The month started off with a bang! Kieran Costello arrived in Sydney and it was an emotional return. It was nearly a year since we last saw our best buddy but with the usual wink and elbow language of delight, the akward silences diminished and it was back to the usual joking and laughing that you would associate with us. I’d love to write more about Kieran but this blog isn’t all about him….you’d need a separate blog for that!!!
It was a gloomy looking Saturday morning in Sydney, but our faces were anything but gloomy. The backpacks were given the light of day again, having been gathering dust for a couple of months. Yes, Gary, Conor, Tom and Mike were once again on their travels, this time with their good aul pal Mr Kieran Costello. We said our goodbyes to Sydney and headed to the airport, passing the time by playing 20 questions etc… The flight to Coolangatta was as sound as a pound but the weather was pretty crap. The rain was pouring down as we got a bus to our hostel. The hostel had a pool and all the backpackers were trying out their basketball skills as the pool had a basketball net! Once we got to the room we had to play rock, scissors, paper to see who would get what bed. These dorms had 3 bunk beds so obviously the bottom was the favoured outcome! Kieran lost and that was the start of his poor form at this epic game, it gets so competitive! We were invited to a pub crawl with the rest of the hostel so, it being a Saturday night, we hopped on the bandwagon!! It only cost $35, which included free punch. We were told that we would visit 4 nightclubs (Melbourne, Cock tails and legs) and receive a free drink in each one. Also at the end of the night we would get free Pizza!! Cowboy hats and a glow sticks had to be worn and we hit the town. One of the nightclubs had poles so I think everyone had a go at posing and lapping it up!! There were 50 of us out that night and it was like Ibiza Uncovered with all the reps guiding us! As Mike would say “The Women were a JOKE”…joke being fantastic!! We only made 3 nightclubs (not too bad)! We nearly killed the Rep handing out the free Pizza, Mike was hungry!! With that we headed back to our beds!!
The following Morning we sussed out what to do with the hostel and decided to go to Sea World. Once again it wasn’t the best of days but that didn’t dampen our spirits. A Jet Ski show was our first port of call and it was awesome. The show had a 60’s theme and was full of spectacular flips, skills and jumps by the water skiers. We even witnessed the human pyramid by the skiers which was impressive. The rollercoaster at Sea World wasn’t as scary as we had hoped but it was still good craic. Jet Rescue followed this which is basically a rollercoaster type ride whereby we had to be strapped into Jet Ski’s so when you set off it felt like the real thing. Kieran and I were side by side and screaming our heads off. The fact that it was raining made it even more epic. Unfortunately big Mike wasn’t allowed on this ride because he was too tall, poor Mikey! I can understand why though because my thighs were in bits after it!!! The Dolphin show was amazing and took us all by surprise. The dolphin’s trainers took to the water and we witnessed a great show. They had the Dolphins at their command and at one point two of the trainers went under the water with the Dolphins and seconds later the Dolphins sprang them up into the air!!! Sharks, sting rays and some weird looking fish could be seen in the Aquarium which was impressive! The cable car we took after was as slow as Christmas but it allowed us to take in some of the views of Sea World. A 4d show about the dangers of global warming had us in a trance, it was ridiculously cool! It was basically 3d with your chairs shaking and water blowing in your face. A fine steak was next on order and a pint after a hard days work. The bar maid had us smitten. She was from Canada and knew all about U2. We later described her as the “perfect woman”. This was followed by one of the nicest Ice creams we have had the pleasure of eating. We got to choose our toppings and the very lovely ladies in “Cold Rock” smashed, mashed and pounded the ice cream and sprinkled it with hundreds and thousands (or sprinkles as I call it). Yummyyyyyyy!!! Like the impulse buyers we are, Crazy Golf caught our eyes. Tom won, although Kieran was his closet competitor. A few holes in one occurred, including two of them in a row by yours truly J
“ITS FREEZING’ I yelled as we jumped into the sea the following morning to wake us up from our slumber. It’s a great way to start the day and it had us in great spirits. Movie world was the objective of the day and even the pissing rain didn’t dampen our spirits. The park contains various movie-themed rides and attractions ranging from motion simulators to roller coasters and slow river rides. Cat-woman, Batman, Austin Powers, Marilyn Monroe, Shrek, Scooby Doo, The Mystery Inc. Gang and various Looney Tunes characters can be seen strolling around the place. Minor street shows including skits and singing performances are also present. Kieran and Mike went on the Superman rollercoaster straight away without a moment’s hesitation. It looked insanely good but having just eaten (no excuse I assure you) I decided not to go on it straight away. Tom and Conor, well……they were just plain scared and they will admit to this. I queued up later in the day with Kieran and Mike but the weather was too wet and thus the ride couldn’t run. I felt like a hero in the queue but Mike still reminds me that I didn’t actually go on it…..at least I got to go on the Jet Ski ride!!! Conor, Tom and I went for the Batwing Space shot. The ride is an S&S Space Shot, a pneumatic powered ride which shoots riders up and then back down. The rise reaches a height of 61 m and riders experience a force of up to 4 Gs while travelling at a speed of 64 km/h. It carries 360 passengers per hour, and lasts for 50 seconds. It is a great thrill and the worst (or best) bit is when it starts to blop up and down, great stuff!!! We saw another 4D show, this time a short Shrek film which was excellent and I think that every film should be 4D! Another show we gasped at was Hollywood stunt driver, where stunt drivers are about to shoot their scene for the new upcoming movie directed by Morgan Ross, a hot shot movie producer. The show features gun shots, explosions and car chases. Some of the features of the show include a police car split in half and a race car airborne. The show cost $AUD10 million to build and has an audience capacity of 2000. Near the end, one of the cars is even on the roof….well worth the entrance money alone! Other rides we went on were the Scooby ride and a Wild West fall’s ride, here we got soaked to pieces. We also stumbled across the Willy Wonka chocolate factory and Tom met Batman! He was like a little child and he even got to see the Bat-mobile. Just another day in our Australia lives.
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