The first couple of days we were there the Gold Coast was having its worst weather for forty years, mini cyclones were sweeping through the streets, the heavy rain flooding the underground car parks of hotels. We were unceremoniously banned from the conference, so the day after we arrived we sat watching the massive TV in our room, chilling in the spa and sipping lemonade in the bar in the centre of the pool. What a brilliant concept to have the bar in the pool instead of people having to get out to get a drink.
For the whole of this first week Mum was attending the conference everyday, so Jonny and I set out on the shuttle bus to all the local theme parks. We visited ‘Wet’n’Wild’, ‘Movie World’ and more. On the ride ‘Lethal Weapon 4’, for which we waited for an excessive amount of time for only a two-minute ride, Jonny fainted. In the ride photo, taken during the ride, you could see his eyes shut and head lolling against the strap-ins. It was hilarious. I still tease him about it today. ‘Wet’n’Wild’ was a water park with rapids, flumes, wave and float pool, which at night converted to a water cinema, but we couldn’t stay for that. In this park we met and befriended a couple of other set of siblings, who I am still in contact with, and went round with them. We caused so much trouble on the rapids we nearly managed to roll the boat right out of the shute.
Among the other attractions was a ‘Duckboat’ tour around the town, a bus that was also a boat. Crazy, but brilliant. When the bus crashed into the water down the slipway it was like running as far as you can into the sea before falling over. The evenings were filled with fantastic food, spectacular surfing on the beach and the occasional round of crazy golf.
At the end of the first week we were met by one of Mum’s colleague’s to take us to our next location, which was in fact his own house at the beach, which was vacant while he was working in the city. The house was brilliant with a pool table and a TV in our bedroom. This is unusual for us since we aren’t allowed TVs in our rooms at home. The house was right on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. We had a choice of everything, shops and beaches alike. We were literally five minutes from the beach so we ended up down there for at least a couple of amazing hours everyday body-boarding.
A couple of days into this week we booked and went on a whale-watching trip where we followed a serene pod of grey whales and a humpback whale up the coastline. When we were at the beach one day we saw and played with a jumpy joyous jamboree of dolphins playing in the waves. Later that night while watching the news it was reported that a new species of dolphin had been registered on this coastline and were first spotted at the beach where we had been. Imagine our feelings when we realised we were some of the first people to see these dolphins when they had been registered a new species.
The 7/7/2005 disaster fell in this week, the London tube bombings, and we saw the report, on Australian TV, and were worried sick for any relatives that we had in London. Luckily our Aunt had decided to take the car in that day instead of going on the tube.
On one rainy day where in Australia there isn’t much to do we went to the local Cineworld to see ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ which had just been released. We only got in because of their different certifications; whereas here it is a 15 certificate in Australia it is classified as M, mature person. Cinema is obviously not a big thing ‘down under’ because we were the only people in the cinema, compared to over here where the wait for the latest blockbuster movie is as anticipated as the next Harry Potter book. With their hot and gorgeous climate who would want to be cooped up in a dark room for three hours, especially in their temperatures?
The cultural differences between our nations are vast, our culture is of a fast moving bustling society but theirs is extremely laid back, they take everything at its own pace. We went to a rare breeds zoo in Queensland to see some of the amazing species of animals in Australia, on the penultimate day. We saw all manner of creatures from the shy and retiring Koalas to the springy and playful Kangaroos. Jonny and I, however, had wanted to go to the famous Steve Erwin’s Australia Zoo but that was to far away and the journey would have taken to long.
For the last week we flew up to northern Queensland, to Cairns. Here we stayed in a three-star hotel because here Mum was not speaking and therefore our room was not paid for. Originally we were given a room that smelt awful, and so we requested to move into another room.
Cairns is very close to the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef, so we went scuba diving, in the end we had to go out twice because the first time we went we discovered that they would not let Jonny dive because of his asthma without a doctors note saying he could. So Mum and I dived the first day and saw the amazing colours and shapes of fish, sharks, turtles and many other amazing sea animals from up close, whilst Jonny went off and did some snorkelling. The next day when we went back Mum and I snorkelled while Jonny dived with the sea life of the Great Barrier Reef. That took up two days of our stay in Cairns. Another day we joined a tour company on a trip to the oldest rainforest on Earth, the Daintree rainforest and saw some incredible crocodiles, wet waterfalls and amazing animals.
We flew back to Brisbane, for the flight back to the UK, and stayed in a fabulous French five-star hotel so we could get a good amount of sleep for the twenty-four hour flight back. Mum, wanted to go out to see the sights of Brisbane but we just stayed in our room watching the superb array of TV channels.
The date of our flight back coincided with the date of the release of the new Harry Potter book so at Brisbane we bought the shop’s last copy. By the time we were back in England Harry Potter had saved the world again.
