Xmas 2012

Thursday 6th, we got a pleasant surprise, when Niamh received Xmas cards from our Granny and our folks and surprisingly got a Christmas Card from her agency. It was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. I needn't have felt left out as my Christmas cards arrived the next day along with a heart felt letter from the folks wishing us a Merry Christmas.

I met Niamh in town after her shift and we went christmas shopping, so after some searching, we found our tree and decorations. We made the journey home to excitely put it up and make the house christmasy. As we rushed out the door to get a few necessary supplies from Coles before it closed, what did I spy lying on our porch step, but two parcels, one for me and one for Niamh. So after quickly putting them into the fridge and dashing to the shop. We came home and excitedly opened our parcels, to find inside all the goodies one would miss from Ireland, Irish Cadburys, Hunky Dorys, Nestle, few Christmas Chocolates and to our expectant delight in each parcel was a Christmas decoration with our name on it, was really so cute and meant so much.

On the Saturday, we decided to make the trek towards the River Stage in the Botanic Gardens, for the Lord Mayors Carols in the City Concert, starting at approx 5.30 pm with a pre-show and the Main evemt beginning about 7.30, with artists such as Marina Prior, Troy Cassar-Daley, Belladiva, Christopher Wayne, New Empire, amongst others performing that night. The venue was at Capacity from early on, with thousands in the venue and a queue outside still trying to get in. One of the highlights of the evening, was witnessing the Jingle Bells Aussie version, we were in stitches.

On the Sunday, We decided to continue this wave of celebration by going to Brisbane Square to the Chanukah in the city, for the celebration which was the lighting of the Menorah. It was an interesting experience to witness. To round off the night they had the International Mini - Bike Stunt Team perform, who came to prominence on Australian Got Talent reaching the Semi Finals. To round off this evening we had a skype call with our folks and Granny, who it was great to see and talk to.

After our routine coffee, at our local spot, Gloria Jeans, we decided to go shopping once the rain had ceased . We had to go jeans shopping for one of us, coughs Niamh, on the hunt for her annual Christmas outfit. After we found a nice cheap pair, some how we ended up in Pandora, where Niamh got her Aussie charm, a kangaroo one, for her bracelet. Later on in the week, we decided to go to cinema, we managed to get cheaper tickets online, and we saw Pitch Perfect, which was an hilarious comedy with a catchy soundtrack. Niamh through the cinema app and membership managed to get 4 dollar medium popcorn.

On Friday, I met Niamh at Central Station, after her shift, on our way up Queen Street, we stumbled upon Betty and the Bettys, who were performing on the specially constructed Xmas Stage. One of the highlights was their version of 12 Days of Christmas and Wishing you a Merry Christmas, which had us and the gathered crowd in stitches. Been one of the highlights so far of the festive season.

We went out for dinner, ended up in Wagamama in the Wintergarden, I tried my regular dish Yasai Katsu Curry which was I found even nice than home. We tried and shared sweet potato kubasi side after it was recommended by the waitress and agreed was yummy. From here we made our way out on the Mall, to get an observation spot for the Myer Christmas Parade, which was to followed by a Pantomime in  King George Square where also a twilight Indie Market was taking place. The Parade itself, actually had real live animals taking part such as camels for the 3 wise men, sheep, Donkey for the Virgin Mary and of course a few reindeer to pull Santa's Sleigh. Other acts included Little Drummer Boy, Dance Troupe, Brass Band, Marching Band, Carol Singers, Story telling, Aerobatics and of course no Aussie Christmas parade is complete without Jingle Bells Aussie Style. The Pantomime involved a story around the Little Drummer Boy. Once the panto was finished, Santa made his way in his sleigh towards the Myer Center, where people got a chance to meet Santa and his reindeer. I felt like such a kid, getting the opportunity to touch the reindeer and their antlers, which felt a bit like velvet.  

