JimmyBo Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 (edited) So here it is! Australia! Home to several deadly animals, cute animals, and then there's the crazy animals...the TPR Australia Tour participants. I've been wanting to go to the Land Down Under for quite some time so when TPR announced that they were going, I was extremely excited. After saving for the trip for quite some time (Money is never a reason why you shouldn't go on a trip people, just learn to spend it wisely) I was excited to go on this tour and bring my wife, Cassie, with me. This was her first TPR Trip and sort of her first TPR experience. She had an awesome time and we really enjoyed the continent and the people everywhere. Anyway...enough Intro babble...here's the first day. Day 1 - Featherdale Wildlife Park and Scenic World After a long @$$ flight from LAX to Sydney (where I watch Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and if you haven't seen it then you need to right now!) we waited for our tour pick-up in the airport at the McDonald's. No surprise it was at the McD's because Elissa was planning this trip. Here's the rest as provided through pictures...enjoy! Before the packing started After the packing was finished First Park was Featherdale. Cassie and I love Zoos and this was a great way to kick off the Australia Tour! Here we are touching a Koala soon to be mauled and attacked by this vicious beast Awwwww...how can this guy be so vicious? He's so cute and cuddly. Australia loves their Koalas. I think they love them more than Kangaroos because I don't think you can eat Koalas unlike the delicious Kangaroo. "I'm asleep. Don't touch me like you did my mate over there." Oh my god! Koalas moving! This was a first! The one on top was about to poop on the one on the bottom. That is the Koalas only defense against predators...to poop on them. Here's Mr. Kangaroo...he's hot. Cassie's touching a Kangaroo. This is like a petting zoo without the nasty goats and sheep. Instead it has cuddly Kangaroos and a deadly Emu This is Roo from Winnie the Pooh. Did you know that Kanga and Roo from Winnie the Pooh spell Kangaroo? My sister didn't until she was in Jr. High! This dude stole a food cone. I'm pretty sure he punched someone to get it from them. Jim - "I'm touching a Kangaroo!" Kangaroo - "Don't you touch me you damn yankee!" This is Mr. Buck-Toothed Kangaroo...he was "special" and we weren't aloud to pet him. He's got an itch This is a cock-a-burro...you figure it out. Emu vs. Kangaroo...who will win? This is a Wombat. Since I didn't get to see a duck-billed platypus on the trip, these guys take the award for weirdest looking animal...besides Robb of course. Bats in a Cage! This was nothing compared to where we saw bats in the future. You will see come the next update! This is a Velociraptor with feathers. He will kill you! This is Dizzy Devil from Tiny Toon Adventures. Anyone else use to love that show? These Dingos really don't look like they belong behind cages. I wonder what would happen if they put them in the petting zoo area with the Kangaroos? We should ask. This is a Dinosaur. He would give Super Gator a run for his money. This is a confused snake. He can't figure out if he wants to be a snake or lizard, so he has tiny little legs. This GIANT GREEN TREE FROG will eat you in one bite. Seriously, this guy was HUGE! "Oh crap, he spotted me. Stay perfectly still. Don't move a muscle." Another confused snake/lizard thing. These guys are weird. "Feed me!" We said good-bye to Featherdale Wildlife Park and said hello to Scenic World which was rather Scenic. This is Epic Fail:The Ride 90 DEGREES!!!! Time to take the Indiana Jones inspired Scenic Railway down the mountain. Our awesome carriage awaits our travels. They really have us crammed in here pretty good. I hope the cable holds up or it will be a quick decent down to the bottom. After some awesome Indiana Jones theme music we are going down. Can't you tell we were extremely excited? The view on the way down was pretty amazing. Here's the well-kept-up track that led us down the mountain. I don't know if it's very Scenic. This place should be re-named. Scenic World The Musical was filmed here. Check it out on IMDB. This was right before the cable snapped. Pretty awesome view from the bottom the the railway. This is Bob. He was our Tour Guide. If you wanted to know anything (and I mean ANYTHING) about Australia he would tell you. This is the rainforest section of Scenic World. This is where they filmed Predator. So much green and water! It was unlike anything we see at home in Tucson! The city Scenic World was in was called Katoomba and this place had a coal mine. This sign lead us to the mine. Here's Bob playing with coal and telling our smokers on the tour to not light a cig near here or we would all die. Here's the entrance to the mine. Unfortunately we were not aloud to go inside because bears have made the mine their home. Hey look! It's the Mine! Kristen ready to ride a horse for the first time in Australia. This is a gum tree. It makes gum. Koalas love this tree because they eat gum off of it. That is why Koalas are lazy, because it takes 7 years to digest gum and it's not very nutritious. Bob gave us some interesting info...this was all covered under water a couple million years ago. According to Waterworld, it will soon be under water again. The area that Scenic World is located in is called the Blue Mountains. They look more red to me. Maybe someone who was colorblind named them. Time to head back up and what better way to do it then cram more people in a Cable Car then aloud to. There it goes. Way up the hill! One second later it was all the way up there. It was a Hydraulic Launch Cable Car and it was freaking amazing! View from the Cable Car after being squeezed against the window from too many people inside the Cable Car "Oh my god! All these people inhere I hope the cable holds!" Three Sisters The Musical was filmed here. We had one last shot at Scenic World and then it was time to head back down to Sydney. This was the first of many Magnum Bars to be had on this trip. These are freaking EPIC> I just hope the ones they are bringing to the US are going to be as good. Next up...Luna Park and Sightseeing around Sydney. Edited May 14, 2011 by JimmyBo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosscoe Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I am so glad you guys had a such a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Yay! A JimmyBo trip report! It's been far too long since the last one! Australia loves their Koalas. I think they love them more than Kangaroos because I don't think you can eat Koalas unlike the delicious Kangaroo. The guide at the Australia Zoo told us that koala doesn't taste very good. I wonder how he knew that? God, I miss all those different flavors of Magnum bars. Maybe some more of them will make their way to the States. