Angry Jen’s Rants..

Checked out of the hotel and headed to Dreamworld.  Unfortunately every where we went was just jam packed traffic – was crazy.  So after ages we got to dreamworld.. queued in the supposed express queues with our pre purchased tickets – got a locker and headed to the Claw.  Think it goes 9 storeys and swings you around, very fun!

After this we walked past the tiger cubs who were awake and playing.  Unfortunately our stuff was still in the locker so we continued in in the hope that they’d still be awake later.  We went on the tower of terror and managed to get in the front row.  Seated in the cart thing – you get propelled out and up the tower, then you fall backwards as it makes its way back to the starting point.  Looking at the horizon as you’re falling is freaky!  After that I tried to go on the Mick Doohan motocoaster.  According to the test unit Jase was too tall to fit into the motorbike seats.. so I tried going on still.  When I was maybe 4 rides from getting on there was an announcement to say there was an unknown delay but we could wait if we wanted.  Left the queue and I don’t recall seeing it running again!!  Wouldn’t have been anything too scary but still looked fun (in a tame way).  From there I think we went on the tower of terror.  120m tall, 3.7 second drop.. as you’re going up you’re thinking “yeah that’s high enough” and you just keep going.  You also don’t know when its going to drop – so whilst I enjoyed the view of Surfers and stuff at the top, I started getting rather nervous.  What didn’t help were the two girls down the end who were screaming and freaking out.  I managed to keep my eyes open this time (as opposed to our last visit where I had them shut and was still screaming after we’d finished dropping!!) but still looked at the horizon as opposed to straight down.

We went back to the tigers and unfortunately all the cubs were asleep.  We then went to watch the Tiger show – with jase getting lots of tiger footage.  I was going crazy with my camera so got lots of cool photos and whilst parents were trying to trying to push their kids in front of me I managed to keep my spot!

After that we had a lamb wrap at the tiger cafe.  From there went on the claw again, and then did some souvenir shopping.  Got an awesome white tiger with Jase (statue), a dvd of tiger cubs (I really need to find that) and would have liked to buy some tiger slippers, but they were just too short to be comfy.  Also got lots of ride photos of me looking scared!!  Managed to leave the park at 3 as they were walking the little cub around on a leash (so cute).  drove to the airport, dropped off our rental car and checked our baggage in (again we weren’t asked for ID).  Had a ham and cheese croissant with Jase.. then headed into the secure area.  We thankfully found more food and had a toasted sandwich before getting on the flight.  Got told to turn off my ipod (even though it wasn’t on) but thankfully the attendant didn’t notice that not all my bags were secured under the seat in front of me.   Enjoyed a coke and pringles and watched most of the Pirates of the Caribbean.  When we landed Jase’s bag seemed to be one of the last out.  We got a taxi home and as we pulled up the meter was on $35.40 – then the taxi driver added some charge to bring the meter up to $37.10 – so I gave him that.. and then he tells me its an extra $2.40.  He couldn’t justify his charges so we argued our way to $38.10.  I hope to avoid taxis in the near future!  After our last two painful experiences.

Lunch was fish and chips back downstairs in the circle courtyard.  I had a potato cake with my fish and salad – yummy!!  We then did our packing so we wouldn’t have to worry about it later. After that went for a walk along the beach in Surfers Paradise.  Very busy with everyone cramming into the water in between the flags and cooking themselves on the sand!

This was the view of Coolongatta and Tweed Heads from the Surfers Paradise beach.

Looking up at our tower – we were in the South Tower, on the 31st floor (on the left).

After that we drove to Brisbane to have dinner with Alisa, Kai & Amelia – great instructions   just got a little stuck in traffic.  Amelia was a bit tired so took a while to go to sleep in the stroller – thankfully settled down.  We had japanese, sharing gyoza (came out super quick!!) and then I had tempura prawn with udon, jase had a teriyaki chicken set.  Followed by a yummy hot chocolate.  After dinner we went and checked out the Brisbane fake beach.  We’d heard so much about it that I just had to see it   It smelt soooo chloriney but it was still kinda cool. After that started the boring drive back to Surfers.

Bit of a sleep in/reading on the couch until we headed out for lunch.  Got in the car and just drove.  Eventually I tried to navigate us to Tweed heads marina area thinking there might be nice food there but didn’t find much at all.  Instead stopped at Coolongatta and after buying sunscreen (I’d left ours in the hotel – oops!)  we walked up and down trying to pick a restaurant until we eventually decided on Grilled.  I got the Mighty Queenslander (only to discover when I got back it was exactly the same as the Mighty Melbourne).  But was still a nice burger.  It was next to an outback jack’s restaurant – complete with a crocodile on the roof with a pair of legs hanging out of his mouth.  I thought it might have been funny to eat there but Jase didn’t think so.

