Having arrived we were very pleasantly surprised. The two bedroom apartment is large and very well finished and furnished (42 inch plasma with DVD and air conditioners in all rooms). What's really nice is that we got a ground floor unit and can walk straight out onto the grass, look out to the lagoon, and are only 50 metres from the sand - excellent.On the first night our trials with navigation continued but we eventually found and decided to eat at the Marcoola Surf Club - small club, friendly atmosphere, beach outlook.
On Sunday we had breakfast and coffee at the Lizard Cafe 5 minutes up the ride. As QLD doesn't like to have their curtains faded and don't have daylight saving we arrived at the Lizard Cafe at 7:25am, 5 minutes before they atarted serving!
After brekky we went to the main pool at North Shore. As usual Stephen had great fun swimming, Mike went in a bit, and Taemar mostly enjoyed the sun.
What has become very apparent since we've arrived is that Eva has decided she now walks! Where previously she would wobble along for a few steps but once she was on all fours would crawl, she now falls over but prefers to stand up again and keep walking. So she is walking all the time, and even thinks she can run. This has caused a little issue later in the week because she's fallen over so much and quite hard that she has "Snowboarders Bottom" and has a big bruise on her bottom.
Mike left the family at the pool and did the week's shopping - no problem, except that he paid for the bread and rolls at the bakery but forgot the important part of taking the bread and rolls with him. As this was a key ingredient for lunch back he trouped (10 minute drive up the road) and the people at the bakery remembered him, however Mike decided he needed a meat pie to tide hime over.
Sunday afternoon we walked right around the resort including over to the Novotel side. Now we've experienced the North Shore side and the Novotel we much prefer where we are. We feel like we have a quieter environment with a much less busy pool and a biger apartment, and if we want to use any of the Novotel Resort's facilities it's only 5 minutes walk away.
Sunday night we used the bbq that's on the deck of our apartment - Mike had a bit of trouble as it was tricky to start and then when it did it was much, much hotter than our bbq at home, but the Porterhouse steaks and sausages were delicious.
On Monday we went to the Sunshine Castle & the Big Pinapple in the morning. The Sunshine Castle was amazing in a number of ways. It was really well done with a treasue hunt with clues that took us to all parts of the castle. Plus, there were an amazing exhibition of toys and dolls that must have been collected over a lot of years by the castle owners. It almost seemed like the owner was a mad doll/toy collector and needed somewhere to keep them all so built a castle and turned it into a tourist attraction.The Big Pinapple is a ... Big Pineapple. Not hugely exciting for the adults but Stephen enjoyed the Big Pineapple experience.
Tuesday was a massive day for us. Firstly (and most importantly) it was Taemar's Birthday. Second we'd decided to spend the day at Australia Zoo. We started by giving Taemar her presents and cards in bed which Taemar really loved.Australia Zoo amazed all of us. We had no idea how large a zoo it really is and how slick a production it is. Firstly the kids loved it - it's perfectly targeted for them to have an awesome time. The adults could see the commercial focus. It combines the basic Toronga Zoo concept with US Theme Park style shows throughout the day. This combination keeps the interest longer, keeps you there longer justifying the very expensive entry fee ($140 for 2 adults and one child) and also gives you more opportunity to buy food, have your photo taken (and pay for photo's) buy things at the varous shops, etc... We could certainly see how Australia Zoo was a very commercial success, all in the name of conservation. Steve is remembered and revered everywhere which is both nice and appropriate. What is missing is a sense of history with absolutely zero information on Steve's parents who founded the zoo, probably as they now have no involvement since a falling out with Terri.
Stephen loved the section on dinosaur bones wher he got to be a paleontologist and dig in the sand for bones. Hw quite honestly could have spent the whole day just there and we had to drag him elsewhere.We saw the Otter feeding and the main show at 11am where ther birds were the most amazing part of the show, swooping in over the heads of the crowd, while the croc seemed a little disinterested.
Stephen also loved the snakes, particularly the giant python. We walked around to the Tigers enclosure and again this highlighted how Australia Zoo do things really well. They rotate the Tigers into the viewing area based on which ones are most active at that time so you always get to see some Tigers that are up and about, which contrasts with the typical zoo experience.