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 Day 2 - Luna Park and Sydney Sightseeing Luna park was pretty fun. Even though there was only one roller coaster they still had plenty of other rides to keep us busy for the time that we spent there. We got a nice tour before the park opened and look at some behind-the-scenes stuff. The funhouse are was pretty awesome. I think that if the wheel went a little faster it might have topped the funhouse at the now defunct Southport Pleasureland in England. Still though, the slides were pretty fun. Sydney is a beautiful city. Even though we didn't see much blue skies or sun when we were there, it was still great to walk around. There was so much old architecture around the city but then right next to it was a new modern building...very, very cool. I think if you ever go to Sydney you have to check out Darling Harbor and the Royal Botanical Gardens (home to hundreds of bats and dive-bombing cockatoos) Onto the pictures...Enjoy! Luna Park. Home to freaking face man who will EAT YOU! Inside the Funhouse. Pretty massive and had lots of things to do there. We spent a good deal amount of time here. The slide to the left (Devils Slide) will truly kill you. Here's the lone credit...and a good one at that. Wooden Wild Mouse coasters are far better than the steel ones. If you disagree then you are wrong because I am always right when it comes to these things. It's Ferris Wheel time! Yay! The Wild Mouse coaster and the Coney Island Building is where the Funhouse is located. "Hey, I'm on a Ferris Wheel with Sydney Harbor behind me. HA!" This Death Machine was quite intense. I've come to the conclusion that if you're scared of clowns then your trash will never get thrown away. Seriously, who would want to get near these guys? Now it's lunch time at The Deck where they served some incredible food. And it had a pretty awesome view as well. We were done with Luna Park and now it was time to take a Ferry around the Harbor. Here's the Ferry. Here we are riding the Ferry and trying not to get wet from the rain. Here is a water taxi. Be sure not to take these little guys because they are a rip-off and they look like ducks. No one wants to ride a duck around the Bay where sharks live. There something that I might think is famous or something. I think the LEGO version at Legoland California looks better. There's the Sydney Harbor Bridge which makes us engineers drool at its beauty and steel. We say good-bye to Luna Park from the Ferry. And say hello to the Sydney Skyline. I'm pretty sure that the smallest building in the Sydney Skyline is taller than the tallest building of the Tucson Skyline. We arrived at Darling Harbor. Time to walk around Sydney. Wildlife World and the Aquarium were very busy that day. Looked like they had a lot of animals on display. Sadly, we didn't have time to check it out. This LEGO guy was quite impressive in the Aquarium. They had tons of LEGO sculptures around the Aquarium and Wildlife World. Here's the Maritime Museum. For those of you that watch The Amazing Race...they stopped here in the second episode of this season. Hey look, it's an engineer in front of a bridge. What a nerd. Another fact, the contestants on The Amazing Race ran across this bridge on the second episode of this season. This bridge was old. Still not as old as Jeff Johnson though...he's a geezer! Cassie with Darling Harbor in the background and the Sydney Skyline. This was a fountain. I'm pretty sure you weren't aloud to walk in it but that sure didn't stop this lady from walking all the way down the fountain and getting her shoes soaking wet. Did you know that the 2000 Summer Olympics were held in Sydney? If you didn't then you might be a little too young to be reading this site and you should turn back now! These were the Chinese Gardens that were not in China Town. Anyway, this is all that we saw of them because it cost money to go in. This was an old Public School that was erected (heehee...erected) in 1890 something or other. Pretty freaking awesome. I found my street. Now I can move to Sydney and live on this street. Another old building we saw just walking around Sydney. Seriously, these buildings were everywhere! Old and new architecture. On the right is the Victoria Building which was like a shopping mall. I wonder if that's what it was back in the day. This was looking up inside the Victoria Building. I hate to say this but with all the shops inside it kind of felt out of place. Hey look! It's the anchor from The Amazing Race! Jet and Cord were standing right here a couple months ago! Freaking awesome! Mr Hoffman...don't you wish you were here. More awesome architecture including the Sydney Tower. Umm...zombies walking around everywhere. Just another day in Sydney. We followed the zombies to Hyde Park where they did a presentation. We found out that it was an Art School and afterward they all got to drink an enormous amount of beer. I was jealous! Cassie in Hyde Park. That enormous crowd behind her are the zombies eating peoples flesh that approached them Hyde Park truly was beautiful. I've never been to New York but I wonder if this is what Central Park is like. Any New Yorkers think so? Do you have zombies raiding your park? This is St. Mary's Cathedral. We saw two weddings (yes 2!) happening here at the same time. We actually