Here’s the view of Surfers Paradise from the beach at Coolongatta.

After that we drove back to Surfers, headed back to the room and then I wandered through the surfy shops looking for a suitable top to wear in the sun (got a little burnt at sea world).  Having shopped for too long had to race back to the room and head up to Brisbane to meet with our gaming friends.  After taking the wrong exit (who knew there were 2 logan road exits?!! plus the gps had dropped out from jase’s phone).  We had a few phone calls to locate Dicey Reileys.  I thought they were joking about the name.. but nope!  I had the guiness pie.. which was really a couple of bits of pastry with a small amount of meat in between.  Still nice – but was expecting a nice big pie dish with pastry on the top.  Jase got the lamb shanks but it seemed to be drowning in liquid.  It was good for me as I could dip my chips in there as my pie was a bit dry.  There were some interesting characters having a costume party there.. so as the night wore on there were quite a few females in skimpy outfits sitting drunk on the toilet floor.  Classy!!  We also saw the Cat in the Hat guy leaving in just a pair of undies… My first drive in the rental car – and navigating the car park when I got back.  2 trips round 3 levels looking for Hs for the hotel spot before I gave up and had to go ask the reception guy where I could park.  Apparently the spots 700 and above weren’t allocated to anyone.  Pity they couldn’t have told me that when I checked in!

Got up earliesh and headed to Movie world.  Despite a better weather forecast it was still very grey and overcast.  Started off on the Superman Escape ride – walking past a very vertical and tall looking drop was a bit daunting.  We had to put ALL loose items into a locker and join the queue.  4.2 G and -1 G of force throughout the ride and it reaches 100 km in 2 seconds.  You get seated in this train looking thing as it takes you through an inside bit – where the “station” platforms are collapsing, etc.. you then hear Superman telling you not to worry – that he’ll get you out, and fast.  You’re then propelled forwards and up a very vertical rise and then a very vertical drop.  Can’t remember too much else but it was very fast.  Either the 3rd or 4th time I managed to get my hands up vaguely

After that we went on the Batman slingshot ride – where you get seated in a row of maybe 6 seats, and then it rises up a little, stops, then a countdown happens and then you get launched into the air, and then free fall for a bit.  Not as tall as the Dreamworld tower but still got the adrenaline going   After that I think we did the Batman 2 the ride – where we sat in a theatre watching a short video, and then moved into some kind of batmobile thingy as new recruits.  Lots of being chucked around in your seat and bouncing around as batgirl didn’t appear to be a very good driver!!  From there we did the Scooby spooky coaster – which seemed a bit yawnful until we got to a bit where our carriage came to a lift – and then started heading backwards before spinning around and descending on a windy path.  All inside in the dark, cornered like it was on rails.  A bit of fun   We watched Shrek in 4D although unfortunately sat on the end of a row.. omg freaky bit in the movie (won’t spoil it but I jumped!!).

We had to keep going back to Lethal Weapon the ride because they didn’t have it running – and as we’d just about given up on it actually running that day (which would have been majorly annoying as they’d also shut down some big gold rush ride for maintenance) – we went back to find it open.  I think we were about the 3rd trip out – and OMG it hurt.  It was one of those roller coasters where your feet dangle.  Had crazy statistics about how many times you went upside down at like 80km/hr… should have been fun but unfortunately I kept banging both sides of my head against the restraint at every turn.  Wasn’t just me as I heard other people complaining about it too.  Shame as Jase liked it!!    He tried to go back on it later but the queue just wasn’t moving at all!!  Got some very cool mugs (Batman and Superman) and photos on a usb stick of me screaming on all the rides .

On the way back we stopped off at Teds so I could look at tripods.  Found one on special that the guy said would support my camera.  Unfortunately the instructions reckon it doesn’t support DSLRs with extra lenses weight wise.  (It seemed to do ok with my standard lense though).  Jase bought a video camera that recorded to SD card that would fit in his pocket.  After we got back to the room set up my tripod and got some nice Surfers shots, pre and post sunsset!

For dinner I tried ringing the Holy Cow steakhouse to see if it still existed – but got the recorded message saying the number had been disconnected.  Booo!!!  This place had had awesome steak – complete with a big standing cow statue out the front.  So instead we went to Hogs Breath in Cavill Avenue.  We got there about 10 mins early only to have the waitress give away our table to a couple who hadn’t booked.  We got seated in the bar with assurance that by 8pm we’d have a table.  Steak was good.. awesome corn!!  Curly fries were a bit crispy.  For dessert we shared a sticky date pudding.  Attempt 1 they brought it out stone cold.. Attempt 2 I saw the waitress take the plate from where the chefs had put it, and have a conversation with someone about it before it disappeared.  Attempt 3 it came out with an extra scoop of ice cream and was actually hot.  Was quite nice in the end

