"An Around-the-World-Ticket for Two, Please."

Another week has flown by!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Saturday, 27 November 2010 20:58

Well, it's Sunday and another week has flown by us! Last weekend we had a great time at SeaWorld! We saw Polar Bears, which neither of us had ever seen before except for in pictures and on TV! They were brilliant! The enclosure had land and water, and you could watch them from above, or below under the water. It was open air, and we wondered how the bears weren't over-heating in the Australian Summer, but we read the info and the bears enjoy the Artic Summer and don't like it too cold! There have cold steam areas for them, and the water temperature is controlled, but overall, it suits them well! One of the bears was really active when we got there, and I could have watched him all day! He was jumping in the water, swimming up to the glass viewing area, swimming with his front pushed up against it, and then as he got to the top, pushing off with his feet and then flopping back into the water with a big splash, it was amazing to watch, especially while he was under the water. They are very good swimmers, and he had really human like qualities! When he would surface he would lie on his back with his arms and legs pointing up out of the water, and he would wipe his eyes with his front paws, it was so interesting to watch! I am glad we saw them when we did, as when we went back later in the day, it was different bears (they rotate them) and they weren't doing anything at all! We would have thought they were really boring if that's all we'd seen.

We also enjoyed a great dolphin show, which I loved! There are a few rides there too, so we went on a rollercoaster and a log flume! Ben's favourite bit was the sharks! There are two underwater viewing areas, one is a 'reef', full of all the colourful stuff we have seen when we have dived, which was very relaxing to watch, and the other is the 'predatory' tank! It is full of lots of sharks, and is not colourful at all, just grey sharks and fish swimming around, apart from one little Dory fish who seemed a bit lost! She had obviously swum through the divide from the other side and was lost in true Dory fashion! There is a glass box in the tank, that you can go in and feed the sharks from which Ben was really keen to do, but it was booked up for ages, so we couldn't! The sharks were amazing to watch, they were pretty big and dangerous looking!

We saw lots of other things, including a funny sea-lion show! There were the usual fair ground type stalls there with giant cuddly toys as prizes, and was trying to get Ben to have a go to win us a mascot for Gunther, but he was not up for it at all! The game had a giant bin, and you had three balls, if you got one in you got a small prize, two in a medium and three in a giant prize. The catch was, most people's balls bounced right out! We didn't see anyone get close, so Ben was reluctant, but eventually I egged him on enough to have a go! He managed two out of three so we picked a rather large Nemo cuddly which now proudly sits in Gunther with the two of us!

On Sunday the weather was terrible, so instead of staying in all day we went to the cinema and watched the new Harry Potter. It was good, but slow and long, and not as 'actiony' as the previous ones, but we enjoyed it. I always feel a bit naughty going to the cinema in the daytime! When you come out you still have an eveing left which is always funny to me! Ben did another great BBQ for tea, I don't think he'll ever get tired of them!

The rest of the week the weather was pretty poor in the mornings, and then just as I set off to work to start at 2pm, it would brighten up and be all sunny, which sucked a bit! But the weather should be getting as it is now Summertime here! I didn't do very well at work, only one booking all week, which meant no commission, but at least I get paid by the hour as well!

We had another weekend without Kelly and Sam as Kelly had a job interview on Monday 6 hours away, so they made sa weekend of it. I am sad Kelly and I haven't had much girly time together as she's at work all day, and then I'm at work in the evenings, and the last two weekends they've been away, which is a shame. Ben and I went to the beach at Burleigh Heads for the day on Saturday which was lovely! I read my book all afternoon while Ben was refining his body surfing technique! The waves on this coast are massive and quite scary, so I was also watching him most of the time in case he got into trouble, not that I would be able to do anything, but could at least alert the lifeguard!

On Sunday we went up Tambourine Mountain and found a 'market', which turned out to be half market, half carboot sale! It was fun poking around, and the whole town seemed to be there! We also found another little shopping area where there was a cheese factory and beer distillery. Ben had the 'taster tray' of four beers and was happy as larry watching the cricket! I also found a fudge shop and was also a happy bunny!

The rest of the week has been a bit of a whirlwind, getting Gunther ready for staying in, working and also fitting in another trip to Wet & Wild! Ben has a job starting on Monday, north of Brisbane, so we will be heading that way on Saturday and staying in Gunther at a campsite for the duration! It's until 22nd December, then we are heading back to Runaway Bay for him to start work here on 23rd!

Anyway, I am off to work in a bit, so had better be off!