Water Park and More Domestic Travel
My host Adam learned that I had never been to a water park, so that was Tuesday's activity. There are several water parks in Gold Coast, the same area where we'd gone to the beach on Monday. The selected venue was Wet'n'Wild, about an hour's drive south of Brisbane.
I had seen pictures of water parks, but having never actually been to one, I didn't know exactly what to expect. The first attraction was a water slide with about a 30-foot vertical drop. You go down that ride directly on the slide, but there are others where you're in a raft with at least one other person. For example, there's an enclosed corkscrew slide in a two-person raft, and a darkened, enclosed slide in a two-person raft.
Adam had packed a picnic lunch in order to avoid the overpriced concession stands. After that break, we resumed our tour of the rides. I found that I truly enjoyed rides that included free fall and high G-forces. Splashing in water on a hot day wasn't bad either.
I got a bit sunburned on the tops of my shoulders while at the beach, so I made sure to apply lots of sunscreen at the water park. It appears as though I succeeded, as the shoulders aren't any more burned, and there are no new burned areas.
Wednesday, I changed venues, from Brisbane to Newcastle after going out for breakfast. That involved a short drive to the Brisbane airport, which took longer than it should have due to construction. Traffic on the freeway crawled for several miles, so I cut it close as a result. In the end, I made it onto my flight, and so did my luggage. The Newcastle airport is small enough that it doesn't take long to get out of. I counted four gates, which puts it in the same league as Juneau. The runway is short, too. An A320 doesn't normally use the entire runway.
I had a short wait for the bus into Newcastle, and then the bus itself took about 40 minutes. That put me into town right at check-in time. That may or may not explain how I ended up in a suite rather than a regular hotel room. Either way, I won't complain.
I went out later and got some Thai take-out, and then I spent the rest of the night vegging out in the room watching TV and enjoying the view of the harbor at sunset. I'm meeting with Michael, an Internet pen pal, tomorrow, and that's the last scheduled activity of the trip. I should have downtime at the Sydney airport on Friday before the flight to San Francisco, so that's probably when I'll post next.
I had seen pictures of water parks, but having never actually been to one, I didn't know exactly what to expect. The first attraction was a water slide with about a 30-foot vertical drop. You go down that ride directly on the slide, but there are others where you're in a raft with at least one other person. For example, there's an enclosed corkscrew slide in a two-person raft, and a darkened, enclosed slide in a two-person raft.
Adam had packed a picnic lunch in order to avoid the overpriced concession stands. After that break, we resumed our tour of the rides. I found that I truly enjoyed rides that included free fall and high G-forces. Splashing in water on a hot day wasn't bad either.
I got a bit sunburned on the tops of my shoulders while at the beach, so I made sure to apply lots of sunscreen at the water park. It appears as though I succeeded, as the shoulders aren't any more burned, and there are no new burned areas.
Wednesday, I changed venues, from Brisbane to Newcastle after going out for breakfast. That involved a short drive to the Brisbane airport, which took longer than it should have due to construction. Traffic on the freeway crawled for several miles, so I cut it close as a result. In the end, I made it onto my flight, and so did my luggage. The Newcastle airport is small enough that it doesn't take long to get out of. I counted four gates, which puts it in the same league as Juneau. The runway is short, too. An A320 doesn't normally use the entire runway.
I had a short wait for the bus into Newcastle, and then the bus itself took about 40 minutes. That put me into town right at check-in time. That may or may not explain how I ended up in a suite rather than a regular hotel room. Either way, I won't complain.
I went out later and got some Thai take-out, and then I spent the rest of the night vegging out in the room watching TV and enjoying the view of the harbor at sunset. I'm meeting with Michael, an Internet pen pal, tomorrow, and that's the last scheduled activity of the trip. I should have downtime at the Sydney airport on Friday before the flight to San Francisco, so that's probably when I'll post next.