Seaworld Expedition

Last night we tottered o ff to Seaworld for the Energex’s Staff Christmas Party. Its always held early as they want to include as many people in the celebrations as they can – with storm seasons in Oct to Jan – if it were held closer to Christmas then a great number of people would not bed allowed to come as they have to either stay close to base or be on call for disaster recovery. With al ittle over 6 thousand people there – it was like a very busy day at Seaworld with long line ups on popular rides.

We had around 3 hours to wander around Seaworld and get on as many rides and see as many shows as we could. Last year we stayed at Nara resort and had 2 days to explore – so had seen everything and went on most rides a number of times – so it wasn’t a mad dash. Lilly is a little taller this year and able to get one many of the bigger rides – she ‘is over’ the baby rides ( oh dear).

We sat in awe ( again) watching the dolphin show. The pure delight and rapture on both kids faces was enough to put a lump in my throat. What mad woman decided it might be a good idea to buy toffee apples and give them to two ravenous children at the start of the night? These pictures don’t fully show the extent of stickiness that ensued. I don’t like toffee apples ( well to be fair the last one I had was about 20 years ago and I remember the apple was shriveled and gross) but I have to say I really liked the ones the kids had – the apples were so fresh and the toffee not too sweet..

We planned our trek well and got to do and see everything that each person wanted. Lilly was too short to go on the Pirate Ship so Morgan and I hopped aboard. He was thrilled and delighted for about the first three swings. As it tipped higher and higher up, the poor lad clung to the silver grip bars for fear of his life. To his credit as I kept asking him if he was ok , he kept nodding. I put a protective arm round him but I am not sure if that settled him any. Although he said he thought it was fun – he didn’t want to go back on it. We rode the dragon flume several times and got very wet.

Lilly and I boarded the Burmuda Triangle ride ( she only scrapped it in with her height) and set off very excited. All the rides have a different feel for sure when its dark outside! We were up the front and again – to her credit – she did not show any fear. I had an arm round her and I could feel her heart pounding and she shook like a leaf in some of the spookier bits. Outwardly, she was smiling and she waved at the mechanical aliens. It wasn’t until we were 5 seconds from disembarking that she broke into tears and told me she was frightened. Oh bless her! After checking out the snoozing Polar bears, when asked what the best thing so far was – she chose the triangle ride…( oh dear)

We ended our evening off with some more sedate rides – I love the old fashioned merry-g-round and Lilly and I rode the horses for 3 sessions. I love the music and the gentle motion of the horses, the glitz of the decorations and the fancy mirrors. Lilly did really well with her arm in plaster – but I doubt that much would.

It was a great night and a real family fun experience where I felt very connected to each person. As a reward for our savings on our power consumption last quarter we are going to Dreamworld shortly - so have decided not to do this during school holidays – as we want to do it when we don’t have so many people to line up with.