saw 11 weddings that day while walking around Sydney. It must have been THE day to get married. Now it's time to check out the Royal Gardens. We heard from Cassie's parents that there were tons of bats here...we were on a mission to find the bats. You are now entering the Royal Gardens. And what do we see not more than 5 minutes into the Gardens...Fruit Bats. And they were by the hundreds hanging on trees. So much for those caged ones we saw yesterday. Hundreds and hundreds of bats. Too bad you can't scratch-and-sniff these pictures because it smelled horrible. Too much bat poo More bats. They were really cool to see out in the wild. These were wild cockatoos. By wild don't just mean that they weren't in cages...I mean they were freaking dive-bombing people for food and brains. They were freaking crazy wild cockatoos. Macquaries Point offered some awesome views of the Opera House and Bridge. There's that Opera House thing and some bridge that we will be climbing the next day. Here we are at the end of the Point with the Skyline in the background. More architecture as we head over to the Opera House for more pics. Pretty cool clock tower that was a wannabe Big Ben. And here is an architect's wet dream. Picture in front of the Opera House that's not the one at Legoland...check. We see you Luna Park across the Harbor. Picture in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge...check. That will be us tomorrow. AWESOME! More Opera House stuff for all those architects who still have a tissue. Standing in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge AND Opera House picture...check! After an amazing dinner at Wagamammawamma we had some more Magnum bars. The Magnum Gold was like an explosion of awesome in my mouth. Highly recommend that one to anyone! Next up...Bridge Climb and Surfers Paradise at night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 Day 3 - Bridge Climb and Fly to Surfers Paradise at night If you go to Sydney and have a morning or afternoon to spare then I highly recommend doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb. This was so freaking awesome and our tour guide was amazing. Me being a civil engineer, this was like porn for me and I got to walk all over. So sexy! A lot of people on the TPR Australia Tour decided to do the Bridge Climb and I'm pretty sure everyone who did had an amazing time. Cassie is terrified of heights and she was completely nervous doing this but she sucked it up and did it. Our Tour Guide would even make fun of her a little so it was even better. After that, we had an awesome lunch and then flew to homebase for the next several days...Surfers Paradise. Onto the Pictures...freaking enjoy them dammit! Here we are...Bridge Climb HQ and all its glory. Inside was a nice area to hang around before you had your orientation. Ginny was our group leader and checked us in. Great job Ginny! In case you forgot what we were climbing...that's it. It's the engineer's wet dream behind the architect's wet dream. We are about to climb up that thing and to the top! Over 440 feet up. That's taller than Kingda Ka for all those people who measure how tall things are by coasters. This isn't our group but here's what it looks like on a nice sunny day. Our day was cloudy, windy and rainy but we still had an awesome time. I pretty sweet panoramic of the bridge while we were still waiting to climb to the top. Alright, there we are at the freaking top of the bridge. Pretty crazy, huh? This might give you a perspective of how high up we were. Here's our group (plus a lady from Sweden) excited to be at the top of the Bridge. Christmas Card Photo...check. We were now done with the climb and we decided to check out a place that our Tour Guide recommended...The Australian Hotel. This was located in "The Rocks" area of Sydney which is one of the oldest parts of Sydney where all the criminals landed. Time for lunch because we were freaking starving...but what do they have to eat? Kangaroo or Emu or Salt Water Crocodile. Sadly they were out of Emu... but they had something else on the menu which I got. "I just climbed a freaking bridge...I'm having a beer!" Inside the Australian Hotel. It was very fancy! Here's my masterpiece of a pizza! Roast Duck Pizza! Oh my god it was delicious! Oh my god, this is quite amazing! Here's Cassie's Pizza. She was a little upset they didn't have Emu but she got something similar to a Hawaiian Pizza back in the States. Now it is time to say good-bye to our view from the Menzies Hotel in Sydney. We are heading to Surfers Paradise. Good-bye Big Ben wannabe! We say good-bye to Sydney and it's beautiful harbor. Seriously, this is one amazing city. Bye Bye LEGO Opera House. After a pretty amazing plane ride (and by amazing I mean our pilot bounced the plane as he landed) we ended up in Surfers Paradise. I think Elissa did a pretty crappy job on getting us this hotel. This view is horrible. Seriously Elissa, couldn't you have gotten the hotel next to us because it's closer to the beach! In all seriousness, this was the second best hotel I have been to on all the TPR trips I have been on. What's the best? Why don't you ask. Up Next...Warner Brothers Movie World and THE BEACH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I have never seen a zombie in Central Park. I'll look closer on Thursday when I have a softball game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I'm so jealous I only got to see the anchor from the bus and we walked right passed it to the day before! