Mana the Mermaid

With the beach being so close it would be criminal not to spend as much time as possible there.

Dont know who enjoyed it the most.

Dad was more than happy standing waist deep in the breakers and as for Mana.... dig a hole,bury her and then shape a mermaid tail.

She was pretty happy

Lamington National Park Hinterland

Once again we all packed into our trusty rental and with way points plotted in my GPS we headed off into the "Outback" (had to give it a Aussie theme)

I wanted to get some sort of elevated view of the Gold Coast but after driving around for what seemed like forever we (well "I") flagged that idea and set course for a place called OReilys in the Lamington National park.
After a good hours drive winding around narrow hillside roads and thru even narrower bush clad tracks we arrived at Oreilys.
First priority .......food......ahhhhhh.
So what can we do around here??
Lets buy some bird food and feed them turns out they were as hungry as we were and no sooner had we ventured outside that the flock stampeded (I know stamped is not the right word to use but you try and think of a colourful verb apart for SH#T!! as snippets of Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The birds" flash thru your mind)

Gotta admit though it was so funny to watch as crimson Rosella's and King Parrots "Mugged" anyone or anything to get a feed.

The "Tree Top" walk was the next thing to do,this involved walking on a somewhat doggy looking (and bouncy) walkway swing bridge about 16m above the ground.
For those adventurous types there was the opportunity to climb up a tree a further 16m so when you reach the top your about 35m above the ground.
Mana of course charged at it,K,Mum and Dad would have nothing to do with it (just quietly 35m is a hell of a long way down when viewed from the top)

On our way back we found a old timber mill tunnel hidden away in the valley and with large gum trees and thick undergrowth on either side of the path it was nice to take a bit of time out form the relentless heat of the sun (guess it was a prime area for snakes,bugs and other creepy critters .......fortunate for us none were to be seen but we did catch a glimpse of some bats that evening.

Chilln out Gold Coast style

Today was a bit of a fill in day,the sun was out so we decided to head down the road to Rainbow Bay (home of the famous Snapper Rock amongst other things)
Was really nice just to walk about and soak in the beach atmosphere.

We had been to Point Danger before and we headed up to the cafe there.

To our disappointment we found that it had gone thru a few changes,the rules on serving food had been transformed into something I like to call "BB" or bureaucratic bullshit but basically they were no longer allowed to serve sit down food (although they still had plenty of comfy chairs,magazines and tables PLUS metal utensils were now a no no??? Yeah go figure.
Anyhoo we ordered our "Takeaway" food which we had every intention of eating upstairs in there "Chill Out lounge" (which we had to ourselves)

So armed with our set of plastic knife and fork we proceeded to "Chill Out".....Mana choose to do it in a VERY large woman's shoe.

Walking down from Point Danger which is the boundary line, on look left and you'll see the state of Queensland,right hand side and its the state of NSW.....
Mana saw a model doing some wedding gown photos and she just couldn't wait to get closer when we got there she got all shy and embarrassed about asking for a photo.

Both of us then took some us time to check out the waves conditions.

A light meal

Define I light meal?.....one would normally describe it as some type of light food no heavy red meats,vegetables delicatly cooked maybe dropped into a boiling hot pot of water for less than a minute of stir-fryed and a smaller than usual quantity of food.....right?.

Having spent the last couple of days getting used to the temp and getting over abit of jet lag we all felt like a "LIGHT" meal was on the cards.

As we flicked thru the "Where to Dine" book in our apartment Donto Sapporo Japanese restaurant jumped out with its colourful photos and its fresh healthly looking food,ahhh sounds just the ticket for our travel wary bodies and souls.

However ordering Miso,Beef Tataki,Salmon & Ekuri donburi,Soba and Eel Don does not fall into the "light meal category" and we did get a case of the "Big Eyes" as the dishes of food were placed in front of us.

Never one to turn down a challange (especially when it comes to eating) all 3 of us did the side well and came up with the result.

Mana said as we lent back on our seats and "popped" another button on our pants "I didn't know that I could have such nice Japanese food in Australia"

We couldn't argue with her as it was so bloody good.

Surfing wise.....Im stoked!!

Ahhhhhh Im so stoked what a holiday.
We are here in visiting Australia's surfing capital....The Gold Coast (next port of call BALI.....I hope)
Centrally located with a short drive/walk to Surfers Paradise,Restaurants and Shopping malls we were perfectly placed.
For me being a stone throw away from the right hand point break of Burleigh Heads was a bit of a bonus too (hehe)

K and I had a understanding......"YOU get up early go for a surf.....get it out of your system,then spend the rest of the day with us"...........Simple but very effective.

Every morning I rose at 0500 and with a power packed breakfast of cereal fresh Mango and toast I was fuelled up and by the waters edge by 0545.
After months of squeezing into a rubber suit here in NZ (Im talking about a wetsuit Maya) the feeling of just wearing Boardshort (or boardy's) a rashie,sunblock,was....was intresting.

With warm water wax on my board (usually infused with a coconut-y smell to give it that beach tropical feel) that sends you into this kinda "Summer trance"......ahhhhh there is nothing like it.

