Surfing in a bath.

I have been enjoying surfing in lovely warm water. It's so nice just wearing a bikini and rashie instead of a wettie! (Although there are a few drawbacks - more on that later.)

I better go back to the start as that's usually a good place to be going on from and then I won't jumble things up and confuse you all...

On Thursday morning we woke up bright and early at 6.30am (after I'd forced myself to go back to sleep for another hour.) We then mucked around for a little while and had breakfast and stuff and then went on a tour of the massive flash Moroccan mansion Dad is building. It's 3600 square metres! He's runs the job and does lots of clever things. It's very impressive. Here are some photos but they don't really do it justice.

Here are some pictures of Dad's place. (He lives on the property in the old house that is going to be demolished when the mansion is finished.)

By the river.

It had flooded recently.

Dad's house.

Steve and Dad on the old cause way that had been there for hundreds of years but a big chunk finally washed away in a recent flood. 

Looking over the old causeway.

Dad told us there are sometimes platypus in the river (I was excited because I used to have a bit of an obsession with platypus when I was a kid) but we haven't seen them yet.

Anyhow... 

After we were suitably impressed by the mansion tour and had met a few of Dad's workmates we all jumped in Dad's car A.K.A The Ferrari! 

Here it is...

The Ferrari is very particular. You must hold the drivers window in a particular way to wind it up, you must open the passengers door from the outside. (Allows an opportunity for chivalry.) And above all you must tactfully ignore the sound the gearbox makes when shifting out of 3rd gear. If all Ferrari's wishes are granted she will happily get you from A to B.

Dad drove us down the coast to Rainbow bay so we could go surfing. We surfed at Snapper rock and rainbow bay (I and I even surfed at Coolangatta briefly because I surfed round/got washed round there.) I had a few fun waves but it was crowed. Steve saw Mick Fanning out there surfing up a storm. 

I had fun surfing in a bikini and rashie apart from being alternately wedged by my bikini or down trailed by the waves! But I did have a rainbow bikini on to match rainbow bay just by coincidence!

After that we had a picnic then visited my Great Aunty Ali and my Great Uncle Frank (Aunty Ali is the sister of my Nana Rona - Dad's mum.) It was so nice to see them. I haven't seen them since I was little. The first thing I thought when I saw Aunty Ali was that she was smaller because of course I had grown and am now about the same height as her!

Next we hit the road again and went to have tea with Dad's friend Gillian which was yummy and fun. I got excited by doing a jigsaw puzzle. 

We went to feed her horses with her and the mozzies feasted on my leads like they were ravenous! 

Steve and I both fell asleep on the trip home - one of those sleeps where you wake up to realise your mouth is gaping open and your head is lolling back on the seat.

That was day one of Australia!

The next morning Dad gave us the key to The Ferrari and a fantastic map of the gold coast drawn by master map maker Noel Fletcher. 

We left the house a little dubious about whether we would be able to find our way back again. However the map was very helpful. We found our way to the surf factory shops and also to the sea for a surf in the lovely warm water again. That time we surfed at Burleigh heads. 

After we found our way back to Dad's we had a B.B.Q. for tea and Aunty Pauline and Phil came to stay the night and have tea so it was really awesome to catch up with them. I had a nice evening chatting away.

On Saturday we drove up to Manly where Phil was racing yachts and saw Aunty Pauline (Dad's big sister) and Uncle Steve (Dad's little brother). We had a drink with them and a nice catch up. 

Having a drink.

Uncle Steve being a bad-ass and putting his foot on the grass.

No photoshopping has been done to the following photo of Uncle Steve's feet! Those are actually his tan lines!!!

See!

Then those 2 had to head off on a few chores so we watched the boats and talked for a while before going to have lunch with Dad's friend Sharon who is lovely and has a talent for talking. 

We watched a few yachts being launched.

At the yacht club there was this cool copper tower thing commemorating 100 years of the club. I though it was pretty. 

There was also this prison-like fence that made me laugh delightedly as I thought of the Gateway Bridge.

Then we went to the yacht club to spend some more time with Auntie Pauline and Phil and some of their nice friends from Canada.

We were so tired after that though that we went straight back home to bed like Hairy Maclary!

On Sunday we got up at 6 to go for a surf with Dad and his mate Bastian. We went out at Lacies and had a great paddle but I didn't get that many waves. There are a lot more girls that surf here but still about the same ratio of boys to girls as in New Zealand I think. 

After that we had a browse through some surf shops to try and find Steve a second board to take with us on our travels. We didn't find him a board but Dad did try on his dream hat...

Next we hit the road to go up to Wameran to visit Uncle Steve and Ruth and see Aunty Pauline and Phil again. We devoured baguette with cheese and ham on the way yum yum! I enjoyed laughing at some of the funny place names along the way.

In Australia they have special traffic lights for doing U-turns!

Lots of the motorways have beautiful murals on the sides of them.

I managed to snap a picture of the Gateway Bridge on the way through too but it still doesn't really capture the prisoniness of it. It looked quite pretty at night when we drove back though though as it was all lit up.

We had a great night talking, eating, laughing, and talking some more. I got to meet my cousin Courtney's little boy Jett whole was a sweetheart and see Sean and Courtney (two of Uncle Steve's kiddies.)

At the end of the night people were telling jokes and it was so funny. Dad and Phil and Uncle Steve all told really good ones and we were cracking up histerically. 

Courtney, Me, Uncle Steve, Sean, Phil, Ruth.

The same as above.

Courtney, Uncle Steve, Sean.

Everyone and the Dog.

Uncle Steve, Aunty Pauline, and Dad.

Steve, Me, and Aunty Pauline.

And Uncle Steve...

Wow! So that brings us up to today.

Today we went surfing (of course!) We drove down to Rainbow Bay again for a look but it was crowded as anything. These photos are from the lookout at the northern end of Rainbow Bay.

There was a rainbow over Coolangatta.

Steve checking the surf.

In Australia the signs for road works don't have an s on the end and every time I see them it always looks like there is a typo on the sign to me.

We ended up surfing at Lacies again but it was more of a mission paddle than a surf.

We had lunch with Dad then headed up Mount Warning to do the treetop walk.

We saw some Wallabies on the way up. Aren't they cute! I loved watching them doinging along.  

We saw these stunning parrots when we go to the top and a nice lady gave me some of her bird seed so I could feed them.

I was excited.

One decided to become an adornment for my hat.

We then went for the walk through the treetops. On the way there I met a bush turkey. I wanted to see if I could touch him...

He wanted to see if my hand was edible...

Steve and Dad were not in time to stop me from feeding him my finger...

Don't worry, it's still attached!

This next picture is the inside of a tree that covers a host tree and then the host tree dies and decays leaving the tree hollow. I think it was a fig tree. The seed of the tree got dropped in the host tree about 200 years ago. Then it slowly grooms roots down to the ground. After 50 to 150 years when the host tree is old and ready to die the fig tree has wrapped around it and can support itself. Then the host tree dies a natural death and decays leaving the fig tree hollow.

This is the pathway through the treetops.

You can climb up a big big ladder.

Until you are 30 metres above the ground. It is very VERY high!

Next we had a look in the mountain gardens.

Then we came home. On the way we stopped to look in an old tramway tunnel to see if we could see some bats. The bats were not at home but just as Dad shone his light on the ground I glanced down and saw money. I was excited cause for the last two days I've had that rhyme in my head; 

"Find a penny, 

pick it up, 

all day long, 

you'll have good luck."

It was better than a penny though. 

I was 20 cents! Wahoo.

What a marathon entry!

Bye, 

Love Amy.