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 ^Bob, it was hard to see the day before. There were all the voting polls around it (since it's located at Town Hall) and we passed by it a couple times. I'm glad we weren't on The Amazing Race because we would look stupid and wouldn't be able to find the anchor. At least we would have beaten who guys because you didn't even find it! HA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Jimmy, this is great! The animals are so much more interesting, but I guess death is the trade off for having them in the environment. Not sure what that zombie march thing is about, we had that here on the same day. A Commonwealth thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 I can tell so many people are enjoying this thread so I will continue with the next park... Day 4 - Warner Brothers Movie World This was the first "major" park of the trip and I had a blast at it. Even though the group wanted to leave early I feel I still got everything in that I wanted to. Superman Escape has launched it's way to my top hydraulic launch coaster in the Southern Hemisphere...it is quite amazing. The Scooby Doo coaster hurt my balls on the last two drops...seriously...they hurt. This park reminded me a lot of Parque Warner in Madrid although this park didn't have as much to offer. I really enjoyed the Stunt Driver show because I was able to get high off of the burning rubber...it was quite a smell! Onto the Pictures! That morning we had the only sunshine during the morning the entire time we were in Surfers Paradise...here's our view! At first the clouds seemed a little scary like it was going to rain... But then it brightened up. This is currently my desktop Here we are...Warner Brothers Movie World with Superman ready to be ridden. At least he was excited that the skinny TPR members were riding him and not fat ACE members... More on Superman later...now it's Kiddie Credit time! Woo-hoo for whores! Deadly spider at the exit line. I was not a fan since I seriously hate spiders. I ran past this pretty fast while Cassie took this picture. This park was very well themed everywhere. Here's some stuff around the Kiddo Land that was themed after some TV cartoon show Daffy is awesome! And so is Duck Dodgers of the 24th and a half century! Porky Pig! I prefer Hampton over Porky Pig Ehhhh...nom...nom...nom...what's up doc? These shade structures provided some awesome shade...they didn't really do jack crap when it came to rain though as we will see later. Now it's time for the Stunt Driving show which replaced the Police Academy show. I was very upset we missed the Police Academy show because it would have been so EPIC! Here we are waiting in the shade ready for the show to start (this was after getting a delicious frozen Coke!) Here's the CameraManHolderProjectorDudeAussie. He was in charge of the show...sort of... Then the cars came out and did a lot of Figure 8's. I seriously think that was the only trick they really knew how to do well. Who needs 4 wheels when you can drive on 2? Seriously! Do you think the cost of cars will go down if they only give each car 2 wheels? The finale was pretty sweet. Stuff blew up everywhere! Next was Danny Glover's best movie (besides Predator 2) themed to an SLC! People on this ride would rather be shot then have to ride it again I wonder what an SLC would be like if you started upside down...anyone else? Hey look...China Town! Now all we need is Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan and you could have a ride themed to Rush Hour. It's a car simulator and you sit in a car during LA's rush hour. The ride time would only be 4 hours! This is very much like Disney's Main Street although here they prevent you from looking into the sun Old Car. I see you Lethal Weapon sign back there...stay the hell away from me! This is the Scooby Doo Box. He's a dog that sounds like a retard and everyone loves him. Notice the line? Thank you Robb and Elissa for ERT so we wouldn't have to wait for Australia's 2nd best coaster. Here you go Larry! You better use this one for the TPR Index and no other pictures taken of this sign Time to get wet. Here they come down the final drop! SPLOOOSHHHH!!!! We got wet. This ride was the exact same ride as the one in Parque Warner in Madrid...lots of sound effects but nothing else. Oh look...they have an area of the park themed to Arizona! How kind of them to even include a real life Saguaro with a damn white pygmy owl. Stupid owl's won't let us build anything in Tucson Yosemite Sam should be shot...he's annoying. Look...we traveled all the way across the world to go to an area themed to our hometown...awesome! Once again...we traveled half way around the world to go to something that's a replica of the real thing that's a 1 hour drive away...Boothill Cemetery. At least this one doesn't have real ghosts....I hope. This person who died on the SLC at this park was buried here. These are the exact cars used in the Batman movies. No seriously! The sign said they were. Don't you believe every sign you see? Then the storm came. It was wet. I was wet. It turned me on. Here's Superman after the storm past by. Superman gave me a great ride. There he goes in all his Kryptoness. Pushing pathetic people that can't run out of a Subway by themselves (that's all part of the theming of the ride. Check out Robb's video..it's quite amazing!) Pushing people up up and away! This ride had some amazing airtime in the front row. I never experienced the back row because I was too cool for the back of the train. Into the brake run we came. We came, we conquered, and we came again. We were walking by this Bank in the park...AND THEN... WONDER WOMAN came out and kicked some @$$! These poor guys were just walking around and then Wonder Woman beats the living snot out of them. What did they do to her? Make fun of her sexy long legs? Now it was time to say good-bye to Warner Brothers Movie World. Thank you for such a great time. Maybe we will come back again when Wonder Woman doesn't beat poor defenseless people to the ground. This is the Pacific Ocean...LOOKING EAST! I know...crazy right? The sun came out for a bit while we were at the beach. We had to go to the beach...I mean we were at Surfers Paradise! Cassie was pretty excited to see water. We don't get much of that in Arizona. HOLY CRAP! WATER!!!! The waves were pretty damn big out there. There was a massive rip current too so we didn't go that far in. Awwww...how mushy. Would have been a great picture if Cassie had kept her eyes open...way to go! Enough cuteness...PUSH HIM IN! That wave gave me a wedgie Hey Cassie, why are you looking down at the ground? Lose a contact lens? Oh, she was collecting sea shells. Those shells made it past customs...HAHA! Alright, last pictures because the storm is about to roll in. I can open my arms THIS wide. Clouds look nasty and waves are getting bigger. Maybe its Megashark heading for the Holiday Inn Good-bye waves, good-bye storm (it started raining as soon as we stepped inside the hotel) and good-bye Megashark...see you tomorrow at Sea World That night we took a look outside our window...it was an awesome view! This is the Surfers Paradise Eye...doesn't look like one to me. Next up...Sea World and Australian Outback Steakhouse Craptacular Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 No Mr. October pose at Surfer's Paradise? What's up with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Jimmy, Wonder Woman just called--she's gunning for you! Beware her Magic Lasso! