My weekend started late on Friday night, when I caught a JetStar flight with Kirby from Sydney to Coolangatta Airport on the Gold Coast. Considering it was an el-cheapo fare on a budget airline, it was a really nice flight. The seats were nice and comfy, the trip was smooth; the only problem was that it was delayed with no apparent reason at the airport, leaving us sitting on our butts at the gate for an extra hour or so. Not particularly fun, but it did leave us with some ample people-watching time on our hands.

Having booked our accomodation online, I was slightly skeptical about what the room would be like. Since we were arriving at around midnight, there wasn't much we could do but hold our breath and cross our fingers as the shuttle bus took us closer to Surfers Paradise. Turns out our worrying was for nothing, as our apartment was gorgeous. It was opposite the beach, had a huge pool, and had it's own kitchenette too. The only downside was the dodgy malfunctioning lift, which got progressively worse over the weekend. (I hate lifts/elevators at the best of times, so dodgy ones make me extra nervous.)

We started out bright and early on Saturday morning, grabbed a coffee and spent the day at Movie World, where I dragged a kicking and screaming Kirby onto the first ride I saw: the Superman Escape rollercoaster. We came off that one a little worse for wear thanks to all of the G-forces, but were still cheerful none the less. We had a good day wandering around the theme park, with me lugging poor Kirby behind me on most of the rides there. She wasn't particularly impressed, but I was!

After our morning coffee fix the next day, we ventured out to Dreamworld - which I have to say was a bit of a letdown. The park was really quite small, the rides were few and far between, a few rides were closed and Tiger Island only had three tigers in one small enclosure. Add the stinking heat and ridiculous queues and waiting lines for things on top of that, and we were really, really grumpy. We ended up paying extra money to go next door into Whitewater World, which thankfully made the day worthwhile, even if I did almost drown in a foot of water at the bottom of a waterslide. (I'm very clever like that.)

After relaxing near our hotel and doing some more people-watching, we wasted away the afternoon before ending up back at the smallest airport in the world, ready for home time. I'm home, a wee bit sunburned and with a bruised shoulder and scratched back and thoroughly happy with the result. It was busy, but fun.

And now for some added weekend ramblings in bullet point format;

• Surfers Paradise seemed to have an abundance of stumbling drunkards and crazies. And it's not even schoolies week yet.


• Screaming out "TROY" on rides is fun, even if nobody knows what it means or why it is amusing. (Here is the background.)


• I love Churros, but not for $3.


• If I stand on the right of a self-portrait camera shot, I have a melon head.


• It's a really stupid idea to go on a holiday near the beach in late spring without bringing your swimming costume. REALLY stupid.


• It's also a really stupid idea to go looking for swimmers when you're on a budget and in a rush. Good luck with that.


• If you're not a size 8 or a fan of fluoro itsy-bitsy bikinis, you're stuffed.


• Both Kirby & I managed to look like idiots whilst falling out of floating rafts in White Water World. Kirby ever so gracefully toppled out of her side on our first ride of the Green Room.


• We decided to be brave and go again, and this time it was I who did the capsizing! The final part of the ride is when the raft spits out into the pool at the bottom. I don't know how I managed it, but I flew backwards off the raft and ended up flat on my back under the water being zoomed along by the water jets. Trust me to nearly drown in a knee-high puddle of water.


• Did I mention that both times we went on that ride, I was the one going backward down the pitch black tunnel? Terrifying.


• Confucius says: Lady who leans over meal tray doing Sudoku puzzles without looking up the entire flight, will be hit in the head by the seat in front of her.


• Caramel latte + sugary lollies + altitude = one giggly flight home. And also songs about pringles. And Superman theme songs.

Good times were had by all; and we have the photo evidence to prove it.



For more random images you can also click here and check out my Flickr stream.

Photographs featured in the grid are as follows;

1. We're excited!
2. got motion sick bags?
3. view!,
4. view!
5. beach and boobies
6. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
7. SWISH
8. We did that too!
9. Coming Hooooooome.
10. airportfinger
11. We did it!
12. CHEESE
13. superman - woosh
14. No likey!
15. flailing

How was your weekend?