Sunday

I was up and out early - but not as early as M who went in search of Voldemort's wand for little H's Harry Potter collection.

I set out to go to the markets to be in place, with my coffee, in case my brother came online at 8 so we could Skype. But as I drove in, I thought I could do with a spot of "ocean" so instead took myself off to Broadbeach and watched the waves rolling in - and the surf boat practice. I have never seen surf boat practice before - or really taken a lot of notice of what happens when a surf boat launches ... and it was fascinating. There is a crew of five, and to start, they stand - two to a side and one at the back - with the boat in the surf and at some point - I was too far away to hear if there was conversation about what that "point" was - the guys do a standing jump into the boat - all at the same time - it was amazing, especially when they did it as "one". I could see why they have to practice that bit. The guy who steers at the back (cox?) was amazing too - at least the other four get to sit - he stands in the back of the boat with just the rudder to hold on to bouncing over the waves - you've have to have good balance to do it!

Next up was the Markets and the weekly Skype call with T in Sydney, which (the call not Sydney) was plagued by technical difficulties and was not at all satisfactory. Ah, well, next time ... but the Markets themselves were good - especially the new stall selling kettle pop corn which was sweet and salty all at the same time.

It was the usual crowd at the Markets table - and it is N's last week for a while as he is jetting off to meet up with his wife overseas. He's not the only one traveling in the next little while - M and Z are off at the end of the month and Ma and little H will be flying back home the week before that.

But in the meantime, we are still playing with them and this afternoon we went off to SeaWorld where it was basically a ride-fest for little H. M went with him on the Sea Viper and the Jet Rescue rides - I think they are definitely part of the "thrill" category of rides ... the Jet Rescue goes really fast - faster than the Sea Viper, and looks very scary - especially since the riders appear to be perched on their "jet skis"! Who comes up with the ideas for these rides?

I was dismayed to see that the Bermuda Triangle ride is no longer operating, and there was no swimming because that part of the park is "seasonal". But we had great fun at Castaway Bay - I had read reports and seen photos of the water canons - but in real life they are fantastic ... a great way to get soaked through - and no, none of our lot took advantage of the $5 body dryer! H was very brave and went on the ropes and beams section of Castaway Bay - at height. There is no way anyone would get me up there ... but M said she would probably give it a go next time. S and I will be keeping our feet well and truly planted on terra firma!