I went to a theme park the other day with a friend who was visiting from up north, we went to Dreamworld. We have a few theme parks on the Gold Coast, and different attractions, it is a tourist place afterall. If I was asked which one I believe to be the best, I always say Dreamworld simply because in my opinion it's got the best value for money. That's as good a reason as any but it also offers something for everyone. The trouble with the others is they say they do but they don't, someone is usually left out. I always think if you can't find something you enjoy at Dreamworld, it's time to call the undertaker because there's obviously no life left.
There are different rides and attractions, plenty to do and see, animals, rides, games, movies, dressing up, shopping, eating, you name it - it's there, including the fact that it's the home to the Australian Big Brother house.
I mentioned I went with my friend, Leanne, she had three of her daughters (one a baby almost 6 months old), her eldest daughter had her baby with her (6 weeks old) and there were Leanne's two young sons, aged 5 & 6. Overall it was a good day but very tiring as the "youngsters" wanted to keep going off and doing things and we were left holding the babies. That's not too bad a thing but when you're waiting on them in lines to get on the rides and not knowing how far along they are, we had to wait it out. And then there were the times when one or the other would wander off and not let us know where too, that was frustrating at times. When we were on the move, it was at a dawdle, that's not a good thing for my back, it will ensure it's going to hurt a lot after a few hours. I need a steady and moderate speed walking otherwise it can't cope.
I'm not bitching about the day because it was really lovely catching up with Leanne, this was the first time I'd met her after getting to know her on the internet and she's a really great woman. It was also nice spending some time with the babies as well - that's another blog! Her boys were a little over-excited at times but that's what little boys are like and I thought it was fun having them around. She has great kids, even the older girls were really nice.
It was really a great day for the fact that I got so many cool photos, Dreamworld meant that I could see the tigers and get up close without having to get 'up close'. And of course they have tiger cubs at the moment of different ages which was so nice to see too.
A couple of my Vox friends suggested too that I take advantage of the theme park and take some different photos and see what eventuates and I listened to their ideas and gave it a try. I took some colourful photos, I loved these shapes, and I tried to capture some of the rides. I'm not a fan of the rides, especially their 6 big thrill rides as they are touted. I've been on one of them....can I just say "holy SHIT!"
I've mentioned to Lav, that I've got a fear of rides, I fell out of one when I was a young kid, great fun that was (not), though luckily I only ended up with minor injuries - bumps, bruises and of course injured pride. I wouldn't go on anything that went faster than a snail after that. Years later (5 years ago) I was at Dreamworld with friends, and their nephew who was 9 years old, he was dying to go on a few of these rides but they were too chicken to go on with him...they signed me up for the job! Thanks guys!
I didn't want to let him down as he was so excited, but I did explain to him that I was scared and told him why, he understood and told me it was okay if I didn't go on them. But for the tower of terror, he could go on but was advised at the time that he'd need to have an adult with him. I couldn't bear the guilt knowing that his heart would be broken so I summoned up the courage to go for it!
What WAS I thinking? It's like being in a rocket about to be launched into space - and launch us it DID! Wooooosh....and off we tore at what seemed to be lightning speed, rocketed along and up the tower...a few seconds of weightlessness and then free falling backwards just as fast to where we started. Blink and you'll miss it - thank GOD!!! It was over so quickly and I was so relieved about that part, I had a few seconds of terror alright! But the best part was, I did it...and I knew nobody would've believed me so I got the photo to prove it! Phew!
Fear conquered? Not a chance...it ensured I'd never be foolish enough to put myself through that again haha. Seriously though, with my back condition now, I couldn't even if I wanted to.
I've included some photos of the tower of terror, and on the same section they have another ride, the Giant Drop...the yellow thing up the top of the tower is it, they take them up slowly and sit them there for what looks like an age and when they least expect it, drop the cage and they free fall almost to the bottom - I'll include a video to show you.
But the real highlight for me was the animals, and especially the tigers, they're such magestic creatures, the tiger in the pool was the same one that my sister had her photo taken with a few years ago, you can see that picture in my photos. I thought he looked familiar and went and checked the pics and sure enough it is him. The white tiger is actually the father of the two regular coloured tigers, amazing! And the baby tigers...awwww just beautiful!
Well, the day had it's ups and downs and ins and outs but overall was great...I'm home so I can say that ;-) Seriously though, I was over tired and getting cranky, I'd been awake close to 30 hours by the time I got to bed and my head hit the pillow and suddenly it was the next morning. But I still couldn't wake up, it took another nap to finally fix me, I felt like I had the worst case of jet-lag in history!
I hope you enjoy the photos :))
