunner Rollercoaster. Checking the time, we see it's 4:28, which is probably as perfect as you could get it in terms of timing. We walk back out of the Kids WB Zone and make our way towards the park entrance, where we meet Lyn, AlyCat, Megan Rose, Andy, and Joel, who we left this morning. Excited, happy, and a bit tired, we all pile back into a hotel courtesy bus, with bags of souvenirs, new plushies, and other park swag. We've got to rest up for tomorrow, another day at another theme park! |
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