Procession of Christmas Animals

Cirque du Brisbane

Santa and his Sleigh

In the excitement for our return trip to Dreamworld and heading to Whitewater Theme Park Sunday 16th,  we ended up buying tickets to WB Movie World Theme Park (VIP Pass) and White Christmas for this Thursday to celebrate Christmas, food, show and all.

After a slight detour, we finally made it to Whitewater World, and Dreamworld. First thing we did was check out the Kung Fu Panda's Land of Awesomeness, newly opened ie the day before. First ride of the day was the Skadoosh Bumper Cars, lots of bumping and crashing into each other. Niamh was out for revenge. Ironically karma bit her in the ass, as she got rejected from Kung Fu Academy, oh well. After this, we queued to go on the new thrill ride, Pandanonium. Of course, when it was my turn, the ride was on the hard cycle, which sends you round and round, side to side and upside down at up to 3.8 G-forces. Soaring eight metres high under the watchful eyes of the mighty dragon, only martial masters will be able to outlast theses 150 seconds of kung furious pandemonium. Pandamonium is one of the Big 8 Thrill rides in Dreamworld.

                 Pandamonium

As I was on an adrenaline rush, I decided to go on the Big Claw right after. We decided to go to the water park after this, however we got sidetracked on route towards the Cyclone roller coaster ride, which actually goes through the water park. Once in the Water Park, we got a quick bite to eat and souvenir drink cups, which we got unlimited free refills as we are pass holders and can use the next time we go to Dreamworld/Whitewater World.

The afternoon in the water park, reached a temperature of 30 plus degress. Once we had ourselves organised, stuff in the locker and creamed up we went on the Green Room ride. The Green Room towered 20 m above the ground which accelerated us through a 75 m tunnel to a 15 m funnel before literally dropping out. Ye are thrown into the upper hemisphere off back to back vertical banks before a neddle nose splashdown. After a quick recover and ejecting from the 4 clover shaped raft, we made our way towards the Temple of Huey. Where we got our donut rings and went on both the 2 Broken Heads and Cut Snake. 2 Broken Heads was fast and a thrill. The Little Rippers was a cannon bowl of fun, I nearly got stuck duelling with the ride but was all go in the end. From here we strolled towards The Bro which consists of a race head first into a maze of twists and turns. We decided to chill and swim in the Cave of Waves when horn beep for the next onslaught of waves, which was class. Towards the end of the afternoon, we managed to get on to The RIP ride where again the tube was a clover shaped raft, and it was full on carnage, crazy fun. We just about managed to get on Super Tubes Hydrocoaster before the park closed at 5 pm, this was a pretty full on water coaster ride and was a highlight of the day.

On route home, we got off at central station to get a bite to eat in a restaurant on Queen st called Jo-Jo's restaurant, oh my, where do I begin, I ordered Tofu Thai Green Curry but it came with also pieces of chicken, lucky I noticed before I had any. The manager refunded me the cost with his apologies. So as a treat we got some Danish ice cream and got to see the Menorah fully lit, prior to getting the bus home.

An early but excited rise, to make our way to Park Road,to catch the Gold Coast train towards Helenvale Station, which is the nearest station to Movie World, where we got a bus. On route we passed Wet  n Wild and in awe we saw the crowds queuing to get in, which was something unreal. We were counting our lucky stars that we weren't going there then. Once we entered Movie World, we got started queuing for the rides. The first queue we joined was the Batwing Spaceshot, once I was strapped into the ride, there was no going back, it literally shoots 60 metres into the air at a 4.5 G of extreme power. It was an out of this world experience to say the least.