In the afternoon we went to the pool which is only a few minutes walk from our apartment. At the pool we bumped into Fiona Ellis who lives nearby and who we'd arranged to see on the Friday. She was there for a friend's little girls birthday party and the friend lives at the resort.Before dinner Stephen & Mike played a game called Uphill v Downhill which was played on the lawn outside the apartment. This game was kind of like soccer where we had to get the ball past each other. The field was about 30m long and 10m wide. Stephen was the uphill team and Mike was the downhill team. They played this game every day we were there and I don't think Stephen ever lost!
In the evening we went to Mooloolaba Surf Club for dinner for Taemar's birthday. This is a large surf club and Taemar had a beautiful deafood platter for one which she loved.
On Wednesday we were keen to get moving so that we could spend time at the Eumundi markets. We went a back road and Stephen got a litle car sick but he felt ok once we got to the market. The Eumundi markets are huge and the Wednesday market is now as big as the Saturday market. In fact when we arrived we couldn't tell where the market was because all we could see was the cars in the car park. We overheard people saying that there were coaches that had come from the Gold Coast & Bunderberg.
We stopeed for a coffee and some mini-pancakes that were so yummy we had to get a second plate. There were 10 mini pancakes on each plate and Stephen had about 12 of these delicious pancakes showing that he was difinitely over his bout of car sickness.
Taemar then spent an hour or so wandering through the markets while Mike, Stephen and Eva went to the nearby playground. While at the playground a street performer started his performance. Well, actually he started to build the crowd for his performance. He was exceptionally good at generating interest and getting a large crowd to watch his performance. By the time he started there were 50 - 60 people watching. He was funny as well as a great performer and juggler. We particularly liked his juggling from around the world - the poor Kiwi's juggling representation was not very flattering but was very funny. What was also very funny was that a little boy called Angus kept interrupting and no matter how subtle or obvious the performer hinted Angus' parents did not seem at all inclined to control him. It climaxed with the performer asking Angus if he could take his sharp juggling knife and go and play on the road...still no response from the parents!
The performer's final performance was to juggle a large knife, a flaming stick, and a tennis racket while on top of a three tiered platform held up by a combination of cylinders and beer glasses. This meant he was about 1.5m off the ground, but in addition he was on top of a board that was balancing on a cylinder so he was rolling from side to side 1.5m in the air on an unstable platform while he juggled the three items - quite an impressive performance. At the end of the performance of coruse he asked for money and we were happy to give him $10 particularly when he put it in perspective by reminding us we'd paid $4 to park in a paddock and we was pretty sure he was more entertaining than parking a car in a paddock.
On the journey back we drove up to Noosa and had a quick look around before taking the nice drive back via the coast road. We saw a nice walk to do at Coolum while we were driving and decided we should do that tomorrow.
In the afternoon Taemar went and had a relaxing facial while Mike and the kids went to the pool. Stephen played with some new friends he met there although he did hurt his knee jumping into the water. Luckily it turned out to not be serious.
On Thursday we drove to Coolum and did the headland walk. Coolum seems nice - not too busy but with some nice restaurants and cafes.Im the afternoon Taemar and Eva had a rest while Mike and Stephen went to the resort pool. They also had a great time jumping off the trampoline in the lagoon.
In the evening we went to Mooloolaba to the fish market and got some beautiful prawns and fish that we took home for a yummy dinner.
On Friday we went to the Ginger Factory. The Ginger Factory has an authentic cane train which allows you to see the gardens and listen to the history of Ginger.
What was even better was Adventures of a Stowaway: a boat ride in a massive shed. This was an amazing ride. Overboard takes you on a colourful, theatrical voyage around the world. You're following the journey of the escaped Ginger Bread Man, as he runs as fast as he can to escape the baking tray of two very determined chefs!In the evening we visited Fiona & Warren who are fantastic hosts. We had a very tasty curry that Warren cooked> Warren & Fiona's children are lovely and played with Stephen & Eva very nicely.
On Saturday it was time to go home. we knew it had been a great holiday when Stephen burst into tears as we were leaving and said he didn't want to go home.
