Yamba

The Caravan Park had lots of things to do for kids as it was school holidays as well as a jumping pillow, splash park, pool, movie night, go carts, flying fox and a playground. Mum, Cameron and I did some "scratch art" and "sand art" as well. I also did a scavenger hunt and got an icy pole when I finished. We also went to the skate park in town which was cool, and checked out a few beaches but didn't go swimming at the beach. 

Sand Art

Yamba Skate Park

We went to the Angourie Pools

FACT: It is a freshwater pool just metres from the sea. They call one the 'green pool' and one the 'blue pool' but they are both very green. Lots of people were jumping off the rock ledges from different heights. I jumped off a small one and the water was frrreeeezzz.....refreshing!

One of the rock pools

Looking at a beach I think

Yamba has lots of beaches, some with no waves and some with good surfing waves.

Go karting at the van park

On the way back up to the Gold Coast we passed through Ballina and Byron bay. While we were in Byron Bay I got to see a house that was on "Grand Designs".

The big prawn at Ballina

With Mum at the Grand Design house

Gold Coast Theme Parks!!!!!

We spent 8 days at a Caravan Park near the theme parks and loved every minute of it. We also met up with Nan Nan and Grandpa, Aunti Didi, Uncle Jason and my new cousin Hudson. We were also surprised by my friend Ruby and her mum and dad Lizzi and Dave. Our van park had a great pool and slide also, which we spent a lot of time in when we were not at a theme park.

The pool at the Van Park

MOVIE WORLD
We went to "Movie World" lots of times because it was very close to our Caravan Park. The rides I went on were;
Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster, fun and scary
Driving School, where you get a licence and drive yourself on a replica of Movie World
Looney Tunes Carousel
Road Runner roller coaster
Roxy 4D theatre, where we saw "Journey 2 Mysterious island". 4D is where the chairs move, water gets sprayed on you, and air gets sprayed on your neck to make you scared.
We saw the Hollywood stunt driving show which was awesome.
Dodgem cars
We watched the parade of Hollywood characters three times and got our picture taken with some of them.
On the last day at Movie World I also went on the Mountain Falls, which only opened in the school holidays, and the Batwing which shoots you up in the air and it felt like your belly went away!

With Green Lantern, Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Flash

With Catwoman

Stunt Riders

Sylvester the Cat

WET N WILD
We went on the Sidewinder, which is a 3 person tube
A few swims in the wavepool with Mummy and Nan Nan.
Two goes on the single green slide which was pretty slow
Then built up the courage to go on Mammoth Falls with Daddy, which is a 4 person tube ride.

On the second visit we took my friend Ruby, Aunty Didi, Uncle Jason and Cousin Hudson. We had another good morning showing them all the fun slides. My Dad and Jason went on the tube drop, which goes so fast that you slide back upwards. My little brother got upset that he couldn't go on all of the big rides, but he went on everything that he could.

 Mammoth Falls

SEA WORLD
On the first day we had a look at all of the animals, including Dolphins, Penguins, Polar bears, Sting Rays, Sharks and fish. After lunch we went on the SkyRail, the Vikings Revenge, which is a log ride which plunges down a ramp into water. Then we all went on the Storm Coaster. I was very scared!
Today I learnt that you need to trust your Mum and Dad not to put you on a ride which is too scary. When I got off I was thankful that they made me go on it! Sometimes you need to overcome your fear, you will not regret it. Daddy and I had a talk about fear. It's Ok to be scared, if you weren't scared you would probably hurt yourself lots in your life, but if you didn't try things with your parents you would miss out on a lot of exciting things.

On the second day at Sea World my Nan gave me a Dolphin Experience for my birthday. Here I got to feed, pat and get a photo with "RB" the dolphin. During this experience I was lucky enough to learn lots about dolphins. Did you know that;
Dolphins hide near rocks to get away from sharks?
Dolphins only get one set of teeth?
As they get older, Dolphins get freckles on their tummy like humans do on their skin?
They eat squid and fish?
They feel like smooth velvet?
They talk through their blowhole?
They have micro sleeps by shutting down half of their brain so they can still be alert!
I really enjoyed spending time with a Dolphin up close.

Polar Bears

Penguins

The Aquarium

My Dolphin Experience

Rainbow Beach and Noosa

Rainbow Beach is a long beach with many different coloured sands in the cliffs from dark grey to light red. Here we did some 4WD on the beach, we went for a walk to see massive sand hills which were impressive. We also played at the park and had a couple of swims at the pool which was very cold. The weather was not so nice while we were here so we didn't swim in the beach. The best part about Rainbow Beach was sandboarding, where you ride your boogie board down the steep sandhills. I went with my Dad then by myself. We had a race to finish. Check out the footage below! My friends here were Cooper and Ollie.