After I exited this ride, we both hopped on the Justice League ride which is an 3D interactive ride experience. We both quite enjoyed this ride. We were on route to queue for The Superman Escape ride however was closed due technical maintenance, so I queued for the Arkham Asylum, in the past was called Lethal Weapon. Once the queuing time finally came to an end, I got strapped into the train which has electfying on-board audio, and the rocket speeds up to 85km whilst experiencing 4.2 G stomach churning inversions. We trekked to the other end of the park completely to go on the Wild West Falls Adventure, which is a water thrill action ride that contains a 20 metres drop at the end. We got completed soaked but was such a laugh. Perfectly on queue, on our way towards Main Street, we came upon Batman and his Bat Mobile on parade. I finally managed to persuade Niamh onto a rollercoaster, Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster which was inspired by the movie, has top speeds of 45 km, laser lightning and sound effects, was a spooky funtastic ride.

From here we decided to go collect our VIP passes for Movie World and sister theme parks. I tried once again in vain to get onto the Superman ride. We made the 2.40 pm showing of the Ice Age Mammoth Christmas 4-D in the Roxy theater, it was a cute funny yet bumpy wet motion experience. Along Main street  we encountered, Harry Potter Store, The Flash, Green Lantern, Marilyn Monroe among others.

As I was determined to get on all the thrill rides, we made our way towards the Green Lantern Coaster. The ride contains the steepest drop in the southern hemisphere, reaches heights of 33 metres, speeds of 66 km and 488 metres in length. Once I recovered from the Green Lantern, we went to collect our wristbands for White Christmas later that evening. We decided to try to get on Superman once more, as they were finishing technical tests, I managed to be there at the right time by getting on the first available ride. It was worth the wait, where the rides comes from 0 to 100 km in 2 seconds which was such a thrill.

We decided to rest for a small while before White Christmas, so we joined the wristband area. The opening of White Christmas celebrations commenced at 5.30 pm by the Christmas Fairy Princess. We went for dinner at Ricks Cafe for a Christmas Buffet dinner with free refills, we were so stuffed afterwards. When we came out on to Main Street, it was a superb sight with Carol singers, Santa Claus, Mrs Claus, and Lola Bunny. The countdown to illumination of the Christmas lights, which was an unreal sight. We decided to try get on a ride as we had some free time before the parade at 8pm, so went onto Justice League 3D ride. We got our spot for the parade along Main street. Whilst waiting we both got some free drink refills. The parade itself was such a christmasy sight and experience, full of Looney Tunes goodness. Once the Parade had ceased, the rides re-commenced for a few mins, and I managed to get on Superman Escape again even been allowed to skip to get on quicker as it was just me. The ride itself was a totally different experience by night, was more thrilling, fun and out of this world experience. Doing this roller-coaster at night was one of my highlights of all the rides. The journey home was in itself an adventure.    

As there was an advance screening of Les Miserables showing at our local cinema, we decided to go see it early Saturday afternoon. We managed to get a deal on popcorn and soda, well done Niamh. The movie was unreal, such an emotional beautiful piece of film. We managed to get last few bits we needed for Christmas dinner, for Niamh turkey one and my veggie roast one. Before getting the bus home, we decided to call into Irish Murphys for a Christmas drink. We left a Facebook comment on our mother page to wish her a Happy Birthday once it became the 23rd. Later we had a phone call with our parents and our granny.

Christmas Eve, to get into the Christmas spirit, we  went firstly to the Pancake Manor on Charlotte St, and shared a long stack, was so tasty after we went to see the Rise of the Guardians in 3D, was such a cute and funny movie. As we gotta home we watched Christmas shows and movies and relaxed which was nice. As the bells rang for midnight we exchange pressies with each other and had some of the chocolate, our parents had shipped over to us. Christmas Morning we received calls from our parents, granny, cousins and friends from home. We got up and began preparations for Christmas Dinner, me making the stuffing and Niamh preparing her secret potato mash. We were both stuffed, we decided to go for walk to South Bank and the beach, where it was all happening, packed everywhere.

I meet Niamh after her night shift on Thursday Morning, we went for a morning coffee where we decided to go see The Hobbit in 3D. Now just gonna wait till next year to see part two.