Life in the slow lane: All of a sudden everything gets a little faster - Adrenalin Rush Days are back!

19th November 2010

Today is Sea World day and it decided to rain a little - ah well we have done well with the rain so far. Now as I said with Wet n' Wild lockers cost $9 no return but you can bring in your own food, no fishing in the park allowed.

Sea World was one of the best for all day entertainment apart from their live animal shows; Dolphins, sea lions, ray feeding, penguin feeding and the big Pirate show, there is plenty to see and do. The park is very much laid out to feel very crowded, there needs to be more paths and easier ways to access rides and attractions than treading the same path back and forth all the time. Also more signs are needed to work out where you are going. http://seaworld.myfun.com.au/en/Visitor-Information/Park-Map.aspx

There are extras like dive with the sharks, helicopter rides, Sea World cruises, swim with the dolphins but these up close and personal packages cost more money - lots more money. Free with the park pass is the monorail but with only one train on one monorail track, it can be pretty slow way of getting round. Good idea if you want to work out what you would like to see and do. You are given a show time guide as you walk in and a park map.

There is also a chair lift that goes across the main water areas of the park, however on the day we were there it seemed to be having a few technical difficulties. The crazy thing is the adrenalin rush rides don't always run in the rain - erm Sea World - the UK has similar adrenalin rush rides and they have no choice but to run in the wet - suggestion maybe you could get that seen too, as many people were disappointed when the rides closed during wet weather.

The first ride I went on was the Jet Rescue for a look click on the video from this link: http://seaworld.myfun.com.au/Attractions/Rides/Jet-Rescue.aspx When I arrived there wasn't a big queue and as we weaved our way towards the front of the queue, you could hear squeals of joy. Now you are warned no mobiles, loose change, nothing in your pockets, so empty everything, when going on this ride and the g's are amazing, this ride is not for the faint hearted, it goes at break neck speed and twists n turns in from one side to the other in succession.

Now, as I came to the front, they needed just 2 more riders, I was on my own, so guess where I got to ride? - Yup right at the front :) Jet Rescue is a truly awesome skidoo ride, if you want fast and furious then step right up, it's low, its twisty, its super-charged fast and an adrenalin rush that just has to be experienced.

From there I went onto Sea Viper where the queues and the walk up was decidedly longer than Jet Rescue. This is your more traditional style roller coaster ride with a corkscrew and 360 degree loop all packed in to a minute of hype. http://seaworld.myfun.com.au/Attractions/Rides/Sea-Viper.aspx the link shows a photo of the ride. This ride gives the awesomeness of traditional roller coaster rides and I dare you to keep your eyes open as you literally turn upside down in the 360 degree loop. The triple corkscrew gives you a momentary feel of weightlessness but its so mild you hardly are aware. Well worth a ride if Jet Rescue isn't running and a nice addition to Jet Rescue if you want to ride both. Tip: Go on Jet Rescue first if you have trouble with confidence then you will find Sea Viper quite tame in comparison.

From here we weaved our way across to see the Polar bears - sadly we could only see one and he wasn't playing ball either, not surprising considering Queensland climate is a tad warmer than his natural habitat, although Sea World state that they have climate control in the water and the Polar Bear's enclosure.

Next was a pool of docile stingrays this was our route towards the Dolphin Show at the back of Sea World. Now the last time I saw a Dolphin show was when I was a little girl and Flipper was all the rage. I have a confession to make, I cried, cried heaps watching the Dolphin show, they were amazing and majestic and certainly showed lots of intelligence. http://seaworld.myfun.com.au/Attractions/Shows/Imagine.aspx

After the dolphin show I heartily recommend you take the backstage scenic route, as you get to see the dolphins a little closer and one or two may even come and say hello, the next best thing to swimming with them. As we came out of the dolphin enclosure, we walked past a mixed a curious display of dolphins before heading towards the sharks.

Now you can see the sharks above and below in the man made coral reef with other fish. It's absolutely fascinating seeing the size of some of the fish in there swimming around oblivious to different sharks. Sea World have kindly placed information on the fish in the tank in the underwater section - perhaps one day as a fish swims by it may electronically highlight the fish and tell you what species it is.

It was at this point we decided to have some food - we decided to try a domino's pizza - the megasaurus - yup for meatlover's we also washed it down with a bucket of Sea World Coke. The food is once again over priced for what it is and hardly filling. Just as we sat down to eat, someone asked, "what would you like to eat?' and out came that familiar reply "Hot Chips!" as if questioning what else would they like.

So after you have eaten and the rain threatens again - what do you do at Sea World? Simple  - you go and watch the Happy Feet show in 3D. Now for younger children Sesame Street plays in the Theatre for the children's entertainment and judging by what I saw, it was pretty cool - I mean Bert and Ernie haven't changed :).
http://seaworld.myfun.com.au/Attractions/Shows/Happy-Feet-3-D.aspx and http://seaworld.myfun.com.au/Attractions/Shows/Sesame-Street-Beach-Stage-Show.aspx

Happy Feet 3D film was cool, just a small short from the film but still pretty cool for 15 mins of entertainment and we were kept dry. Word of warning though - no drink or food allowed in the cinema - erm hello 'popcorn?' 'bucket of coke?' kinda traditional and all finished of with a choc top - guess it's not a traditional cinema.