On the way back we stopped off in a cocktail bar that was next to an ice bar.  Had a guy make a toblerone, and start on a mojito for jase before running off saying he’d be back.  A different staff member came back to finish off the Mojito and we had a couple of drinks.  Not as good as home made toblerones but still nice.  I also tried a strawberry and vodka cocktail!  Unfortunately the place had no bathrooms – with the staff saying we’d have to go across the road

Managed to get Jase up relatively early – with a dodgy weather report decided it would be a good day to go to Sea world.  So we headed towards there – missing the turn off (who’d have thought to turn right you had to be in the left lane).  Got in there and headed straight to the polar bears… unfortunately we got there and there was no bears – only sea gulls!! Just when I was set to move on to something else, there was a bear!!  It was apparently breakfast (or mid morning snack) time.  So I got lots of photos of a bear finding all the treats left hidden around the enclosure for him.  At one stage he almost caught a sea gull who was getting too close to his bone – though  he looked like he wasn’t trying too hard – leaping out the water at a seagull on a log but not super speedy.  After almost filling up my first memory card – moved on to look at fish.

Walked past some people doing the swim with the sharks, though I think they were only with 1-2 sharks.  At the next tank/area there were heaps of sharks.. they should have gone in there   Took a few photos of the fish until some screaming kids took over the underwater viewing area.

Kept walking until we met with a sea of people heading the other way.  Think it was the dolphin show finishing up.  So we turned around – found a locker and went on the roller coaster and pirate ship.. then the roller coaster again.  They were in the process of building a “jet ski roller coaster” – maybe fun but seemed at the tame level that sea world seemed to be striving for (especially with its big sesame street area instead of trying to build a new thrill ride).  Went back and got our stuff – back to the polar bear enclosure for some more photos of the bear there.  He was being a little more active now that a lot of his food was gone and was playing with a bone.  Even sat on his hind legs holding the bone posing for photos.  Awesome!!!  From there it was on to the souvenir shops – got sad that they didn’t have a Jen or Jennifer polar bear mug (they only had a Jenny).. and annoyed that they had a Jason polar bear mug – ended up getting a little polar bear on a key ring.. well not so little given he was on a key ring but very cute   Was tempted to buy the polar bear foot cushion but resisted.  Jase bought himself a stubby holder.

From there we headed back to our hotel for fish and chips again.  This time wasn’t as good as the day before with the chips being undercooked.

We then wandered around Cavill Avenue for a bit – getting cinammon doughnuts. mmmm!!  Back to the hotel to admire my polar bear photos with the new multi purpose lense and my zoom lense.  That night we had dinner at the Teppanyaki grill place downstairs (though not at the actual grill).  Was ok but nothing special.  Got the Kamikaze special which was steak, prawn + chicken.  Also got vegies, steamed rice & miso soup.

With an afternoon flight- managed to get a sleep in, followed by a mad rush to pack bags and vaguely clean up the house.  Unfortunately I forgot that we were going to a warmer place so didn’t pack any shorts, bathers, etc… oh well good excuse to do some shopping   Rang a taxi and waited out the front as time passed getting a little nervous if one was actually going to turn up.  After having to direct the taxi driver to the airport – he managed to grab the meter when we arrived at the airport charging us $41.50 – had we not been pushing our checkin time deadline we would have argued about it or grabbed his details – but as it was we had to rush to check in.  Funnily enough no one asked us for ID
They now have a Feeling Fruity at the airport which is a nice idea!

Plane flight was incident free – Virgin now have little screens in the back of everyone’s plane seat, so you can swipe your card and watch tv or a movie.  I was tempted but banned!  Just as well as I had my new Eragon series book to read.  Jase got a “mini” beer and I got my usual Coke Zero.

Hired a car from Avis (Thrifty has annoyed me too much with their inconsistent web site quotes and then not allowing me to book because the credit card associated with their loyalty program had expired (but I had no way to fix this online !)).  Ended up with a Camry – boo!!  Drove into Surfers – past Broadbeach noticing the absence of the Holy Cow restaurant.  Drove past our hotel due to a lack of a right turn into the reception drive.  Had to go round the block further up and find our way back.  Got a room on the 31st floor overlooking the ocean (and cavill avenue).  Awesome view!!!  After getting settled we headed downstairs where we found lots of restaurants at the bottom of our hotel.  Got fish and chips – I had flake and jase had a Dory.  Unfortunately they couldn’t grill flake (go figure!)

Our room had a toilet with no privacy – due to it being in the bathroom.. the bathroom having a see through glass wall so that you could sit in the spa bath with the awesome view.  So it made for a lot of announcing when going to use it !  We thought maybe there was like a button you could push to frost up the glass.. but nope – all a bit bizarre.  We also had about 6 channels of Foxtel, a small kitchen, laundry facilities, the bedroom, the bathroom with the shower next to the spa bath (but open).. and a massive balcony.  Got butterflies in the stomach walking out there and looking down!  I tried to take a few photos but struggled to get focused shots!

