Gold Coast Tour Day 4

Our agenda for the day is Paradise Country in the morning, Sea World in the afternoon, amphibian cruise before dinner, dinner, then sleep. My brother and I decided to skip the amphibian cruise along the Surfers Paradise Esplanade and Broadwater, since it's nothing new. LYW's even skipping Sea World because she'd rather spend more time at the beach. I guess she just had enough of Ocean Park, which I was told was patterned after Sea World. The only reason she didn't skip Paradise Country altogether is because she wants her picture taken with the koala.

Paradise Country is supposed to give people a taste of the "real Australia" - farm life and outback adventure. You don't have to go too far to experience it though. It's located just beside Movie World and Wet'n'Wild World. First thing they do once you get past the gates, is to drive you straight to the Koala Village and Photo Centre. For a fee, you get to cuddle a koala, and have your picture taken. Personally, I think it's a tourist trap, but the Japanese are just crazy about koalas. LYW believes in having a plan B, so she asked us to take pictures of her while she's posing with the koala. A lot of good that did because the pictures we took are a bit blurred. The Farm's plan A is fine though. Aside from koalas, the park also has a nursery with kangaroos, emus, turkeys, and farm animals such as cows, sheep, alpacas, etc. You can feed them and have pictures taken with them for free.

As part of the tour, we were shown how billy tea is made and were given damper to sample. The ranch hand even made a show of swinging the tin can with the boiling water inside. Good thing he didn't make a mistake and scald someone. Next, we gathered 'round the show paddocks to see the cowboys and cowgirl rustle the sheep and cattle, thrown some boomerangs, crack the whips, and pose for pictures. Another highlight of the tour is the sheep-shearing demonstration. There are different varieties of sheep and rams and they're smarter than I thought. From one end of the auditorium, they paraded through the audience, up the stage and parked themselves to where their nameplates are. For some audience participation, the host selected two guys and two girls. He was looking for someone big and strong, so he chose me. (Yeah, right!) I was a bit excited because I've never sheared a sheep before, but as it turns out, it was still the guy who sheared the sheep, and I was given the chance to hold onto his had for a few seconds while he was doing it. Better than nothing. For me, he stuffed some raw wool into my shirt to buff up my arm muscles. For the other guy, the wool went into his chest. As for the lady participant, one got a flower made out of wool, and the other got a fluffy futon. It was a great photo-op, but unfortunately my brother is not familiar with my camera controls, and camera battery ran out at exactly that moment. It's a good thing LYW managed to get a few good shots, as the pictures taken by the park photographers weren't printed out yet when we left the place.

The whole afternoon was spent at Sea World. Major shows here would be the Waterski WipeOut, Planet SOS in 4-D, Quest for the Golden Seal, and the Dolphin Cove Show. Thanks to just-in-time scheduling and lots of legwork, we managed to cover them all. In between showtimes, we even managed to visit Dugong Discovery, Polar Bear Shores, Shark Bay, and the Cartoon Network Cartoon Beach. I would say the Dolphin Cove Show is the best of them all, while the Quest for the Golden Seal rates the lowest. I mean, seals can waddle around, balance balls on their noses, wave their arms, walk with their tails up, but they're no match for (Free) Willy and his crew. People just love dolphins. There are lots of rides around the park, but our allotted time was not enough, so we didn't get to try any of them.

This being our last day in Queensland, we spent the night roaming around the Brisbane city centre. At the intersection of Ann and Albert Streets is the Town Hall. In front of it is the King George Square with metal sculptures here and there. Going down Ann Street, you'll find the Central Train Station on the left, and the Shrine of Remembrance with its Eternal Flame on the right. Go through the ANZAC Square, you'll pass by the Second Boer War memorial statue, and end up at the General Post Office building. Turn right for some shopping along Queen Street Mall, or go through the GPO to the Post Office Square. Straight ahead is St. Stephen's Cathedral. If you go further down, you'll end up at Brisbane River. From the Waterfront Place, you get a pretty good view of Story Bridge. From what I've read, Story Bridge is only one of three bridges in the whole Australia, which is climbable. To the right is the City Botanic Gardens. Since it's already late night, we didn't venture in anymore. And that ends our night tour of Brisbane.