Easter Vacation

First on Friday, me and my Dad went to the Easter Show. 

There were rides, games, and a bunch of other fun things.  The Easter Show is like a festival or a carnival or a huge state fair.  There was a ride called the Viper and it was fun.  It was a medium sized roller coaster.  The Easter Show was held at the Olympic Park.  In Australia, gift or goodie bags are called “Show Bags.”  There are a lot of Show Bags for people to buy.  We bought Mom the Oreo and Bertie Beetle Blue Show Bags.  I got an awesome Harry Potter Show Bag and there was a quill (which is a pen) in the old days they were quills, a notebook, some parchment (which are pieces of paper), there were five pencils and an eraser, to hold them all was a leather binder.  I have a wand flashlight, some badges, a hippogriff, and a Voldemort head that is worth $80 and we got it for $10.  At the Easter Show, there was a lumberjack competition where people would start off standing on a log with axes and cut the log beneath their feet.  And then, they would go over to the next one and the log was on a platform then the people would chop away at the next log and if the ax had a problem, the people had an extra ax.  The first person to finish chopping both logs wins the competition. 

The Gold Coast of Australia

We drove to the Gold Coast which is north of Sydney and south of Brisbane.  Our first stop was Coffs Harbour where we saw and hiked on Mutton Bird Island.  Me and my Dad walked all the way on the path while my Mom only climbed to the top and a little bit more.  When we got to the furthest point, we read a bit about how the whales travel through and go past that point at Mutton Bird Island for their journey south to Antarctica.  After that we went to go get ice cream. 

Byron Bay and the Byron Bay Lighthouse

Our next stop was Byron Bay.  We hiked to the Byron Bay Lighthouse and walked to the inland easternmost point of Australia.  While we were in Byron Bay we saw a man stuck half-way down a cliff.  He had climbed over the guard fence and sat down to enjoy the view then he tumbled down.  If he had gone off one more ledge, he would have tumbled into the ocean and gotten severely injured or drowned.  He dropped about 200 metres.  They sent a watch helicopter and some rescuers attached to cables rappelled down and took him up with a stretcher.  Dad checked the internet and found that the man only had a sprained ankle and abrasions (scratches).  The man was lucky that he didn’t tumble any farther or die. 

Currumbin Wildlife Sancturary

The same day, we went to the Currumbin Koala Sanctuary.  We got our picture taken with me holding a crocodile.  I also got my picture taken with a kangaroo, koala, and possum. At the Koala Sanctuary we did the Green Challenge.  The Green Challenge is a series of obstacles where you try and go through.  First you have to climb into the tree tops with a harness on, two carabineers and a pully.  When you climb, you have to always have your carabineers attached so you can’t fall unless you were going on the pole to slide down.  The challenges included:  Flying Fox (zipline), wire walking, hanging swings, hand to hand, bird cage, tunnel crawl etc.  It started raining when we were doing the obstacle courses and it was slippery especially the wires.  Dad and I finished the course wet.  Mom quit halfway because she was so slow and scared of heights.  It was a lot of work but it was fun and worth it.  Next time, I want to try the Black Course which is the hardest course of all. 

TJ's School Campout Adventure

I went on a fun campout and there were these things called the low ropes and every time you mess up, you get a point.  If you get through with zero points, you get to do the high ropes.  I got through with zero points and I almost got a point at the last wire.  The first wire had one wire that you stand on and one wire that you hold on to.  The second one had two places to put your feet.  The third one had ropes that you hang on to and if you want to do the high rope, you have to clap your hands twice between each rope.  The fourth one was like a ladder and you had to step on each plank of wood.  And the last one had the wire that you walk on and one big rope that you grab on to the whole way across.  The trick for the last one is when it goes down, you have to pull it up and make sure it is tight and then you walk across. 

We also did two-person kayaking, we had to push the boats into the water and I partnered up with Harpo and we worked very well together.  We were the last people, but we got in front of a lot of people.  When we went to shore, we got to play in the water (with life jackets).  We also got to learn about the Aborigines (how they use rocks as paint/clay).  Then we learned how dangerous razor fish (which are like shells) are.  On the way back we did salooing.  There were six people, one person was steering and five people are supposed to paddle.  Unfortunately, one person didn’t have a paddle so one side was stronger than the other.  So there was one person on the left that was rowing and another person using their hands and there were three people on the other side using paddles and one of them was me.   I also learned how to throw a boomerang the right way.  Look back here for my video, I'll post it soon.