There was also a supermarket near the restaurants down the bottom so we bought breakfast stuff, water + ice creams!  (Hooray coco pops).

Our final day in Hobart – got Jase up and out of the apartment with 5 mins to spare of check out time.  We loaded up the car, and walked down to Smolt at Salamanca Square for brunch!  Met up with Heather, Elliott, Grahame, Caryn, Brett, Jack, Rob & Yen.  Jase & I both had OJs, breakfast pizzas, a hot chocolate (for me) and a take-away jam dougnut.  The doughnut was yummy but very suggary and was missing that just came out of the deep fryer warmth !!   Our breakfast pizza consisted of a poached egg in the middle, some kind of sausage,  proscuitto and other stuff!

Got a bit chilly in the restaurant – but thankfully standing in the sun helped to thaw out.  We got to see the Smolt feeding (infant salmon) – which was pretty cool.  Elliott was being all shy and then decided I was ok – so was using his “finger of discovery” (according to Heather) to poke my mouth and then giggle about it.  Very cute He was put into his straightjacket (well that’s what his enclosed top looked like for his nap) and into the pram for a pole slalom course and naptime.

We then said our goodbyes – and headed off to get Petrol.  Unfortunately there had been a rush on Unleaded petrol the day before so we were forced to buy the expensive premium stuff   From there we headed to the airport where I made a huge mess eating my doughnut.  At Hobart airport dropped off the car, wondered where to find the Tiger Airlines queue (look for the yellow ribbons), and proceeded through the xray machine.  I apparently looked dodgy so was given a suspicious fibre/explosives check before being given the all clear.  We spent a little while in the bookshop, then gave up and headed for seats!  On our way – found Rob and Yen so camped out as we waited for our flight, and finally our seat numbers to be called.

Flight was relatively uneventful – in row 3 this time, but seated together.  After we got off the plane – we had to walk what felt like 100m to a tin shed, with porta-loos, and watched a guy chuck our bags (through a mesh fence) onto the conveyer belt.  We then had to cart our bags 150m to the nearest taxi rank.. and had to badger a staff member to get on his walky talky to call us a cab (we had seem them queued up when we got off the plan so had been pretty excited – but they’re called on demand it seems ).

Back to home sweet home where the cat told me exactly what he thought about being left alone for 4 days!! 

Next time I think we’re hitting up the targa (?) tracks in our new car (when we eventually get it) – and also hitting up the wineries to savour some more pinot noirs!!  Oh and maybe freeze up the top of Cradle Mountain too!

Attempted to drag Jason out of bed to go to Port Arthur nice and early – struggled a little. So we ended up at a bakery in Dunally (Duneely?!) for another pie (mine was a bit cold ) Then proceeded on to Port Arthur checking out the Tesselated Pavement, Blowhole, Devil’s Kitchen and a couple of lookouts on the way.

At Port Arthur we wandered around the little museum thing they had. I think my card led me to be a boat maker – and Jase’s card led him to be a whipping man! We did the walking tour – which was good although the rain started up a little during our tour (sheltered the camera!!). We then went on a boat cruise where I failed to be able to open the door to walk out the front (the tour person was nice and came and opened it!) So I took lots of photos of the isle of the dead, and point peur (the boys prison island). Bought a souvenir stubby holder and one for Jase!

We then hit the road again and stopped in at the Tassie Devil Conservation Park. I wasn’t expecting much which was just as well.. but still paid the small fortune to go in there. Point of Interest #1 was boards of information posters – yawn.. #2 was a video about the tasmanian tiger (and by this point I wanted to see a live animal!) Thankfully #3 and #4 were tassie devils!! Took a few blurry shots.. and moved on – then decided to switch my lense over to my VR lense and took some zoomed in shots of kangaroos and wallabies, got a cool shot of a eagle.. and then back to the tassie devils. Bought some souvenir stubby holders and a tassie devil toy – and headed back to Hobart!

Unfortunately on the way back had mega slow people on the road (it hadn’t been too bad on the way to Port Arthur with people pulling over!!). Lined up dinner with grahame – on a misson to find steak! Decided to pass on the ball and chain grill (or something similar) – and headed to Henrys which was near the pier but away from Salamanca Square. Henrys had an interesting atmosphere – live piano (which made hearing conversation a little difficult) followed by techno cds. For dinner I had the steak (as did Grahame) with steamed vegies – he had the Caesar salad (although it had a much more swisho name than that). Jase had the lamb shoulder and vegies too. For dessert we all waited the 20 minutes for the chocolate pudding + orange sorbet. Yumm!!!! I think we got the Bass Block I (2004) Pinot Noir. I then had a baileys to finish off.