Holidays 2011

Well, what a week it's been.

Our family had it's first proper holiday in almost 5 years, and it was brilliant.

We left Perth just before the rains started, and managed to avoid the rain until we got to The Gold Coast. Ironic. Brisbane saved the best to last, and as we waited for our flight home, we witnessed a big cold front speed over the airport, and settle into some decent rain; decent enough to delay our flight about 30 minutes. Which, incidentally, means I maintain my run of never leaving Brisbane on time.
Anyway, our first stop on the holiday was Sydney. We visited specifically for Taronga Zoo, Australian Museum dinosaur collection, and so the kids could experience the 2 quintessentially Australian icons. We figured that seeing as every time some US movie or TV show wants to represent Australia they will always and without fail show the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, we should make sure the kids have seen them in real life. They were definitely most impressed. As well they should be, when standing near them they are quite a sight.

Taronga did not fail us. The kids had a great time, and although there was some disappointment at the elusiveness of the platypus, and at the chimpanzees being locked away in a cage while their proper enclosure is built, overall they were very impressed. Favourites were the snow leopard, baby elephants x 3, gorillas, bird flight show, and of course all the reptiles. We easily spent the whole day at the zoo, and still didn't see everything, missing the ostrich and oryx in particular.

On the second day in Sydney we visited the museum in the morning. My intention was to get in front of the youngest son - who is a total dinosaur fanatic - as he entered the exhibit, so I could capture his excited expression. However, real life got in the way, and as soon as he saw where he was, he raced off, cheering, looking at every display for mere seconds so that he could experience every single dinosaur as quickly as possible. Only once he had glimpsed everything did he then slow down and look at each in detail. We spent a goodly portion of time with the dinosaurs before wandering off to look at all the other exhibits. Once we had seen everything, the boy insisted we visit the dinosaurs once more before leaving.

In the afternoon of the second day we visited the Royal Botanic Gardens to witness the camp of fruit bats. Luckily for us, they had delayed the plans to use ultrasonics to relocate them, so we were still able to view these wild bats so close to the CBD of Sydney. After the bats, we visited the Opera House, and did the usual tourist thing of taking photos of each other from different angles with different backgrounds.

For the late afternoon the eldest son and I went "boys-only-shopping". We started with Kings Comics, which is always a fun browse. I think this is the first time I have visited without buying anything, and that's not to suggest there wasn't anything worth buying, it is more a measure of my self control. Afterwards we embarked on a search for Tin Soldiers, which isn't the easiest to find, I accidentally stumbled on it once before. We didn't make it though, as on the way the son spied something exciting...Games Workshop!

The boy has been a big fan of the Warhammer 40,000 universe for quite some time, since I introduced him to the Dawn of War series of computer games. Since then he has discovered the Ultra Marines movie, and some novels. I have regaled him with tails of a shop dedicated to Warhammer, and he recognized it as soon as he saw it. Of course we went in, and after some time being wowed by the assorted figurines, the shop keep offered him a game. The boy dived right in, and picked up the rules quickly. Much of the game is based on the roll of the dice, but as a gamer from way back, I know that lucky rolls alone are never enough to guarantee victory if you have poor tactics. Well, I stood and watched, and I can tell you that he won his first game fair and square. He played Orks to his opponent's Space Marines, and recognized immediately once the rules were explained to him that his best chance was to rush his opponent and close to hand to hand combat range. He took some casualties racing across the battlefield, but once there he swiftly overpowered his enemy for a convincing victory. And the proud dad beamed from ear to ear. The boy has now decided on his new hobby.
Early the next morning we left Sydney for the Gold Coast, which was cooler and wetter. With time to spare, we decided to head straight for Sea World. We arrived just in time to watch the pirate show, and the eldest son was picked from the crowd to go to the front and face off the pirates - which he did to good effect. He spoke nice and loudly and clearly into e microphone, showing no signs of shyness or nerves. Good lad.

Our apartment was 3 bedrooms and well appointed at the Diamond Sands Resort. Unfortunately, it had obviously been unused for some time, so it was quite musty smelling. Other than that, it was very nice - the TV even had a USB port, so we were able to play movies from my travel drive.