Having shuffled out of the cinema we dashed over to the Sea Lion enclosure to see the show - Fish Detectives http://seaworld.myfun.com.au/Attractions/Shows/Fish-Detectives.aspx This show is funny in parts and the sea lions certainly do well with some cool manoeuvres.

After the Sea Lion show we decided to leave the park and let the children enjoy the Pirate show at the end of the day. We decided to find a nice BBQ spot, so I could make a BBQ Curry dinner - hmm flavour makes all those tinned goodies go down a treat.

Then it was off to find somewhere to sleep for the night.

Life in the slow lane: Springbrook National Park to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

18th November 2010

Woke up to hear laughing Kookaburra's and the whip-it bird, will miss the amazing sounds of the sub-tropical rainforest and even the ever deafening cicadas, it's quite magical and I feel blessed to have experienced this magnificent beauty.

We packed ready for the journey back to the Gold Coast and had breakfast by the BBQ area and then made our way down the long and winding steep road towards Mudgeeraba. Next surprise was that we would be going to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on a night tour, even better no cooking on a camp stove tonight, as a buffet dinner is included with the tour, which would make a welcome change, for more information see: http://www.cws.org.au/getcloser/tickets_and_bookings/wildnight_adventure/information/

As we weren't going till night time we drove to Burleigh Heads first and sat on the sands, also we did some shopping for our onward journey. We also decided to treat ourselves to some hot chips - we had to laugh as the phrase "hot chips' was the most used reply by others when asked, "What would you like to eat?"

We had a quick wash n' tidy up before heading towards Currumbin. We pulled over by the beach and watched the surfers catch some waves and feel the thrust of the low flying planes as they came into land. We then drove to the Sanctuary and parked in the car park opposite where Surf World and Honey World are located. 

We decided to venture into Honey World as we we're a little early. Now Honey World not only sells honey products but also has an educational centre which shows you the entire production of honey making. http://www.superbeetourism.com.au/ , as we had arrived quite late they were at the point of closing but we couldn't resist buying honey coated popcorn. Surf World is a museum dedicated to the history of surfing  for more information go to: http://surfworldgoldcoast.com/ we didn't venture in as it was getting close to our Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Night Tour start time.

 Buffet dinner started at 6pm and the tour is limited to a small groups of 20 and it's certainly worth doing the tour at night for that up close and personal feeling.After a sumptuous buffet meal, we headed out into the Sanctuary to be very close and personal with some of the Sanctuary's animals, namely a crocodile and a carpet python. How close? well we held the crocodile and had a photograph with it , as we also did with the carpet python!

Okay so it wasn't a full grown crocodile nor a full grown carpet python but hey this was a taster for the big ones later on - no we didn't get to hold them. Our tour would take us next to the Koalas. Now as this was night time and Koala's are sensitive to light, taking a decent photograph wasn't easy.

To ensure the welfare of the animals are kept at the forefront of all Currumbin do, each Koala is tagged and microchipped and they are only allowed to be out with the public for 20 mins and strictly rotated and all recorded in the log book. I have to say this Koala looked exceptionally heavy.

 Next we travelled through the green cauldron and to see a Barking Owl

The Owl was on constant watch and it's head would constantly turn, however it didn't want to make its barking noise. from the green cauldron we took a train ride through Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to the Aboriginal Corroboree. now as there we had been having some intermittent rain the Corroboree was held indoors. I would have liked to have seen it with the fire though.

The Aboriginal Dancers and musician displayed some songs and dances from the Northern Territory and Torres Island Straits. We were given permission to take photographs of the dancers. Here's a short video of one such dance, the video is very dark as it was shot on my camera, however if you watch it in large view the images of the dancers are clearer.

We were then asked to join in a clapping song game called Sasaar, it was a round of movements and it got faster and faster as time went on. It certainly got everyone laughing. At the end we had a photo opportunity with the Dancers.

In the same area we also got to meet a Dingo - note that due to my camera battery dying at this point the rest of the photographs are taken with a Nokia N95 phone camera.

It was hard to get the dingo to pose and look my way. From the Corroboree we travelled on to see the bigger version of the crocodile we held earlier - this one was nicknamed 'Holy Kaw' and when you see him you realise why. 'Holy' is 5.3 metres long or 17.3 feet in old money, due to the darkness and 'Holy" wanting to hide somewhat, I couldn't get a picture of him. Just lets say I wouldn't want to feed him never mind hold him.

Something that is plaguing Queensland and the Northern Territory are the Cane toads and a few decided to freeload their way into the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and they are not the prettiest looking of creatures even in the dark. We met a few on our way to 'Holy' and the Kangaroos.

