Weekend on the Gold Coast

We flew back from the Gold Coast early Tuesday morning and had a very fun weekend. Why is it called the Gold Coast, you may ask? Not really sure, but I think it may have to do with the great weather. I think I read somewhere in one of those brochures they plaster your hotel room with, that this area of Australia boasts over 300 days of sunshine every year. Hence...the Gold Coast.

We arrived Friday night and with some serious map reading (nope...there's still no chance of us ever competing together on the Amazing Race...I think we'd kill each other), we made it to our hotel, the Radisson at Palm Meadows. Saturday morning we drove about 15 minutes north to Warner Brothers Movie World. Think of a Six Flags park, but smaller...much smaller.

We were warned that it would be very crowded since it was the school holidays, but no...not really. We didn't wait longer than 15 minutes for any ride. I think their concept of crowded is a bit skewed. I was expecting Disney in June...but thankfully, not the case.

There's a kiddie section (the WB Fun Zone), Shrek 4D (I hate those 3D shows that squirt water in your face), you can see the Batwing Spaceshot in the above picture (uh...no...I did not go on that...I have this thing with heights), the Batman Adventure Ride (kind of like the Star Wars ride at Disney), the Lethal Weapon roller coaster, the Superman Escape roller coaster (which is below, and yes, I did get on that one...with my eyes tightly shut...can you see how high that first hill is?),

a log ride, some shows and arcade game shops, the Scooby Doo Spooky indoor roller coaster...and when I tried to take the picture of the outside of the building, look who rolls up in the Mystery Machine for the Scooby Doo Disco Detectives Show...zoinks!

The last thing we saw was the Hollywood Stunt Driver show. Very much like the stunt show at Disney's MGM park. Sunday morning we got up and drove over to Sea World. Here's my picture of the polar bear that would not turn around even if his life depended on it.

We did the Jet Rescue roller coaster (you're on side-by-side jet skis), the Corkscrew roller coaster, the Bermuda Triangle log ride, went to see the fish and sharks in the aquarium, watched the dolphin show, rode the monorail, did not go into the water park (I hate walking around parks in my wet bathing suit), watched the water ski show, and finally watched the Fish Detectives Sea Lion Show...picture below.

Sunday night we drove to the Australian Outback Spectacular...an "evening dinner show filled with outback music, drama, and action." (taken from their brochure). It is "set in a giant 1000 seat indoor arena with a cast of larger than life characters, amazing animals, and spectacular scenes featuring wild horses, stampeding cattle, bush vehicles and suberb horsemanship."

Everyone received cowboy hats (yes, truly) to wear during the show which included a three course dinner. Sorry...no pictures...they weren't allowed. But you can check out their website to see pictures of it. www.outbackspectacular.com.au Phil did get a picture of me in my hat next to one of the horses, but I look like a dork, so sorry...not posting it here.

Monday morning came very early...try 4:00 am. We set the alarm so we wouldn't miss the live showing (yes, at 4:00 am) of the Eagles/Giants game. Go Eagles!! What...do the Lankfords have to be out of the country for any Philly teams to win playoff games??? We already missed watching the Phillies win the World Series. Must we miss the Eagles in the Superbowl as well???

Later that morning we went to the golf course that our hotel is next to. Me...play golf?...right...I just drive the golf cart. It's so fun...I drive Phil to his next hole, park the cart, whip out my book, and read until he needs me to take him to the next hole. My kind of golf!

Monday night we went out for dinner (at a Lonestar Steakhouse, of all places) and then took a walk on the beach in Surfer's Paradise. (Really...that's the name of the city!) So pretty. Except for the amount of men with big guts who insist on wearing speedos. Why?? Again, why?? And there was the, well...no other way to say it but very large woman in the bikini with her head back, flinging her hair from side to side while pouring a sport bottle of water down her head and face. Phil leans to me and says, "That is an episode of Baywatch gone so bad." Literally, almost wet my pants I was laughing so hard. All in all, we had a very fun weekend!