Abit nervous on the first day as I had no idea what was what,like Where are the rips or currents? What are the best tides,swell or wind?
What are the locals like??
But with a consistant 1.5- 2.5 ft SE swell for the whole 2 weeks we were there I was pretty happy.(actually more that happy)

Accomadation for 2 weeks $2000

Flights to the Gold Coast for 3 $2000

Block of warm water wax $5

Surfing Burleigh Heads point break.......Bloody priceless!!

White Water World

So here we go again.
Mum and Dad have already gone back and its just up to us 3 to to the business and complete the Dream World experience with White Water World.

Feeling a hell of alot more confident than last the other day the 3 of us headed straight for the "Green Room" only to be turnned away at the top as Mana was 3cm below the min height.
Oh well was still the Wiggles pool the Wave pool and the Nickelodeon Pipeline Plunge which we hung out at for most of the day.
K and I took turns about running around from pool to pool.

Up the slide ,down the slide,drink,icecream then Up the slide,down the slide.

What a great day and to finish off with a walk that evening to Burleigh Heads shops for a mean feed of "The fish-a-mans basket" Kau mau te wehi!

Dream world

When in Aussie one "has" to do a theme park.
Would you go to Paris and not go to the Elifel Tower ??......Same thing.

So the 5 of us we packed into our trusty rental and we were off.......Dreamworld or Bust!.

By the time we arrived (1000) the car park was already 70% full and I was surprised to see that vehicles (and bodies) were still streaming in.

After shelling out $270 for 3 adults and Mana (thank goodness for the 1 pre purchased adult ticket via the internet and Flybuys)
What a explosion of sights & sound kinda hard to describe really the atmosphere was alive and there was this mixture of cheerful laughter and excitement with the odd spine chilling scream of terror (coming from "The Claw" as it hissed and swooped above us)

Amped up to our eye balls after Nick Jr fun world (you run around grabbing "neff balls", load them into air compressed guns and shot them at each other) we went to Dora the Explorer "around the world swing ...thing (basically swings on long chain that go round and round) which I initially thought would be easy as.

How wrong was I .......the nausea was excurating (Bungy,tactical contor flying jumping out of planes,up down sideways up side down no problem) But this simple swing on a chain going around and around made me weak at the knees ("Get hard" I hear you say and it was only after what seemed like 40 gallons of water and a packet of Extra chewing gum that I returned to my normal self.......and colour)

So it was Keiko and her parents to the rescue (still think K didnt enjoy the "Crazy Beaver" ride as much as she said though.

Pooped we headed back home and with conversations about the Bumper Cars,Tiger Island,Blues Clues,the Crazy Beaver and Wiggles "The Big Red Car it sounded as though (most of us) had a great day.

Camping city style

Ive been promising Mana that we will go "Camping" in the back yard once she turns 5 and the weather fines up.
She has been on my case ever since her birthday.......so tonight was the night.

She was so excited and eager to help me set everything up putting in the pegs,tightening the ropes and of course laying out the bedding (which included her Birthday present of a sleeping bag .....Pink of course and a air bed)

2230 after reading the story "Felicity Wishes" she was out like a light.

New Years Day

Was fortunate to enough to "time" my RDO with New Years day so we headed out to Arron & Mami's (and 2 boys Jake and Sean) beach house.
Mami prepared a "srummie" lunch which she served on the deck with a amazing view of Piha stretched out in front of us.

After the usual "try and get the kids to sit down and eat" me Arron and the kids,wandered down to the local camping ground where they had a sports day,basically it was running races with prizes donated by the local community surf club.
Mana (also known as "The fast girl in pink") won 1st a second followed by a 2nd and then another 2nd.

In total she now had 4 prizes......and I said "WOW you have won so many prizes" and I could see a mix of sheer joy and a little sadness....."Why do I have so many prizes?.....and why are their some children that don't?"

"Daddy can I give a prize to the white girl (nothing raciest in that she was actually wearing white) Mana wanted to give a prize to one of the other girls as she didn't win anything and Mana had 4........please pause here for maximum effect and insert...Proud Dad moment here.

With kids in tow we made our way down to the beach and hung out at by a small stream where the kids could play safely with no waves.

I went out for a surf and on my return Mana surprised me by actually asking if she could have a go on my surfboard which she promptly jumped on and started to paddle.

Another big moment for me (Wow what a year so far).....its only Mana's 2nd time on a surfboard (the first time doesn't really count as she was 1 and a bit and she more or less crawled over it and I took a photo)

But let the records show that today was the day that launched her surfing career.....hahaha

After playing all together in the stream and covered in black sand we wandered back to the house just to "graze" again before our evening stroll on the beach feeling content (with full tummy's) and watching the kids play in the evening glow of the sunset sun setting I would have to say "This was a good day!".......bring on 2008.

(About 2 minutes after we left Mana was asleep)

Christmas day

Well here we are....Christmas day!
Thought Mana would have a wee bit of a sleep in after last nights effort but come this morning at 0550 we were woken by the sweet gentle voice of our daughter.....NOT it was more of a blood curdling scream of "SANTA......SANTA.....Mummy Santa's been.....look,look....LOOOOOOOK!!!

Keiko prepared a awesome feast and we dragged the two couch's put them together threw in blankets pillows and "Gugu" to make our own "Couch Island"

K and I would just laze back and read our books while Mana watched her Barbie Princess DVD's.

We only had to get up to answer the call of nature and to "GRAZE............" which we did the entire day.


Merry Christmas everyone.