Kids on Tour

The first week of the school holidays we were to have two visitors - Millie and Alex. We went up to Hamilton and stayed with Jackie and Simon on Saturday. Unfortunately  Theo had a fluctuating temperature but we had a great night with Barry and Liz as they had been invited to dinner. Next morning Simon wasn't feeling too well - and ended up having the week off work. We picked the kids up from the airport and headed back to Hamilton. Theo rallied and played valiantly for a couple of hours before wanting his Mum again. Next morning we started off for Gisborne, having a great run around at Ohiwa in the winter sunlight before pushing on to Gisborne. We put the kids to work straight away cleaning out the hen house. They were very willing workers.

Alex fits in the hutch well and gives it a good thorough clean. His reward is the attention of Kath and Kim - especially when he has pellets on his hand!

Millie took a litle longer to get into the action, but a little chicken dance in their enclosure and she soon had them eating out of her hand. The first day was consumed with doing jobs to earn stars so that they could afford to buy their mother a birthday present.

On Tuesday we went up town to get presents for Jill's birthday, picked up some cable ties in Bunnings to strengthen the extended hen run that the kids had helped us build, then to the supermarket - its been a while since I spent $306 in a week! The kids were on dinner that night - leek and chicken pasta in a creamy sauce. We also made birthday cards for Jill.

Wednesday was a bit miserable which was a shame as the golf course had "Tiger" tees set up for the school kids. After a bit of indecision we set off for the museum where unfortunately they were in the last stages of packing up the interactive music display. Then we went to Carl's Junior a new Hamburger joint in town. They were OK, but I probably wont go again for a while. The we decided to do Putt-putt golf rather than proper golf. The scores ranged from a very creditable 2 per hole to a frustrating 27 per hole. We had the odd shower of rain while we played this so I decided that a bit of Ipod playing TV watching was OK. for now. Then we went to Lone Star for dinner. very nice.

Duncan had taken Thursday off and despite the squally weather we set off to Tolaga Bay  to do a bit of fishing on the wharf. I had told the kids to take their hats and coats, but of course they didn't see any need to until we were out the end of the wharf in a howling gale - then there was a bit of a to-ing and fro-ing to snuggle up with Grandma under the blanket. Duncan played a game of Monopoly with them on our return - I think I might have had a Nana nap.

Come Friday and we went to the Farmers toy sale to pick out something for being well behaved. Alex didn't take long - he wanted a proper rainbow loom - so that kept him quiet for the rest of the morning until it was time to fill in the paper work and send them back home!

Tamborine Mountains - inland return to Brisbane

Finally was time to leave Burleigh Heads so decided to take a detour inland  through Tamborine Mountain. It consisted of quite a few villages each with its own little tourist niche. We stopped for coffee midmorning and crossed the road to the German Cuckoo Clock Nest. It was walls and walls of cuckoo clocks and all the other types such as Grandfather clocks as well. It was a bit confusing as they all said different times so that there wasn't one huge cacophony every hour!

Then we went to the Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk.  This was an elevated canopy walk with a cantilevered platform out into the top of the canopy looking down. OK, so I didn't quite get these two lining up, but you can see the huge height of the trees. Basically I took one looking up and the other looking down.

We swapped camera with a British couple and posed for the "together" shot!

Next it was off to look at the wineries. The first one was disgusting. We spat out the wine and left pronto while the bar staff were attending to  - want can I say? - less knowledgeable patrons. We then went to Witches Falls winery and the wines were absolutely superb. We did a full wine tasting, poor Duncan had to spit as he was driving. However I did buy a $50 bottle to cellar so that he can taste it in  a few years time. It was Syrah - they even called it that not Shiraz. I then asked was there a place where we could have lunch where the meals didn't come with chips. She directed us to Delivino where we had a superb lunch and I managed another glass of Chardonnay from Witches Falls.
We made it back to the airport with enough time for me to package up the marigold seeds from the wedding "favours" and spend the last of those huge coins that Aussie keeps using.
We arrived back in Auckland after midnight and went to the Heartland Hotel which was absolutely grotty - opening the toilet door with a spoon wasn't what we paid for.

More on the Gold Coast.

After the wedding it was time to enjoy a day of activities at Dreamworld. The first ride we did was the barrel ride - we had to queue for about half an hour for this but time did seem to pass reasonably quickly as we all enjoyed this!

Then it was onto the flume ride and you can just see Rua, Jill and Alex as they splash down at the end. I was reasonably OK with this ride too.

 After lunch the boys went off to some laser tag thing while the girls had a suss out of the next rides. Here's Millie and I with the Shrek family. Not sure where she gets those long legs from, but Millie is certainly tall enough to eyeball me.

 They decided to go on a rollercoaster. Somebody had to mind the bags I guess,  so I didn't go on it although Duncan did.

 As you can see it was quite a pleasant day, but there was a cool breeze. I think this is them...

 I was then allowed to choose a ride so I picked the teacups. What fun, I thought.

 But what I didn't realise was that there was a spindle which spun the cup as well as you going around on the ride. Spinning in 2 different dimensions really did my stomach in. I had to get Alex to stop spinning the cup as I was about to throw up!

I felt quite green at the end. Perhaps I should have had my picture taken with the Shrek family now. I burped solidly for the next half hour! Then back to Burleigh Heads and a Thai meal.