The Last Supper…

Well Friday saw us preparing to go home and due to the time that we were going to be arriving in Christchurch we weren’t going to have time for the last supper – But lunch would definitely be in order at Pacific Fair.

After walking down to this popular mall we did a spot of retail therapy (yet again) and then had lunch at the food court before catching the bus back to the units.

Because we still had a bit of time up our sleeves before our shuttle transfer to the airport we spent some time soaking in the Vitamin D on the beach. Although I was the only one wearing shorts as all the others couldn’t be bothered changing once they got to the airport into warmer clothes as Christchurch according to the weather forecast was due for another sub-zero night.

On the way to the airport we got a chance to see some of Brisbane’s inner city due to one of the others on the shuttle being dropped off at the Casino (hard to imagine that not so long ago many parts of the central city were under water due to the floods they had here).

And so the great escape comes to a close as we head back to the cooler temperatures of New Zealand – We have all had a really kool time away from the everyday hassles… I wonder where we’ll be heading for our next major overseas excursion – SUGGESTIONS anyone!

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The Dream World experience…

Thursday saw us at Dream World for the day taking in all the thrills & spills of the theme park rides. And I must say that Emily takes after me in relation to making the most of it when it comes to facing your fear and doing it anyway…

After wandering around for a while and doing some of the tamer rides such as the Log-ride & Vintage Cars etc. We headed to Wiggles World Annette headed off to get some supplies and the older children headed off on their own. Mike, Linda, Grace, Emily & I headed off to have a go on the Moto GP ‘roller-coaster’ and although Emily was to small to go on the bikes by a mere 5cm she couldn’t hold back her excitement to go in one of the side-cars. When she was buckled in and set to go she was starting to look a bit worried and as she approached the first corner the look of terror was on her face but as she approached the second she had a huge smile on her face. As we approached the finish line she was like “can we do it again, can we do it again.’ Which we did! we had two goes before Mike, Linda & Grace had even got on for their first go – And I’m sure if Emily could she would have spent all day on just that one ride but we moved on to even bigger things…

We headed for the Tower of Terror, and this time Annette who is not really into big scary rides had caught up with us. Mike who it would appear is also not really into big scary rides either was facing his fear, as we walked up the stairs I think Emily was sensing the vibes from her mum and Mike as she was getting just a tad concerned – but no sooner than we were seated she was ready to go… well sort of! Woosh heading backwards at a great rate of speed with a high-pitched squeal coming out of her mouth she was just a tad freaked out and then we’re heading outside, the heat of the sun hitting us for a few mere seconds as we head (backwards still) 3/4’s of the way up the tall tower before heading back down at a great rate of speed into the dark tunnel again. Emily’s comment when the ride was over “Is that it, over already.”

And then… we approached the Wipeout, Annette & Mike had glimpsed earlier from a distance this ride and were definitely not going on it.. I could see that Linda was not interested in giving the younger ones the option of checking out the ride before joining the queue, before we knew it we were being held in by both the overhead supports and supporting bar locking that in place. It started with a huge lunging swing backwards & then forwards before doing the loop-d-loop and then we were upside down, back to front, falling sideways, back-ways and just about anyways we could be thrown. The screams from Emily & Grace getting louder and louder as the ride went on. They both came off of that one saying ‘no way am I going on that one again’. But as the day wore on they would most probably have given it another go – maybe with a bit of coaxing…

In many ways the Cyclone roller-coaster paled into comparison as both Emily & Grace skirted around the tracks – although for Annette & Mike (being roller-coaster virgins by the sounds of it) they were both a tad skittish by the time they got back down on hard ground. Emily & Grace were set for another go…

The Fun continues with Movie World tomorrow…

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The first day…

Or maybe it would be better to say days, as since Tuesday morning we have hardly had any down time to sleep as the excitement boiled over into “can we do this, or can we do that!”

The majority of us had very little if any sleep at all on Tuesday night prior to catching the shuttle to Christchurch airport and although the intention was to have some sleep on the flight for many of us it didn’t really eventuate…

We arrived at Brisbane airport to find out that according to the connecting bus to the hotel we weren’t due in until 7:30 at night (not in the morning) so after Linda had sorted that out we were on our way to Diamond Sands and it didn’t take long before we all found the inside of our eyelids.

Once we had settled into our accommodation we headed to Pacific Fair which is a huge outdoor/indoor mall complex so that we could get some groceries for the next few days or so.

Then we had a choice of relaxing by or in the pool or the units before having dinner. Then we organised the plan of attack for the next few days, working out which theme parks we are going to do when and some of the other attractions that we want to go to, before we all settled down reasonably early to get some much needed sleep before we have a full-on day at Dream World.

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