SEA WORLD HERE WE COME!!

Everyone told us not to expect much from Sea World in Australia and definitely not to compare it to Sea World in San Diego. Well, since I haven't been there since I was a little kid I couldn't remember much anyway. This was the place that I was the most excited to go. I love dolphins and marine life. We got there around 9:30 and the park opened at 10:00 - they were letting people in and we cut the lines again since Kev had bought our tickets on line! What a smart cookie - this is what we did at Dream World too and missed out on huge lines to get in.

After looking at the map and looking at show times we realized that the Sesame Street show started at 10:10 - so we headed to Sesame Street beach first. On the way we passed the special events ticket area - this is where you can pay to get in the water with the dolphins for 45 minutes. My life long dream has been to swim with dolphins so Kev made us go and have a look. The ticket would have cost over $200 for 45 minutes! Which Kev told me he would pay if I really wanted to do it. I would love to swim with dolphins, but not for that much money and not in a tank - some day in an ocean would be awesome!! This means I better learn to swim better huh?!

So on to Sesame Street Beach. Madi made us laugh when she pulled out her map and directed us the whole way there - she is very good at reading maps much like her father! I stood in line for the show while Kev and the kids stood in line for a ride. Sesame Street Beach is a new addition to the park and has rides for the littlies - even Rylee could go if accompanied by an adult. Cooper spent a lot of time here and even stood in the lines himself - what a big boy!

The show was lots of fun. We got to see Big Bird, Zoe, Elmo, Grover, Bert, and Ernie. The kids enjoyed it and swayed to the music.

The best was Rylee she was totally engrossed in the show for the first 15 minutes.

As soon as the show was over we had to hurry to the other end of the park to catch the dolphin show - can you imagine how excited I was for this?! It was spectacular! I am always amazed at how beautiful dolphins are. During the show they asked if anyone wanted to come down and touch the dolphins. My hand shot up in the air just as fast as Madi's did. However, we were at the top so they probably didn't even get to see us. They were choosing kids anyway so I wouldn't have been picked. Two lucky girls got to go get their feet wet and touch the dolphins, feed them fish, learn a few commands, and wave goodbye. Oh well! The show was amazing. Kev missed most of it as he had to take Rylee to the back and couldn't see. I tried my best to get some shots of the dolphins - not easy when you have no idea where they are going to jump. Here are a few of what I got!

After the dolphins Cooper had had enough of shows so we headed back to ride on some rides. Here are some pictures of the rest of the day. We rode the rides, looked at animals, caught a sea lion show and the wipe out show, and enjoyed ourselves!

SESAME STREET BEACH RIDES:

THE "BIG KID" RIDES:

Here is a picture of Cooper when he found out he wasn't tall enough to ride the corkscrew and this is what came out of his mouth, "but I wanted to ride a real roller coaster!" I had just said that a few minutes before while heading over to the corkscrew - oops! Plus a picture of me trying to explain to him why you have to be a certain height to ride some of the rides so that you can fit in the seat belt and be safe. Sad moment for Cooper. We headed back over to Sesame Street Beach for Cooper to ride the rides while Madi and Kev stood in line for the corkscrew and then later Madi and I went while Kev stayed with Cooper.

SOME OF THE ANIMALS WE SAW:

THE SEA LION SHOW:

THE WIPEOUT SHOW:

Of course Sea World closes at 5:00 - just as Dream World had - what's up with that? So we headed back to the hotel again and then due to a promise of Macca's for dinner headed there. After dinner we went to a little street fair that is always held at Surfer's Paradise on Friday nights. There we bought some fruit leather to eat - strawberry and mango, yummo! - and these fun head bands from a yippy-ish lady. Even though they are really girly things Cooper wanted one and since they were $5 each or three for $10 he got to wear one for the night to keep his ears warm - it was a cold night. We then walked back to the hotel down the beach and were frozen by the time we got back. It was our last night so the kids went down to the pool with Kev again while I put Rylee to bed.