Going for a walk to the "Sandblow"

The many colours of Rainbow Beach

On top of the sand hill

Check out the footage of sandboarding here

We spent 4 days in Noosa, only 2 hours below Rainbow Beach. Some people drive all the way along the beach and it only takes them 1 hour!! Noosa has a great beach with gentle waves so we spent 2 afternoons at the beach. We had ice cream on the beach too and I got a new hat here. We hired a boat and tried our luck fishing. I got to drive the boat too! We didn't catch any fish this time either. The van park had a nice heated pool so we had lots of swims here. We also went to the Eumundi Markets where hey sell lots of different trendy/handy and yummy things. Mum bought me a dress which I will wear when I get back to Mildura. I also got my arm decorated instead of my face and had a tiger made out of balloons for me.

Driving the boat

Fishing Boating on the Noosa River

The heated pool at the van park

Jeff the T-Rex at Coolum Golf Course, he watches over all of the golfers

One of the best things about about travelling is meeting new people everywhere we go. It makes me happy because I don't feel left out and I don't get bored. Travelling has made me more confident in introducing myself to other children and more responsible in looking after my brother and other children younger than me. My friends in Noosa were Oscar and Amber. 

I have also had a great time with Monique, Hayley and Will Zakic, Ruby and Oscar from Colac/Katherine Gorge and Darwin, Lilli, Oscar and Amy from Agnes Water Hervey Bay and Noosa, Cameron and Patrick in Townsville and Bowen, Will and Jack from Litchfield and Darwin, Chloe from Airlie Beach.

These people have made my trip more fun and enjoyable!

Relaxing, Boogie Boarding and Whale Watching!

4 hours south of Airlie Beach is Kinka Beach. At Kinka Beach we relaxed and swam. We had the whole splash park and water slides to ourselves for the afternoon. One slide was quick and the other was twisty and turny. The van park was awesome. It had a big pool, big splash park, 2 big slides, jumping pillow, a BMX track and a big lake. There are also plenty of "midgees" which are tiny little bugs which bite you, mainly around sunset.

The big pool at Kinka Beach Caravan Park

The water slides and splash park

Agnes Water caravan park was right on the beach so we spent most of our time at the beach. The waves were gentle and good for learning so we had a go at boogie boarding, building sand castles and collecting shells. We also did a treasure hunt that our cousins buried for us last year at a place called 1770. It was cool. 1770 was named by Captain Cook when he landed there in 1770! We saw hundreds of blue butterfly's. We also had another go at fishing, but didn't catch any fish.

Agnes Water Beach! Perfect Waves!

Digging up the treasure

Hiking to Hill 1770 

Boogie Boarding at Agnes Water

Chilling at the beach

Sunset at 1770

At Hervey Bay we went for a bike ride along the esplanade once we got there. We went for 3 swims in the heated pool. The water is getting colder as we travel south. My brother had a birthday while we were here so we went tenpin bowling and saw RIO 2 at the movies. The highlight was definitely a whale watching cruise where we got so close to the whales, they even went under our boat. A baby whale is called a "calf". We also walked out to the end of a pier which was 850 metres long. A lady gave us some small fish to throw up to a pelican who was sitting on the light pole.

A humpback whales head

He is waving to me

He's just showing off

The long pier

The Pelican catching a fish

Cameron's Birthday Cake

Bowen, Airlie Beach and Mackay

 In Bowen we went to a nice beach called Horseshoe bay and played with my new boogie board. We also went to a splash park and a swim in the big pool at the Caravan Park. I also went for a ride with my Dad while he was running. Horseshoe bay was the best so we went back another time to build sand castles. We also went to a cool skatepark. Today we had some sad news that my Great Poppy had died. He was 87 :(

Trying to surf at Horseshoe Bay

The splashpark on Bowen Harbour

My Sand Castle

Horeshoe Bay: That is me on the beach!

From Bowen we went to Airlie Beach where we spent a lot of time swimming, sliding, riding scootering, playing in the park and playing Putt Putt (Dad made me add up my score). The Caravan Park was awesome. We also caught a bus to get on a boat called "Big Fury". It was very fast and we got to see most of the Whitsunday Islands, went snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef National Park and Whitehaven Beach.

The 2 slides at the van park

On the fast boat about to go snorkelling

some of the fish on the reef

On Whitehaven Beach

Above Whitehaven Beach

After Airlie Beach we went to Mackay where my mum had to fly back to Wollongong for her Pop's funeral. We were disappointed that the new splash park and slide at the Caravan Park was not yet open and the Bluewater Lagoon in Mackay was also closed. So instead we went on a big bike ride, went to 4 parks, a botanical garden, a skatepark, a massive shopping centre, the beach and fishing where I got the most bites but no fish. I also caught up on a lot of homework while mum was gone.

Not happy that the lagoon is closed

On our big ride

Fishing

Surfing at Mackay Beach