Digging for Thundereggs

Woke up at 5.30am, dragged myself out of bed to get the camera, took the above  photo, said hello to Amy, took this photo of Christy asleep as I closed her curtains,

took a photo out of my side bedroom window – loved the sunrise hitting the front glass of the Q1,

and went back to bed (and to sleep) for another hour. When I finally got up it was the usual – computer time, girls to get bread from the bakery and Iced Chocs from Gloria Jeans today. I got a load of washing done and around 9am we headed downstairs to the pool.

I caught up on some magazine reading…

Christy went in the pool but said it was very cold,

so instead she prepared some sand meals for me to eat,

then joined Amy in the spa when it opened. We then headed to the indoor pool where I discovered the sauna.

After cooling off in the pool the girls wanted to try out the sauna as well. They enjoyed it more than I thought they would. Around 11am we went back up to get ready for today. Unfortunately the girls weren’t being the most co-operative today. Luckily I had checked up the website last night and discovered we all needed closed in shoes for todays activity. I had some, but the girls did not. So we had a side tour to Harbour Town to get some.

Amy got some boots from Adidas and we found these cute shoes for Christy. Of course when we saw the style name we knew it was meant to be :-).

We then drove up to Tambourine Mountain. I’ve not been here since I was a child. It’s always on the to-do list but we never seem to make it. Of course, when I read about Thunderbird Park (which I had visited as a child) I knew we had to make the trip as Christy is mad about rocks. It was a lovely drive through the rainforest. So many amazingly tall trees.

And finally we had arrived, much later than planned.

Since it was after 1.30pm, first stop was lunch.

I had THE most delicious vegetarian warp. It was so big I kept half and ate it on the drive back home.

Luckily the food was good as the service was  a little slow. Christy went off to play on the swings while we waited and Amy & I met a few of the locals.

And yes, that’s a real bird peeking over the top of the sign – so cute.

Before leaving we had to visit this place and Christy took a photo of the sign :-).

The finally the rock shop. The attendent tried to talk us out of going (or rather warned us) because he said most kids need around 2.5 hours on the mine site, and it was only open for another 1.5hrs. Since we had made the trip we were not discouraged, and got our picks and buckets.

After the safetly talk and being shown what to look for we huffed and puffed our way up the hill to the mine site. Goodness me I didn’t realize my fitness level had gotten so low :-(. We found another friend… see him lying on the fallen tree…

Then it was time for more exercise in the form of digging.

Within 15 min I had two blisters on my hand – I had to laugh as Kevin always says I have delicate hands – I guess he’s right :-). So worked for a bit longer then had to down tools and enjoy the scenery while the girls continued digging.

The hour on the site was definitely enough for Amy & I, though I think Christy could have kept on digging. Unfortunately we didn’t really know what we were looking for so I’m pretty sure we just had buckets of rocks.

We walked back down the hill and across this river. Check out the views on both sides. The Australian bush at it’s best.

Then back to the shop to have our haul inspected. Amy got two thundereggs worth opening. Which we did so they could each have  a half (I forgot to get photos so will do so tomorrow). Christy was still happy with her haul of rocks, and did in fact have a thunderegg – it was just a small one. I had NOTHING…. except blisters :-(.

This is what the big eggs look like when opened. Aren’t they gorgeous?

We debated doing the skywalk but everyone was a bit tired and grumpy so we decided to leave it to another trip – they also wanted to visited the adventure park (but we had arrived after last entry). We were looking out for a famous cheese shop but didn’t find it. We did however, find this gorgeous spot to enjoy the view. Hard to believe this is just 50mins from the high rise of the Gold Coast. I know where I’d rather be :-).

Then it was back down the mountain to the bright lights of the city. We got to enjoy a bit of a sunset on the way.

Back in our room the girls watched TV while I did my nails. This is new thing which you just stick on your nails. No drying time which was a plus tonight. I’m pretty happy with the result but time will tell (with regard to wear and tear).

Unfortunately Amy had a bit of a breakdown tonight – hoping it blows over and she’s back to normal tomorrow.

Tonights dinners was vegetarian nachos (made the quorn – our new favourite fake meat).

Amy went to bed and Christy & I watched The Never Ending Story.

Tomorrow : If moods have improved… Wet ‘n’ wild