Sydney Siders Come to the Coast

Yesterday morning (Saturday) my alarm went off at 5:45 am for the third time this week, but this time it was for a good purpose. Namely, our four friends from Sydney were coming up to the Gold Coast to spend a weekend with us. These were two Dutch girls from my school, Colette and Annabel, and their Australian hosts, Caitlin and Evie. Initially, Annabel and Evie would spend the night at Nay's house, but we organized a big sleepover so Annabel, Evie, Nay, Do, Colette and Caitlin all ended up staying at our place. 

After collecting the Sydney siders from Gold Coast Airport (and some yummy pancakes for breakfast while we were waiting for them to arrive), we separated and went to our own houses. We made Caitlin and Colette some breakfast and afterwards the four of us chilled in my room because we had lots of catching up to do. It was nice to hear how Colette has been experiencing the past few weeks of her exchange and I hadn't really talked to Caitlin either after she left Holland, so it was good hearing what she's been up to as well.

Around 11 o'clock we were driven to Dreamworld, which is a theme park on the Gold Coast. We met up with Do, Nay, Evie and Annabel in front of the park and went in together. Unfortunately, it started raining during our first ride, which was quite painful actually since the raindrops were falling down on your face while you were upside-down, facing the sky. When the ride was finished we rushed to the closest shop we could find to buy ponchos. Afterwards, we went on a few other rides and around 1 o'clock we had lunch at a restaurant in the park. It was pretty gross actually, you could only get fast-food and the fries I ordered were really sloppy...

As well as a section with rides, Dreamworld also has a wildlife section. After some discussion, we decided not to go to White Water World anymore, which is interconnected to Dreamworld, but visit the wildlife section. Luckily for me, some tame kangaroos were hopping around there! One of the points on the bucket list my friends gave me was 'pet a kangaroo', so I'm glad I got one step closer to fulfilling the list!
In the wildlife section, you could also pay for photos with a koala, snake and crocodile. Even though I was pretty scared (not for the koala; it was so cute), I had a bit of a 'yolo-moment' and decided to do it. The koala was the first in line, and it was like a dream coming true holding such an adorable, soft little animal. I didn't want to let go, but unfortunately there were some other people eagerly waiting to hold my baby, and the snake and crocodile were eagerly waiting for me to hold them... 

'Luckily for me' I was the first one in line to hold the snake. Sweaty palms, shaking knees... You know the feeling. When I sat down on the bench, the lady tried to comfort me by telling me some things about the snake, including the fact that the snake could bite, but had never done it before. Well thanks a lot, sitting there knowing there was a chance the creature I was about to hold would bite me was very comforting indeed. Not.

It already started with some difficulty in positioning the snake for the photo. It was crawling down my neck - talk about shivers to the max - and its head kept facing me (not the direction of the camera which it was supposed to be looking at). The sight of the flicking tong moving towards my skin gave me shivers through my spine and I couldn't even be bothered to worry about my fake smile which would turn up on my photo. I was relieved when the lady finally took the snake from my shoulders and luckily the crocodile was more willing to cooperate.

After collecting our photos we went on some more rides, including the 'Giant Drop' (a 115 m free-fall ride), and around 4 o'clock we were picked up by Kaia. At home, everyone showered and then we sat outside for a bit and had some nibbles. Hans had prepared a lovely dinner with beef, potatoes, pumpkin, lamb and salad, and to top things off we had some ice cream with crushed Tim Tams for dessert.

When everyone had put on their pyjamas we watched the movie 'Looper', but I fell asleep about halfway through because I was so tired from getting up early. I woke up when the movie ended and then Colette and I went to my bed. I wasn't so tired anymore so we chatted in bed for a while, only to be woken up by my alarm a few hours later...

Yup, Bella and I had musical rehearsals on Sunday morning, 8:30 am. The rest slept in, had breakfast and then went out on the boat with Hans. When we finished rehearsals we were picked up by Kaia and had breakfast at a shopping mall nearby. We got home around the same time as the girls who went out on the boat so that was good, because we could leave right away for a walk through Surfers Paradise. We walked along the shoreline and had a look at some sand sculptures because apparently a three day competition was going on. We also had a Golden Gaytime (ice cream), which was absolutely amazing. I'd take a whole box of them with me to Holland if I could.

We had sushi for lunch and then it was already time to walk home because the Sydney siders had to be at the airport again at 5 pm. It was sad to realize that I probably wouldn't see Caitlin and Evie again any time soon, but it was really good to catch up with them this weekend! It's pretty late now and tomorrow is just a normal school day, so I'm off to bed now. Night! X