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 ^^Larry, the paparazzi wasn't out in full force at Surfer's Paradise to get that illusive Mr. October shot. ^Chuck, thanks for the warning...I will watch my back and keep Superman on speed dial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 Moving right along... Day 5 - Sea World, Wet 'N Wild and Australian Outback Steakhouse Craptacular We woke up early that morning to see the sunrise...it was neat. Sea World was a very fun park and we had so much fun checking out all the animal encounters. The Shark Bay exhibit was quite impressive and I don't remember seeing that big of sharks in any other aquarium that I've been to. Jet Rescue was quite fun and Sea Viper didn't make my ears bleed to much. The new funky trains on Sea Viper at first looked like death contraptions but they were surprisingly comfortable. The Dolphin show was awesome, we skipped the Sea Lion show, and wish we skipped the Pirate Gymnasts show. All in all, Sea World was quite a fun park. Wet 'N Wild was just ok. I rode my first Intamin Halfpipe and it was quite...ummm...interesting. The rest of the slides weren't too bad. I popped my Flowrider cherry and had a great time on the body board. When it came to the wakeboard I ate sh*t several times. The Australian Outback blah blah blah was rather disappointing. I was excited to be a part of the show and make a complete @$$ out of myself (no surprise here) but the rest was just horrible. The service was terrible because I asked for beer and she gave me water, then asked for coke and she gave me beer, then I asked for water again and she gave me Lemon Splash. The food was good minus the dessert...my stomach was not happy about that diabetic disaster. Onto the pictures... Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. Don't see that too often in the States More sunrise. That bell on the right of the picture was a bell made at Cassie's work. It's a non-profit organization that hangs bells all over the world (mostly in the states and mostly in Tucson) in an act to spread kindness. We hung several of these bells this morning Hello Sun...I see you...are you going to stay out all day today or give way to the clouds and let them piss all over us today. Sea World Australia...not to be confused with Sea World Austraila Interesting sign...no eskimos aloud unless your diabetic and have special needs. Dan, did you bring an eskimo to the park? The park was very well themed throughout. This was what you saw when you walked in. They had a very well themed Sesame Street Area for the kids. Zamperla was everywhere! Hey Bruno! Now it's time to check out the "cool" section of the park. Both the coasters were right next to each other so they wouldn't scare the animals After riding Jet Rescue (and forgetting to take pictures of it) it was time to challenge the drooling Sea Viper Here he is. He's the long, lost cousin of Viper at SFMM that know wants to talk to or have any acknowledge that he exists. Although no one else likes him...he offered some pretty awesome moments. He took us upside-down 3 times! Corky Cork Corkscrew I just got drooled on by Sea Viper I just got drooled on by some rider. DAMN YOU RIDER! Next was Steve Irwin's favorite place A look at the pool that Steve used to swim in I couldn't tell if this was a ray or a shark. It's like a cross between both. Let's go ask Mr Shark I think we'll find Mr Shark over here in Shark Bay This guy welcomed us. He jumped out of the water and said "Hello" and then fell back in the water. It was the craziest moment of the entire trip thus far. Seagull. Ok...these guys were freaking INSANE! The Seagulls at this park didn't care if you were higher up on the food chain...they still came after you if you had food. One Seagull had a bad leg and was eating some left over food when another one came over and pushed him out of the way to eat the rest of the food. Seriously! These guys were crazy! Under the sea...can you spot Dorie from Finding Nemo? I wonder if these guys taste good? And here come the Manta Rays...going head first into the glass and knocking themselves out There she is! Salmon are delicious. This is not a Salmon but I'm sure he is delicious too if you don't die from eating him "Hey Mr Shark...did you mate with a ray and have babies?" He swam away...he's in denial. Must mean that he did in fact mate with a ray. Mr Shark was a big guy. There were at least 3 in this tank about this big We ate you the other day and you were delicious. Thank you for being so yummy Time to check out what's going on with the Polar Bear. Anyone else remember the Coke Polar Bears? Where did they go? There he is...eating plants? Something doesn't seem right here. Well, I guess plants are just as tasty meat...otherwise how else would vegetarians survive in the world. Hey look...a plant. Does that look tasty to all those vegetarians out there? Here's another plant for all those plant lovers out there. COOKIE!!!!!!! NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!! COOKIE!!!!! So that's why it's called Davey Jones Locker...I get it now! Wait...now I'm more confused. Here's a Pelican...they are deadly and can rip a babies arm off in one swipe! No Joke! I've seen it happen! Time to check out the penguins from Happy Feet This is Bob...he likes to swim Here is Elijah Wood from Happy