It was great to feed the kangaroos but a little disconcerting that they were as tall as me and they were the small ones. I stand 4ft 11inches or 1.47m yup both the crocodile and the kangaroos were beating me on height.

Just after the infamous Tazzie devils came one of the Australian creatures i fell in love with thanks to a TV programme called "Country Practice". It was a wombat named 'Fatso' that I fell in love with and so a big smile came over my face when I met the wombats.

Once we had seen the wombats it was time to head back on the train to the Wildlife Sanctuary's restaurant for some Damper and tea or whatever beverage took our fancy - now I had never had damper before but I have to say I might become very partial to a bit of damper, here's taste recipe for making damper  http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/12308/damper we had this traditional style with a tin mug of Hot Chocolate.

Once the excitement of the night had gone and the last drop of Hot Chocolate had been consumed we headed to find a campsite for the night and then to sleep.

Life in the slow lane: Springbrook National Park

17th November 2010

Before I continue with the blog about Sprinbrook National Park, I thought I would share with you some names I gave to our fellow campers at the site: The Sticky Beaks Camping Elitists, The European Backpackers, Jucy Lesbians (Yup us) and The Three Bears Camping Spot Thieves - more did arrive later, however we didn't get a chance to get to know them. as we didn't see them in person.

We woke up to birdsong, which is a pleasant way to wake up in a National Park and this morning we had decided to go and do the Twin Falls circuit a 4km walk. We drove to Canyon lookout, one of the areas you can start this trek through the sub tropical rainforest and prepared ourselves for the walk.

Now this track is meant to be for people with a reasonable amount of fitness and wearing ankle supporting footwear. We would say we're not the fittest walkers in the camp but our joy of walking, the chance to take some amazing photographic pictures and to walk behind waterfalls would keep us walking and if the 4km trek took us longer or double the maximum walking time stated then would be happy that we had exercised and seen some amazing sites. Its estimated to take 1.5 - 2 hours to do the trek, we would be taking photographs and stopping to enjoy the views, so we estimated it would take us between 3 - 3 1/2 hours to complete.

Prior to starting out we had made sure we had plenty of sunscreen, drinking water, some food, and wet weather/warm clothes, it's advisable to do this in case of changes in conditions or emergencies. this is a link to the walking tracks at Springbrook National Park http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/springbrook/pdf/springbrook-inset-maps.pdf you will need adobe PDF reader to see this click here if you don't have Adobe PDF reader http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/ .

We spotted this family of skinks on the edge of the rocks at Canyon Lookout, this was our first close encounter with the wildlife in Springbrook National Park. We then took the steps to the right of the lookout following the track in an anti-clockwise position, as advised on the walking track guide. The walking track is made up of natural path and some steps with occasional gravel areas or natural stone paths. You will go down quite a way in the sub-tropical rainforest on this circuit, so if you have unsure footing then do not attempt this walk. Also the path can get quite slippery in parts as well as muddy.

On our trek down towards the part where the Tallanbana picnic area track joins the Twin Fall circuit path we spied another skink, this time on its own and much bigger than the previous family of skinks. We crossed some brooks and continued on our journey downhill to the top of the Twin Falls.

From the top of the Twin falls you then follow the path down into the valley of the sub-tropical rainforest, down through some natural caves towards the bottom of the twins.

We went through the back of the Falls cascading down into the valley, past more babbling brooks, past the Rainbow Falls, into more caves, past more babbling brooks until we reached the bottom of the Twin Falls and rested for a while allowing the water to bless our faces with is cooling fizz.

Once refreshed by the Twin Falls cooling waters, we carried on through more caves on the cliff edge, past Tarzan Vines, following the local Ancestors walk, down and up past trees that had fallen towards Blackfellow Falls.

Blackfella falls is very slippery at the bottom and we did have a little wobble on the rocks, thankfully we were okay, we were on our way back up towards the Canyon Lookout where we started.

On the way to the top of Blackfellow Falls we saw some Yabbies in the creek and all along the walk the deafening sounds of 100's of 1000's of cicadas shrilling at the top of their voice. We first spotted cicada wings, then cicada's flying and eventually a cicada at another lookout.

The above is a small video clip I made with the audio clip I had and some of my photographs of the cicada sound to give you an idea of the noise, best heard with headphones on.

The above video shows a leaf we saw swirling in the brook

After a 3 hour walk we made it back up to the top, we just sat and enjoyed the view for a while and as it was still quite early we decided to also go and see the "best of all Lookout" this lookout was in Queensland yet just across from the lookout was Northern NSW and Mount Warning plus some Antarctic Beech Trees that were over 1500 years old!

Well after all that trekking we headed back to camp for a hearty lunch Sausage, onion, mushroom and bread lunch - only issue with exercise it makes you extremely hungry. We rested and re-cooperated for tea we had sandwhich, then we watched a movie with some popcorn. Before going to bed we decided to go for a night walk stretch and then slept.