Wet 'N Wild on the Gold Coast

Serenna turned 11 years old on November 10.



Birthday Girl

 She did not have a birthday party but instead opted for a day at Wet 'N Wild Water Park.  The Gold Coast (an area about an hour or so south of Brisbane), where Surfer's Paradise is located, is full of amusement parks.  It was tough to choose which one to spend the day at but a water park on a sunny hot day won out in the end. 

They had some amazing water slides and rides.  Many of them we could do as a family.  My favourite was a huge water slide that we went down in a four person raft.  It is great that Zac has had a growth spurt because he was tall enough to go on almost every ride. 



how to become a human missile

On this ride below called the Kamikaze I was really scared.  The first slope down was at a crazy angle.  It felt like we could easily tip over.  After the initial insane dip we zoomed up the other hill (which you cannot see in the picture) with only a small boarder to prevent us from flying right off.  

Zac and Jason

Serenna is incredibly brave on these rides.  She even talked me into joining her on a  non-water slide ride that was fast and high and spinny and made roller coasters look like toddler play. That  U shaped track in the background of the picture below was part of the insane ride.   Jason  and Zac would not even consider joining us, opting instead for extra time in the huge wave pool.

Here are a couple of more pics. of our day.  Serenna is actually on the left most slide in this shot.  Jason managed to get slide burns on his shoulder blades and wear two holes through his "rashie" (sun shirt) going down these slides.

Holy crap this is steep!



Let's do that again!

Elaborate Splash Pad

The day flew by too quickly and suddenly it was 5 pm and the park was closing. We drove further south down the coast and had some dinner at Red Rooster (fast food chicken chain) and then continued on to our cabin near Byron Bay.  Looking for a cabin in the woods in the dark was really creepy.  We drove down this dirt path and would come upon a dark cabin and then I would get out and sneak up to the cabin to try and see if it was the right one, or if it was occupied by someone else.  I kept thinking of all the deadly  things that exist in Australia - snakes, spiders,.. as tromped about in flip flops.  Just when I was about to protest at this reverse gender roll and sent Jason out into the dark, I found the right one.  By then the kids were all creeped out and Jason had to spend half an hour killing any mosquito, spider, bug, or piece of dirt that they spotted, before they would settle down for the night. 

Our neighbours recommended a day at Byron Bay and what is not to love about a beach side town and more ocean time.



As we walked over a small hill to get to the beach we were welcomed by this awesome sand dragon.  A middle aged well tanned surfer beach dude makes his money creating these amazing sand sculptures in the early morning and then sits by his creation all day with a bucket out for your spare change and appreciation of his work. 

Byron Bay Beach, Gold Coast, Australia

Is that you Puff?

After a day of rugby on the beach (Zac's new fav. sport) and endless wave jumping and crashing, we had to drive the two hours back to Brisbane.  There is nothing like a day in salt water and sun to zap your energy and leave you thirsty!   Zac found this manic water fountain in town.  Each time he pressed the handle the spray would shoot about 8 feet out, hitting passers by.  Trying to get a shot into his mouth was hilarious and risky,

Thirsty?

It was another fabulous weekend.  Back to the regular grind through the week. 

Until next time,

xox Penni-Sue