We've just been on a summer holiday

After a wet and wild winter, our family decided to head for some fun in the sun and headed over to Australia for ten fun filled days.

Off on our adventure - Bear's first ever Plane trip

We started off on the Sunshine Coast, fell in love and didn't want to leave.  The weather was perfect, the pools inviting and the environment everything we wanted.  

Our resort - we couldn't keep the kids out of the pools

We went to Australia Zoo and feed kangaroos, patted a koala and a baby alligator and held a snake as a family - yep it was pretty big.

Emma with some new friends

The amazing crocodile show at the crocoseum

Our little Animal lover feeding a kangaroo - look how it is holding her hand to get the food.

The big boy has always had a fascination with crocs

Next we headed to the hinterland and spent a night in the rainforest.  And true to it's name, it poured down.  Once the rain stopped we enjoyed the area, heard many birds including a kookaburra and frogs and saw the bubbles from the turtles in the pond.  We checked out the pool and were surprised to find a baby whipsnake having a swim..... needless to say, we decided against swimming that day.

After a bush walk to see a waterfall and a picnic at the glass house mountains, we headed down to Turtle beach resort near Broadbeach for our 5 days of fun - and swimming.

Off to check out the beach

We started out with Sea World where Emma got to do a dolphin encounter.  And to keep things fair, the other two got a 10 minute helicopter ride over Surfers Paradise.  Are our kids lucky or what?  Sea World was amazing, so much to see and do, and we only got to do a smidgen of it.  The dolphin show was amazing, as was the Jet Ski show - I wont say too much in case you go.  We were gob-smacked.  The sharks were huge and the polar bear fascinating.  The penguins put on a great display for us too.  We all rode the log flume and the three brave ones rode the jet rider - Bear was too short so I stayed with her and did the log flume again.

Our dolphin loving daughter having the time off her life!

The next day came Wet & Wild.  It was lots of fun - but again too much for a half day, especially since some of the slides came with a 45 minute wait :-(

A day off from the theme parks and out on an Eco-tour of Surfers by boat.  Out over the bar and into the harbour, we had the privilege of a humpback whale and her calf playing by the boat.  It was one of the most humbling things to see, this giant of the ocean gracing us with it's presence.

The next day off to the last park - Movie World.  This was the only park we had been to before.  The kids had a great time.  There is a stunning stunt car show, a fun batman show and us girls watched the parade of characters, whilst the boys did the extreme rides.  We loved the Scooby doo ride and did it several times.  And to cool off we did the Wild West Rapids - the log flume ride that guarantees to get you drenched!  Again not enough hours in the day to do it all and we have plenty to go back too next time.

With the holiday drawing to an end, we drove up to Brisbane, rode the big ferris wheel, walked around the gardens, and swam in the man made beach.  Took a ferry ride along the river, had dinner in a posh restaurant and walked home around the gardens where Mumford & Sons were playing a concert, and we stopped and listened for a while.

All good things come to an end and before we knew it we had landed back in Auckland to blustery winds and rain.

Guess who's thinking about moving to Aussie - or at least planning our next holiday there very soon.

Thanks for reading.

Barbs x.