Movie World was Lots of fun for everybody. I'm not really into rides, but I enjoy watching the family on them, and the daughter dragged my wife onto everything she could. My new camera provided plenty of zoom and fast shutter speed to take care of the action shots. The youngest son was very confident with the rides for little kids, and deftly drove himself around a few times in the bumper cars.
We visited the Stunt Driver show, and this time both boys were picked to get involved. The premise of this show is that a film crew are trying to shoot the final scene of a movie - a chase scene. They have numerous cameras around, and the cinematography director selects a few volunteers from the audience to film some segments to be edited into a short movie sequence they show at the end. My two boys had it worked out by now, and both were jumping madly up and down to get attention. He picked them both out, and they faithfully acted their "there he is!!!!!" parts with energy. The cameraman zoomed in on the youngest boy quite close, and captured the most beautiful smile and giggle on him as he saw his own face on the big screen in the centre of the stage. We caught most of the action of our boys on video.

So the stunts happened, the "scene" was cut, and it was shown on the big screen. Our boys were on quite quickly with their pointing and yelling, but magnificently a still of our youngest's little face, with that big natural smile was the final image before pausing and fading to black. Now, we of course believe our kids to be cute and adorable and won't be told any different....but there is nothing like hearing a crowd of maybe 400-500 people say "awwwwww" at a still shot of your kid. This was the highlight among highlights of my holiday, and it brought a tear of pride to my eye.

The following day we returned to Sea World. This time it stayed dry for the day, making it more enjoyable. We saw the sharks being fed, which was interesting, the daughter was brave enough to do some of the roller coasters by herself, and I managed to get a great dolphin-jump shot, which I posted to Twitter/Facebook as a proof that the dolphins were successfully ascending first in the supposed rapture that was happening that day (all a bad fairy tale, as usual. Evidence for rapture: 0, evidence against: 60+ now I think?). The youngest participated in a Q&A session with the penguin keepers, and had the keepers very surprised that he seemed to be the only one there who knew that pet cats are the biggest land threat to Little Penguins.

Back at the apartment, the youngest son found a small gecko in the house. I tried to rescue him to put him back outside, but he was too quick for me, and disappeared under the fridge, so I had to let it go. My wife stressed for the rest of the holiday that he might find his way into one of our bags, and become a stowaway back to Perth. I guess we will find out later.

Final day on the Gold Coast, and we returned to Movie World once more. The daughter braved the Superman ride alone, which is saying something - zero to 100kms in 2 seconds is pretty damn quick! Eldest son was selected again for the Stunt Driver participation, and again executed his lines perfectly. The boy has such stage confidence.

Home was via Brisbane, where the kids enjoyed a visit to Mr Toys Toy World, a shop they had heard much about from me. Only the youngest and the daughter ended up buying anything; the eldest was saving for something yet to come...

We found another Games Workshop! The boy was overjoyed, and as this was the end of the holiday, he was not afraid to commit some money to a purchase. With some small encouragement from me, he purchased a pack of 5 Space Marines, with paints and brush. A good beginner's pack. It's fun watching his agony on the plane home, because he desperately wants to open the box, but knows he can't, for fear of losing or breaking a piece.

I used to paint figurines some 20 years ago, before the Warhammer series really got big. I'm not sure my eyes or hands are really up to the task anymore, but I will enjoy passing on the hobby to my eager son. I also enjoy tabletop games, being a Dungeons & Dragons gamer from way back, so I guess I will be joining him in his new obsession, and become a Warhammer gamer too. At least it makes his birthday and Xmas easy!

Currently we are mid-flight back to Perth. The meals were not to the kids' liking, nor the movie to anybody's, but overall the flight is not unpleasant. We are all eager to get home, as a week away seems to be just the right amount. For a 4 year old, it is tantamount to an eternity!

This was a great holiday, and it achieved everything I was hoping for. Everybody is happy and had a great time, and have new memories to share for a lifetime.