Day 12 - Traveling Home

We woke at 5am and packed the car. We dropped the rental car back and got the shuttle to the airport. We had fun spending all our last coins in the airport and then waited for our plane. The flight home was good apart from a bit of turbulence just before landing. Unfortunately we got stuck on the plane for 40 minutes because the air bridge was broken! Finally we got out of the airport and back to the car, it was so nice to be home although very cold and windy in Wellington!! After a quick dinner we drove back to Palmy, we were all very tired and sadly it was too late to pick up Luna! What an amazing trip we had, we filled every day with fun activities and lots of great time with our cousins and family! Bring on the next trip on 2 years time ☀️☀️☀️☀️

Day 11 - Mt Tambourine (2nd visit)

We headed back to Mt Tambourine for a fun day at Thunderbird Park. Riley, Ella and Max went for a pony ride and Jensen and Rich went for a game of mini golf. Unfortunately it started raining so we had some lunch inside first and then headed to the mining. We walked up the big hill and started digging. At first we didn't find much but then Rich and Hamish found a great spot. They dug out heaps of great eggs including 2 huge and perfectly round ones! After about 2 hours of digging we took the eggs we found back to the shop. We got a few cut open, Hamish's egg was so good inside the lady wanted to photograph it! All of the ones we opened had lots of great patterns and even a few crystals! We brought lots back to cut open at Hamish's and bring back to NZ. On our last night we had a lovely meal of Thai together and there was a small storm which turned out to be a mini tornado that had just missed our house!! Sadly we said our last goodbyes ready for an early start the next morning 😢😢

Day 10 - Australia Zoo

We headed up North to Australia Zoo early in the morning. We reached the Sunshine Coast and the weather was really hot! The zoo was amazing, we saw so many cool animals... crocodiles, wombats, snakes, koalas, dingoes and lots of water dragons just roaming through the zoo. After looking at a few animals, we went to the croc show. Bindi Irwin was there and she and some of the zoo keepers showed us how they feed the huge crocodile! There were also lots of amazing birds including a huge condor! We had a yummy lunch up high in the tree area then went and looked at more animals. There was a cool bird avary with lots of native birds, kangaroos that the kids got to pat and koalas that could be patted too. We saw tiger cubs playing with the keepers, lemurs, red pandas, tortoises, giraffes, zebras and rhinos. After lots of walking we caught the zoo train back to the ice cream shop and them took our 'treasure map' to the counter to get our prize for finding all the clues! It was a fabulous day and a long drive back to Brisbane but so much fun! 

Day 9 - Mt Tambourine (1st trip)

After a yummy pancake breakfast we headed out to Mt Tambourine. It was a cool drive through the country and up into the hills where it got greener and more tropical forest like. We drove straight to the St Bernard Hotel and had a lovely lunch outside looking at the amazing views! We also patted the huge dog, saw geese and walked around the gardens. After that we drove to The Polish Place and fed the birds, they even ate out of our hands! Further down the road we parked up and headed off on the Witches Falls walk. It was a 3.1km round trip and all downhill to start with. The falls were very high but didn't have much water in them, still a fabulous view though! We then headed back up and saw some huge trees and interesting bush creatures. After our walk we drove back down the mountain and back home. We had a yummy BBQ for dinner and then watched Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a really cool NZ film.

Day 8 - Southbank

It was Hamish's birthday!! We opened a few prezzies in the morning and enjoyed a bacon and egg breakfast together. We then headed for Southbank where we had some lunch. Riley and Jensen remembered it was where an Ibis stole Ella's pizza last time we were there! The kids played on the new playground and then had a swim in the water area. We had ice creams on the grass and then got a cake for Hamish on the way back. We asked Stella over and all sang 'happy birthday' then enjoyed cake together. A babysitter came and the adults headed for town to have a nice meal together. We had 5 yummy courses at a place called Torba and then went to a club for a few drinks. 

Day 7 - Sea World and heading to Brisbane

We got up early and headed to the Estuary for a last swim. The river was very high but we had a quick dip anyway. We then started packing up our apartment ready to go :( We were all very sad to leave but Jensen was really upset and even cried!! We then headed for Sea World again for a last couple of rides on the Storm Coaster, the line was really short so we had 2 goes in a row. We then went and saw a few cool things we hadn't seen like the mermaids, the oceans of the deep exhibit and the penguins. The penguins were so playful we watched them chase each other, build nests and steal stones from other nests for ages. Next we drove to Movie World hoping for one last ride on Scooby Doo and it was open!!! We enjoyed that and then got on the road to see Hamish, Emily, Ella and Max. It was so cool to see them and we enjoyed catching up and enjoying a nice meal together. 

Day 6 - Movie World (again)

We decided we wanted to go back to Movie World for a second time. After a quick trip to the Estuary for the kids and the supermarket for me, we got going. It was very busy at Movie World, we went straight to Justice League and enjoyed doing that together. Next we went to the Scooby Doo ride but it was 105 minute wait!! We then went to Wild Rapid Ride and enjoyed that. We got a few gifts for friends then had a look at Arkham Asylum, it looked way too scary!! Sadly the Scooby Doo ride was closed when we went back so we headed for home. Riley and I went out to see Riley's friend Alex who was staying in an apartment down the road, Riley had a swim there and we enjoyed a yummy BBQ with them in their cool penthouse!! Rich and Jensen had one last night of sushi!!