Holiday Report - the Gold Coast...

What a jam-packed whirlwind of activity!

We left on sparrow's-fart flight on Friday up to the Gold Coast - and squeezed in a lot! Friday visited Byron, Bangalow to visit my aunt and menagerie and Ballina to visit friends - before heading up to our apartment and then back down to Currumbin for dinner with my godmother. Busy day, and the kids handled it beautifully catnapping in our budget-buster-hire-car (Nimbus!).

Saturday we went to Dreamworld and I often lamented on the discounted cost of the tickets still being extremely expensive in my opinion - having only paid for hubby, myself and Eloise (Laura and Olivia didn't need to pay) was $150 discounted. But in retrospect, well worth it.

Kids loved it, Nickolodeon World was fab - kids went on most of the rides... with us!

Wild Thornberry Ball pit - Kids can collect, load and shoot balls - Mummy got hit with a few let's just say! They don't hurt though. Eloise loved it in particular.

Then Olivia's favourite part - the Backyardigans Merry-go-round - perhaps because she got to ride a pink horse. It's all about pink you know!

Dora Seaplanes were fun, we went on twice! Blue Skid-doo - I think Daddy liked this more than the kids! hehe.

Eloise and Daddy went on the super-slinger - that was her favourite ride.

We then went on to Tiger Island and bought the worst lunch I think I've ever eaten. I even succumbed in the heat to buy the girls a slushie in the heat. (First time with soft-drink) argggggh.

Wiggles world. Hmmm.. not what I was expecting. Withstanding the RosyTea Cup ride which was an enormous hit, I thought it was a bit lame. The kids and we were really disappointed with the Big Red Car Ride - not sure if it was because of the 1/2 hour wait for 2 min ride, but yeah, I think if you had no wait you'd think it was OK, not great, just OK.

A tip to the wise: Eat at Wiggleworld. We should have done that (well actually we should have packed our lunch like you're not supposed to but we saw everyone else do it!)

Then we took the steam train around whilst Daddy went on the Claw, Tower of Terror and some equally vomit-worthy rides that I can't watch let alone think about go on! Then we went and had an iceblock and whilst I was lining up, left the girls to sit outside where I could see them... a couple of Japanese tourist kept staring at them and then started taking photos! It freaked me out! I don't know what it is, that I have twins or they're cute, but this happens alot. I just think it's rude to take pics of people's children without asking. I mean we were at Dreamworld don't you have anything else to take pictures of? Once when travelling down to Wagga we stopped at a truckstop restaurant and I'm not exaggerating a whole busload of japanese tourists got off and lined up to take pictures of us eating dinner. It was awful.

When Daddy was finished we had snocone (without flavour - they didn't care!) and then back to our aparment... had a swim and then headed to Mermaid Beach for dinner with friends that we haven't seen since we had two children between us. Now we have 5.

Yesterday we drove up to Brisbane and met some more friends and realised on arrival I had left my wallet back on the Gold Coast. Annoying! Kids had a great play and it was great to catch up with everyone and see how their kids have grown rather than just pictures. It was particularly lovely to see Eloise play with two little girls that were born to mummies I was pregnant with at the same time.

What is it about Brisbane? We got lost a number of times getting in and out of the City! Roadworks, inadequate signage, odd layout... argh! We saw my uncle for a short-time which the kids loved.

After an impromptu BBQ with friends we headed back to our apartment to pack and clean up.. and then onto the sparrows-fart-flight again this morning. I have never been so happy to see our car! I mean our hire car was extremely economical but it was basic and a bit squishy and I now know I don't want three-row car - doing seatbelts is a nightmare!

Some recommendations:

http://www.ablcarrental.com.au/ - affordable car hire, family owned, lovely people.

http://www.pelican-cove-resort.com/ - affordable. but basic (decor outdated) accommodation - we got a 3 bedroom apartment, washing facilities, security parking, fridge, stocked cooking facilities, microwave. You need only take your food (which you can get at the local IGA in the same street) washing powder and a little dishwashing liquid. It has a great pool with a shallow end for the kids and it's right on the waterway so nice views. Wished we stayed there more. We will next time.

Sydney Airport Long Term Parking - Much cheaper than taxis and regular shuttle buses makes it quick and convenient. Much cheaper than Park'n'Fly which we've used before.

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