Day 5 - Movie World!!

Once again up very early and back for a run. Went a little bit further today and did not get tired one little bit. Could have done a Forrest Gump and run forever. I have decided I am solar powered as I seem to run better in the sun.

STILL deaf in one ear, highly frustrating I can tell you!

Everyone was up and bustling about quite early today as we were going to MOVIEWORLD. The girls were very excited at the prospect of getting lots of photos taken with the characters. Jarrad was mostly excited about the stunt show, but Mike and I just wanted to hit the rides.

We got there nice and early and didn't have to queue up too long outside. We got ourselves a locker and headed off to the Looney Tunes Village to do the nice little warm up roller coaster....

But none of the rides opened until 10.30 - a half hour wait!!

So the girls managed to squeeze in a few shots of themselves with the characters and we slipped into the Shrek 4-D show which to be honest was kinda boring, but then we were OUTTA there. We did the warm up kiddie roller coaster, good fun, and then went for the big ones. 

Straight to the Superman Escape.

Oh my gosh!! All other rollercoasters are now officially crap by comparison to this ride. I went on with Janet and let's just say - If I hadn't been deaf in one ear BEFORE I went on the ride, I would almost certainly have been deaf after. She has a very impressive lung capacity that Janet!!

From there it was off to the new Batman ride which is like the giant drop, but in reverse. Like his wife, Jarrad had a nice big scream, but I found it a little lacklustre, the most "thrilling" part being the sheer panic at not being able to get my harness off at the end of the ride and 

Jarrad casually walking away and leaving me to struggle with it!

Then it was off to Wild Wild West where we got absolutely drenched and subsequently spent the rest of the day smelling like mouldy old pondwater. Then Scooby Doo which had previously been my favourite, but as I already mentioned, now paled by comparison to the Superman Escape.

Then it was off to lunch and to watch the stunt show. Not my cup of tea really, but the drivers were very impressive. When they were driving round on two wheels there was a small part of me that wanted to see a car over balance, but I'm sadistic like that!

From there it was off to the river ride, the highlight of which was seeing Elmer Fudd on his hands and knees peering down a hole looking not unlike he was having a giant spew!

Then Lethal Weapon. This ride is ALMOST as good as Superman, except for the ear-bashing you get on the cork screw part of it. Everyone got off feeling a little punch drunk I think and we were a bit wobbly on our legs, but still good fun. 

We saw a little bit of the Batman street show (terrible dancers pretending to be Martial Artists - PAHAHAHAHA!) and then went back and did all the rides again, but this time intentionally being total posers for the photos, which we did in fact purchase. 

 Naughty dancers!!

All up I think Mike and I hit the Superman ride 5 times, always endeavouring to get to the front, but never quite getting there (although we did get on the front on our second shot at Lethal Weapon).

Back at home and we hit up the pool again which was surprisingly warm whilst those lovely girls whipped up a very delicious spaghetti bolognaise for tea.

For dessert we decided to venture down the street to Baskin + Robbins, but lo, the heavens did open up and it did pour down rain on us! Nice warm rain though.

Glad it held off til then though.....

They shut the Superman Ride when it rains!

Day 4 of our Queensland Adventure

Another insanely bright and early morning, but I didn't feel like running, so I walked down to the little convenience store (believe me, you pay for the convenience) and bought some milk and cotton buds because my ears were waterlogged. I then sat out on the balcony and just read my book, which incidentally I was not really enjoying, but ploughed on through regardless whilst I waited for everyone else to get up

Mike and I were hoping our fitness fanaticism would be infectious, but to no avail. Jarrad point blank refused and the girls were still getting ready (possibly still getting ready from Sunday!!). To her credit, Janet did smash out a few sit ups with us!

Today we went into Surfer's Paradise to have a general look around. Jarrad dropped us off and then went out to a Dick Johnson racing thing that he wanted to go to. He came back with some dvd's and some photos of cars so I think he had a good time.

The girls wanted to do a day spa sort of thing so Mike and I left them, and went for a wander around town. We checked out a live shooting range, but it was a bit expensive and the guys in there looked like they would much rather shoot us in the face than have us shooting at targets.

We found the most EPIC Timezone and decided we would come back there later on with everyone else, but did stay long enough to jump in those massage chairs. They were very good, although I'm not too sure what was going on in the butt department. All I know is Mike and I both burst out laughing at the exact same time, so whatever was happening to me, was obviously happening to him too.

We found a nice little Irish pub. Actually, it wasn't that hard to find as there are about 3000 Irish pubs on the main street of Surfer's Paradise. We went inside after being greeted at the door by two bikini clad meter maids, and got ourselves a pint of Kilkenny to wash down the Gelati we had previously had (mine was lime - a tad surreal). It was very relaxing just sitting out on the balcony with a pint looking down onto the street and watching everyone ferreting around. 

We then went for a walk around town and took some photos of the sights.  It was nice and cruisy really.

We met up with Jarrad and went to find the girls but they were STILL getting pampered (their massage chairs cost considerably more than ours did!!) so we manly men headed off to Dracula's Haunted Mansion!!

It was very cool.

It's basically 4 levels of scary stuff that you walk through. Kind of like Infinity, but with more of a horror feel. One of the coolest features was getting into the elevator and with lighting effects and a small window, you get the impression that you are going down when you are in fact going up. I had figured this out in my head, but I imagine the shock of walking down all the stairs when you are in there, after thinking you've gone down the elevator and then coming out at the place you started is probably quite startling for some.

Truth be told it wasn't THAT scary, although I think fear of the unknown is probably the worst part of the gimmick. Nothing really jumps out at you, it's just lots of skeltons and prosthetic monsters. And it's very dark too. The coolest thing was the guy getting smashed up by a circular saw. It was just a dummy, but it screamed and thrashed around whilst this circular saw kept swining all over it! Jarrad would never admit it publicly, but he was a little bit hesitant about going round corners first.

We went back to that Irish pub for lunch (possibly. There were a lot of Irish pubs) and then we went across to Timezone. We played some pretty cool games, rode a porcelain horse, failed miserably at getting six of us in a photo booth so compromised and did a quick dash to swap over from boys to girls in between photos! Despite being massively buff and super strong, Mike and I did NOT beat the record on the strength tester machine. Clearly it is rigged. We walked out of there with a cool ball to play with in the pool and this air dart gun thing that was actually kinda nifty.

We hit up a supermarket and I had my first Red Eye for 2009. For those who know me well, you understand that my feelings towards Red Eye border on sexual (they don't really) and therefore understand that this was a momentous occasion for me.

Before leaving, Amy got one of those technicolour worm thingos put in her hair. It looked good, although a little stiff at first and looked not unlike a wonky antenna until she got it wet!

Back home to the pool where my ear got waterlogged again and this time would NOT go away. Very frustrating being completely deaf in one ear!

Then we went to Sizzler for tea. Why they got rid of Sizzler in Geelong is quite beyond me. It ROCKS! Seriously, it is fantastic and I loved the food. Great value for money because of the all you can eat salad bar, which includes everything from salad (obviously) to soup, pasta, and nachos! Bring it on! Can we please start a facebook group petitioning the return of Sizzler to our fair town?!! That said, Leah's steak was not cooked properly, but they were very nice about it and gave her a full refund even though she didn't ask for one.

We were all pretty pooped that night so we crashed at home and watched an X-Men movie and ate some of the popcorn we'd bought, but it was with great excitement that we all fell asleep that night.....

.... For the very next day we were going to.....


MOVIEWORLD!!!!