Feet. He was posing for us and stomped his little feet He ran, he pooped, then he ran some more and pooped some more. These are the other penguins...these are the guys in that penguin surfing movie that flopped...no one saw it. Time to check out the main show at the park. Sea World Australia doesn't believe in Killer Whales so their main attraction is the dolphin show. Imagine. The John Lennon Song was blaring during the entire show. This "arena" makes Sea World San Diego look like a total piece of crap...which it kind of is. This is Diamond and Princess...they are male dolphins This trainer was the "cool" trainer. His dolphins did most of the awesome tricks and he was in the water most of the time. They call him Flipper...Flipper...Flipper...faster than lightning...so very frightening...under the see. Soon after this picture was taken, these dolphins did something very cool...very, very cool... one of the dolphins split into 2 dolphins and the other split into 3 dolphins and they performed this trick. It was like an optical illusion of some sorts. They waved good-bye to us but one dolphin was the "special" dolphin and decided to wave the wrong way Alright, nothing to see here...Just a Walrus out of water and sitting on Bench: The Ride Now it was time to watch something I don't think anyone expecting to be better than the Outback Craptacular This guy likes bars. I like bars too...they serve me alcohol. I can't tell if they all are about to face plant on the trampoline or something else. It's like they are all stopped in mid-air or something... This dude went back to the bar and held this position for like 4 hours. In all seriousness (first time in awhile for this update) the tumbling these performers did was quite good. Here comes some captain or other...his mic didn't work so a pirate had to give him a handheld mic...it was rather funny This guy was the "comic relief" of the show. And it's put in quotes because it wasn't that much of a relief Hello former Australian Wakeboarding champ, former Australian gymnasts, former boot camp instructor and some dude from some circus that he got kicked out of (I'm completely serious about this. That's what these people did before they landed a roll in this show!) We left Sea World, went to Wet 'N Wild (sorry no pictures but I bet some of you are glad because you don't need to see more man-boob then your eyes can handle) and now it was time for dinner. They gave us free hats. I was fortunate to be in the show and be on the winning team for the "boat race". We basically carried a foam boat down the arena, which had ankle high sand that I still have in my shoes, and beat the crap out of the other team (who were TPR members) because their boat fell apart. It was awesome. The other fun part about that night. Up next...A special look into Dreamworld. What's so special...wait and find out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Now it's time for something completely different... Day 6 - Dreamworld This was a horrible weather day. It rained on us the entire morning which made riding rides not very fun (even while sporting the awesome TPR ponchos). We bought a new camera before the trip but since it was raining most of the day and we didn't want the camera to get water damage, we didn't take many pictures. The pictures we did take are of something not many people care too much about on this website...and those are the animals exhibits found in theme parks. Busch Gardens does an amazing job of mixing animals and world class coasters together in one park. I feel that Dreamworld did just that. They may not have the best of rides in the world, but they truly knew how to do their animal exhibits well. Without further babble...here are the pictures and the many stories to be told by the animal exhibits... Here's the entrance to Dreamworld...where all your dreams come true. Wait, that sounds like it's from another park somewhere...where have I heard that before? This is a Cassowary. It is the most deadly bird on the planet. Look at its freaking talons...it will rip you to shreds! Mr Koala greeted us by poking out and saying "Hello. Are you about to hold my 9 month old baby?" Oh you betcha Mr Koala Here we are holding TinkerBell. She was 9 months old and was the smallest Koala we saw the entire time we were in Oz Of course when I say "we" I really mean Cassie. Cassie got to hold the Koala while I just touched its butt. It's ok, I got Cassie back by making her hold another animal at the Australia Zoo...Muahahaha Here's the official picture. The price wasn't too bad in my opinion, yet where else can you hold a freaking Koala? Bye-bye Mr Koala, thanks for letting us hold your baby. Now it's time for some Kangaroo feeding time. Cassie: "I'm feeding a Kangaroo!" Kangaroo: "Shut up and give me more food! This damn Joey is asking for more food!" Joey: "Can I jump out yet?" Kangaroo: "Oh my god these food pellets are oh so delicious!" Joey: "The ground looks wet...maybe I'll stay in here a bit longer." Cassie: "Time to find another Kangaroo to feed." Kangaroo: "Hey woman! Turn around! I'm right behind you and I'm starving!" Cassie: "Hello Mr Kangaroo. You are so sweet and cuddly...I want to take you home." Kangaroo: "What? No! Just feed me food dammit!" Cassie and Kangaroo: "What the hell was that high pitched girly scream?" Dan: "Sorry, that was me. I got a little scared." Dan: "These guys really are cute." Kangaroo: "You too with the cuteness thing? Seriously...have you seen our butts...not pretty!" Dan: "Oh crap oh crap oh crap...there's more of them!" Kangaroos: "GIVE US FOOD ORANGE MAN!" Cassie: "Here Dan, I'll help you out." Dan: "Thanks, they were about to team up on me." Kangaroo 1: "I'll take out his legs while you steal his bag." Kangaroo 2: "Screw that! He's feeding us. Who knows what's in the bag." Kangaroo 3: "This green lady is giving me tons of food...I feel fat." Kangaroo 1: "Orange man, give me food or I will take out your knee cap! Joey: "Can you see my leg?" Kangaroo 2: "I think I ate a roo pellet instead of a food pellet." Kangaroo 3: "Green lady is still feeding me and I feel fine." Cassie: "Are these guys talking to each other?" Kangaroo 1: "Orange man left...I think he sensed I was going to hurt him." Kangaroo 2: "I still think I ate something wrong." Kangaroo 3: "This stuff is like crack! I'm hooked" Cassie: "I'm feeding 3 Kangaroos!" Kangaroo 1: "Can I sniff you leg?" Kangaroo 2: " I see you stuffing your face fat Kangaroo." Kangaroo: "I think she's been feeding me for about 20 minutes now...I'm still addicted to this angel dust." Cassie: "That one Kangaroo looks pissed." Kangaroo 2: "Damn straight I do lady! You're feeding him too much!" Kangaroo: "This stuff is as good as eating a duck-billed platypus." Kangaroo: "I think this is my last bite or I will explode." Cassie: "Mr Kangaroo, do you want some food?" Kangaroo: "Let me think about it...you stay over there and I'll charge at you. If you stand your ground then you are worthy enough to feed me." Kangaroo: "Get ready woman! I'm about to charge!" Kangaroo: "Okay, you're worthy enough...now give me my food." Cassie: "This guy seems like he wants to be in control." Kangaroo: "Follow my orders and I will not punch you." Cassie: "I have to bend down to give him his food...what's next?" Kangaroo: "You're doing it wrong lady. Just give me the bag." Cassie: "Ahhh...he's grabbing the bag. Jim what do I do?" Jim: "I don't care, I'm just taking pictures. I'm not going near that Kangaroo." Kangaroo: "There, now I don't have to hold it. You are such a worthy human to be feeding me. Not many humans can feed me." Cassie: "This guy is anal." Kangaroo: "You know what, screw it lady. Just give me the bag and you can walk away." Cassie: "What the hell Kangaroo Jack? Give me the bag back! I'm not going to feed you anymore!" Cassie: "That's it...I'm walking away." Kangaroo: "Kangaroo Jack was my brother...he was murdered during that movie. Have a heart lady!" Cassie: "Alright, one last picture because I feel sorry for your species having to suffer from that movie." Kangaroo: "Jackpot! More food." Kangaroo: "To eat, or not to eat...that is the question." Kangaroo: "I choose to EAT!!!!! NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!" Kangaroo: "I think I just ate my last food pellet. I'm going to be sick." Meanwhile...all the other Kangaroos were sitting around wondering what the hell just happened? I'm pretty sure you reading this and are wondering what the hell just happened too. Kangaroo Jack's brother was soooo full from all the food he had to relax in front of his favorite bench. this is Koala Bench: The Ride Enough Kangaroo pictures...here's an animal that will eat baby Kangaroos. This is the rapids ride. Needless to say it was really roaring today. Just kidding about the rapids ride. It was just a bridge connecting the animal enclosures to the rest of the park. It was quite beautiful unlike the animals in this picture. This is Wombutt the Wombat. He had a big butt Emu eating some food pellets. I really wonder what was in those pellets. It must have been crack because the animals loved them and they all looked the same! Dogs...they had sad puppy dog eyes. I really wanted to take one home with me. Think that would get across customs? At Dreamworld they had Tiger Island. It was quite an amazing enclosure. We sat and watched these Tigers run around the enclosure and "play" with each other. One Tiger almost feel down the pit that separates the humans from the Tigers. Running after each other. This was the baby Tiger. He stood up here most of the time because he was too afraid to tackle the larger Tigers. Large Cats are so fun to watch. On that note...I leave you with my long lost relative. Next up...Aussie World and Australia Zoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 LOL...you must be on some sort of Kangaroo pellet crack to write that report! Seriously though, Dreamworld was my favorite park of the Australia trip, and I can only imagine how much more we would have liked it if the weather had been better. Awesome animals, awesome rides, awesome waterpark, just a really well rounded great park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 No one needs to post anymore kangaroo-feeding pictures. It has been done to perfection here. Too bad some chunky, bald-headed guy is screwing up this this photo. He looks vaguely familiar somehow . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 No one needs to post anymore kangaroo-feeding pictures. It has been done to perfection here. Too bad some chunky, bald-headed guy is screwing up this this photo. He looks vaguely familiar somehow . . . No Chuck, I think it is the photographer for getting someones elbow and leg in the picture on the right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Next update... Day 7 - Aussie World and Australia Zoo Who reads this anyway...onto the pictures... Where are we? Who cares...we are near BEERwah! Aussie World! Home to one kick @$$ wooden wild mouse coaster and the giant redneck disco Aussie World is so close to everything in Australia. No really...its close to everything! Main reason why we are here...amazing Wooden Mouse credit! It's got some sweet curves And some sweet drops. Pops of airtime too! 2nd best wooden mouse I've been on. I think the one at Blackpool was the best, then followed by this, then Kings Solomon Mines, and then the one at Sydney. This is Cassie's "I'm so excited to be here." face This is what they call an Aussie Damper...just think of a scone like thing with a million pounds of creme (we vetoed the Vegemite) Aussie World has flowers...moving on Back over at the Mouse...TPR peeps were still riding it throughout all of ERT Here we are before I rode the giant redneck disco which was brand new for the park. I'm sure you all saw the newsreel that TPR was on in Australia...if you haven't then learn to use the search function This is one of the most photographed pubs in the world. Pretty cool looking place. It was drawn in a cartoon and then became reality...no joke! Now it's time we head to home of Steve Irwin and family Crikey! It's a misses in front of the Australia Zoo sign! Far Out! It's the baby brother of the snake we will be holding later! This is a Buturong (or something like that)> They zoo keeper said it was like a bear-cat but neither a bear nor cat...I was confused These damn velociraptors are freaking everywhere! This is one looks hungry! Hey birdbrain...you hungry...? Why don't you come bite off my arm? I dare you! Just then the Cassowary ran at me with amazing speed and I learned not to taunt a hungry animal. Kids...don't do this at home. This is not an animal enclosure...these guys were roaming all over the park. And they were huge! This Dingo is down for his afternoon nap. Pinky want a cracker? Here is a crocodile. There were a lot of them at this park...I don't know why. Basically stay behind the railing or you will DIE!!!! This is Agro's girlfriend. Who's Agro you ask? Read on... This is Agro getting his afternoon meal. If you ever watched the Crocodile Hunter, Agro seriously hated Steve Irwin. He was one of the bigger guys we saw that day. Hello? The Irwin Family Crikey! It's Steve Irwin?!?!?! This snake is deadly...he will KILL YOU! Here's another snake but he's not deadly but he can still KILL YOU! Speaking of killing...I saw tons of dead wombats on the side of the road in Australia. But never fear...here is a live one and she's eating Must be lunch time at Wombat headquarters! Here's a bird...he's pretty I'm glad they put these signs up...now I know not to walk under it with my mouth open because who knows what might come down from that tree It's a Koala in a tree! Just like the sign said! Cassie...I don't know if the Koala likes you touching his butt Cassie and a koala sitting in a tree...P-E-T-T-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...wait...what? And now for something random...ever wanted to see a Koala Walk on the ground? If not then hit the little "X" on your internet provider. If so, then read on... He climbed down from a tree and was walking on the asphalt...One of the weirdest things ever. He was walking like he had wwwaaaaaaaayyyyy to many Fosters Then he climbed up another tree and fell asleep Nothing unusual here...just a Cheetah...on a leash...licking an ice cream cone...perfectly normal day. This is an elephant. And I don't know what the animals in the background are called They had a Tiger enclosure here like Dreamworld's but I prefer Dreamworld's over this one. The viewing area here wasn't that great. This is a zoo keeper playing with a Tiger and a large ball of yarn. I guess all cats like balls of yarn... Here is a red panda. Unfortunately we got there too late to hold the panda...but don't worrying..we are about to hold something EPIC BAM!!!! Cassie wouldn't let me hold the Koala at Dreamworld so I made her hold this giant snake with me...Muahahahaha Cassie does tons of mosaics at her work...and she loves Flamingos...so this was like a win win for her! This is Rocko from Rocko's Modern Life...this is where he ended up after his show was cancelled on Nickelodeon I see you bird! My turn to feed the Kangaroos. I wonder what they are thinking.... I'm just out walking my Wombat...with a leash...nothing unusual here... This bird used to be in the bird show until it started landing on people and scratching them. No Joke! I think the trainer is still a little scared of this CRAZY bird. I can see it in her eyes. Creepy Spider...moving on...I hate spiders. This is Godzilla in a couple years after the radiation from Japan seeps its way down to Australia. More lizards...but these guys weren't in an enclosure...they were just chillin on a rock by the pathway Otters!!!!!! Crocoseum! In all seriousness, it was a little sad going to the zoo without Steve Irwin alive and kicking. But what he did he was awesome and I hope the Irwin family keeps his hopes a dreams alive by rescuing animals and keeping the zoo amazing! CRIKEY!!!!! (looks like I'm punching Steve's crotch) Next up...Luna Park in Melbourne! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I'm amazed you were able to take and post a picture of the spider. Or did Cassie take the pictures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon8899 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 What you are calling a "Death Machine" in Luna Park is a classic german 80s Huss Ranger. Multiple of those were on the carnival cicuit here up to the 90s. The operators had fun keeping that thing upside down and collecting all the small change falling out of the riders pockets... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Real Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Its just a Golden Orb Weaver...Has toxin but shouldnt kill you. The bite causes local pain, redness, and blisters that normally disappear within a 24-hour interval. lol I take macro pictures of these at my local zoo. Pretty impressive spiders. But, like most things in the animal world, these large spiders are far less deadly than their smaller cousins. Smaller ones seem to pack the biggest punch. Great TR. Once in a lifetime to go down unda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 That wooden mouse looks amazing! I wish we could have zoos like that in the states. Great pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 I'm amazed you were able to take and post a picture of the spider. Or did Cassie take the pictures? Larry, Cassie took all the pictures on this trip while I was taking all the video. It was rather nice to have someone else take pictures instead of me doing double duty...haha...duty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d34thstrik3 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Great report so far. It has been really good reading about the parks here through the eyes of others. Kinda a shame the weather wasn't in your favour whilst over here especially your day at Dreamworld. Looked like you managed to have a fun day there (I was there the same day and was glad to get home out of the rain afterwards!). Have to agree with the Magnum Gold being awesome. Did you try the Ego whilst over here, until the Gold these were my favourite. Looking forward to the next part of the report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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