Robot Claw

Got the car yesterday…

And headed south on our first leg to Newcastle. Traffic was light, and it didn’t take long to get to our first stop, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

This place became famous for wild parrot feeding but yesterday there were none there. It’s a big park though, with many Australian animals that are very popular with tourists. I particularly enjoyed the “for children 12 and under” flying fox:

It was roastingly hot in the park, and every step felt like one closer to the grave. The animals were in torpors, and tourists were grumbling. And yet none of this mattered when I found the red kangaroos!

Their fur was so soft! Their paws so cute! Their ears so cool and their souls so gentle. They loved me and I loved them, and lifelong bonds of friendship were made yesterday. The end.

Ballina – our destination – was about an hour farther south and turned out to be a tiny burg on a river.

The tide was out, and the sand flats full of tiny crabs. Can you see one in this photo:

Dinner was at the local RSL, a heaven of air conditioning in the continuing high heat, which I suspect may only increase as we continue south…

Yesterday, after breakfast…

We rode the light rail north to a mall…

Then back south again to Surfers to visit ‘Draculas Haunted House’, a walk-through haunted house that had Bernard drooling and fingering and my soul very nearly taken by an undead Australian mummy-god…

Needless to say it was fun 🙂

Later in the day…

We went to the 8pm fireworks on Broadbeach which were very good…

But surpassed by the ones that happened at midnight right outside our rooms…

I actually fell asleep around 9 pm (since I’m old) but this show woke me right up with a literal bang and meant I was awake at midnight after all…

Happy New Year!

I’m standing on Broadbeach looking north to Surfers Paradise shortly after sunrise yesterday. The sand on this endless beach is super fine and the water was chilly cold but I believe the main reason few were swimming at this hour was this…

Jellyfish! Big guys too, about 20cm across. There were a lot of them on the sand and even being washed up as I watched. I don’t think these guys are dangerous, but I wouldn’t fancy swimming with them 🙂

The Q1 building is the tallest in Surfers and here’s the view from the ‘Skypoint’ observation level 77 stories above the street. It’s absolutely worth the visit if you’re here especially if the weather is as nice as it was yesterday.

The views are 360 degrees and there’s even an option (which costs extra) to go outside and climb even higher.

The ‘Infinity Attraction’ was a mind-bending walk-through illusion that used mirrors and leds and lasers and other gimmicks to make you feel like you’re in infinite spaces or floating above an abyss or inside a computer etc. It was fantastic and this souvenir photo hopefully gives you an idea how much fun we had 🙂

Oh and we’re staying in a massive casino, so there’s a lot of this too!

Yesterday we drove to Jupiters in Broadbeach where we’ll spend the next few days. The chauffeur-driven car was worth more than my house and was quite an experience!

That’s Broadbeach, looking north towards Surfers Paradise. The beach seems to go forever in both directions and as you can see the day was lovely. We walked north in the dry heat…

This is a very popular tourist destination and there’s zillions of people here – both Australians and foreign tourists. Surfers Paradise itself is full of the same tourist attractions you see in places such as this and I’m sure we’ll check some of them out.

That’s me trying out a ‘laser maze’. I did well, only breaking 3 of 14 lasers, but even at the easy setting had to contort myself a bit. This was at a giant arcade (Timezone) with all sorts of fun games 🙂

The famous ‘meter maids’! Somewhat sadly the calendar they were selling was a 2015 version (!) but they happily posed for photos (for $5). Interestingly neither of them were Australian…

I wonder what I was looking at?

As I said we’re staying in the casino and the rooms are large and very comfortable. A good base from which to explore this place!

It was light around 4:30. I went out very early for a walk around the CBD, botanic gardens and south bank.

A life-sized kangaroo sculpture made of metal scrap. He’s one of four. Someone had left the burger carton there artistically.

I saw dozens of these in the botanic gardens, but this guy at about a metre was the longest. He was so fearless I felt I could have touched him!

Tropical plant in the gardens.

River view from the gardens. I’m looking northeast.

Artificial beach in the south bank park.

It was in the high 70s and quite humid. By the time I returned 2.5 hours later I was drenched in sweat ?