Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy!

Last Saturday, in the weee hours of the morning, we got the kids out of bed, piled on our clothes and drove to the airport for our first family holiday over the ditch!  

It was bucketing down when we got there, with the forecast for more of the same over the following week, but luckily, except for a heavy down pour that caught us in a middle of a mini golf game on our first full day there, (which at least made for an interesting walk home) we were pretty happy with the weather in general.  Hot days, and balmy nights.  We stayed at a family friendly resort, which included awesome pools, kids club and a restaurant that served delicious pizza's and massive burgers.  Speaking of burgers, the glorious BurgerFuel was across the road from us.  We had it three days in a row.  Just saying.  It's awesome.  Phil was good though and went to the gym everyday.  Me?  I ran twice and then called it all off.  My first run was superb.  The sound of the different birds, the ocean views and breeze, the perfectly tailored to running foot paths, the friendly smiles of those who were running and walking and enjoying the morning.  It was glorious!  The second day was so hot I wanted to puke.  So that was that.

Anywho.  Here are some pics :)

Ripleys Believe it or Not.  Believe it or not, it is NOT worth the money!

We had Ben and Jerry's on the beach.  A few day's later we got a tub of one called 'Chubby Hubby" It was Vanilla Malt Ice Cream with Peanutty Fudge-Covered Pretzels with Fudge & Peanut Buttery Swirls and as good as it sounds.

We told this one to run to the ocean and clean her face.  She loved the warm water and didn't want to leave!

We went to Sea World of course.  One hot day, seals, dolphins, sharks and birds - the kids were veeerry happy.

Next came Movie World.  They have a kids roller coaster that we went on a few times.  Hearing their laughter and squeals/screams was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

 And of course Dream World.  This was our hottest day, and even though I had sweat pouring off me it was still worth it (especially since we got a half price special!)  It was pretty quiet there too, so like all of the other parks we didn't have to wait in long lines thankfully.

We had a couple of quiet days that included mini-golf (this time in the sun) lots of swimming and kids club.

On our last day we went to 'Steve Irwins Zoo' (AKA Australia Zoo)  the kids have been wanting to go here ever since they watched their first Crocodile Hunter episode.  I must admit that I had a pretty good child like sense of wonder during our visit too.  The lizards that roam the paths had me smiling from ear to ear and I fell in love with the roo's and the koala's. The condor blew me away with it's majestic glides over the stadium and it's massive wing span.  It's so sad to know that there are only six left. Sadly we had to leave for the airport after lunch, and to be honest Caity was buggered and asking when it was time to get on the plane, but she still loved it.  Taryn was in her element and after the zoo and sea world she has reconfirmed that her future profession will be as an animal rescuer.  

Look it!  Soooo pretty!

And that was that.  Our first OE as a family of four.  There were of course moments of tears and grumpy attitudes, frustration with the hot weather and times when you just wanted to have 5 minutes alone - these are all part of it.  You can't have the good without the bad and we're by no means perfect.  But we feel so lucky to be able to have had this time together as a family and the chance to visit the place where our family began.  The GC.