DAY THREE...NEW AND EXCITING ADVENTURES!

Before the day officially got under way Madi and I went for a walk along the beach for about an hour. It was a lovely morning and we had a great time walking down the beach and collecting sea shells. We also collected some sand from Surfer's Paradise in a little jar. I am starting a new collection of sand in little jars from all the beaches we have been too. {If anyone goes to Kangaroo Island and ventures to Hidden Beach let me know so you can get me some sand since I just started this collection and so I didn't get any from there when we visited.}

Then we headed back towards DreamWorld once again - the kids were sad when the saw it and realized that we weren't going there. Kev had something better in mind....

According to Kev this is one of the best thing we did on our trip - definatly one of the most fun! The kids loved it too. I on the other hand didn't even try it - someone has to stay with the baby right?! No really, I don't do well if I spin and this task involved rolling down a hill in a big ball.

So this is the process. They take you up the hill in a Jeep and get the big ball all ready for occupants. Inside the big ball is another smaller ball where they put buckets of warm water. Then they sprayed everyone down to make them all slippery. You climb inside the ball through a small hole and they push the ball to get it started. It then rolls down the hill and everyone inside slides around as well getting all wet. At the bottom of the hill when the ball comes to a stop everyone has to come out feet first through the hole. Kev and the kids did it three times and the smiles got bigger each time they rolled down the hill! Kev told me that you don't really spin inside the ball you just slide around - so since there is also one in New Zealand I told him maybe I would try it when we went there. I also told Kev he had his business venture. He and my little brother are always coming up with ideas where they could start their own business - this would be so much fun in the summer (can't really picture it happening in the snowy winter).

After officially becoming Zorbers and a Zorbette we drove through the hills and wine country to go and see the rainforest. A friend of mine had told us to try out a place called O'Riley's - they had built a trail through the tops of the trees on a site where long ago a man had searched for a small plane that had wrecked and found two survivors. It was a beautiful drive although we had to wind our way up the mountain side on one lane roads for much of it - I was glad Kev was driving as my road anxiety wouldn't have survived (he was a bit nervous too I think). We stopped at a little park for lunch and then found a great view of the coast line from the hills. Breathtaking!

{BTW - this is a picture of our rental. A bit sportier than a minivan don't you think. It was brand new and drove really well. The only downfall - three kids in really close quarters means the baby got bothered a lot.}

(Madi took this picture {above}...)

Rainforest are amazing to me. The sounds of birds everywhere, the tall trees, the green carpet of plants, everything just amazes me. We walked along the creaky wood planks about 20m (about 65 feet) above ground. I am not sure what I expected when she told me we could go walk in the tree tops - but I was a bit scared. Not the kids though.

There was one point where you could climb in a little cage up to the top of a tree - of course they had to do it, so I sent Kev with them. I don't spin and I definately don't do heights well.

We also got to climb inside a hollow tree. The vines grew over the tree and then the tree broke down and decayed - what is left behind is a shell of vines. It was pretty cool.

After walking through the tree tops we got to the bottom and saw people feeding the birds out of their hands. We tried to scrounge up some bird seed off the ground and managed to feed the birds a bit before they retired to the tree tops for the night. After driving back down to the hotel. We ventured off to find Hard Rock and have some dinner. I was in heaven - finally baby back ribs! They weren't Chili's - but pretty close. Kev had fajitas and the kids American hot dogs so we felt like we had some home cookin'. We then walked back along the beach and the kids and Kev went for a swim in the heated pool while I got Rylee in bed. Another eventful and memorable day!Tomorrow.... Sea World here we come!