[2011-01-08] Christmas & New Years

The End. Not really, more the start of a new year, so in a sense it is the end...of an old year...

But before any of that, there was Christmas. But before that, there was early Christmas. But before that...actually not much happened before that, only stuff that isn't interesting enough to write about, unless you include some concerts I went to, but you can read about that in my UK Invasion blog.

So the idea behind 'early Christmas' was that my sister, Courtney, would be in the USA for actual Christmas. And so we thought it'd be a good idea to swap presents before she left...makes sense. I gave her some pretty boring things really, but that's not what this post is about anyway.

What I got from her was a tad more exciting. As you may be able to tell from the name of this blog, the main picture, and various other elements of this site, I am a Star Wars Geek ('geek' is part of the name, rather than Star Wars describing what sort of geek I am, hence the capital 'G'), which is something to be proud of in my opinion. But enough about me, and more about me (or rather my presents). The big one was the recent Star Wars version of Monopoly (I think Monopoly follows something similar to Rule 34, if it exists, there's a Monopoly for it). 

This picture is just from the internet,  but it gives you an idea of what it's like.

It's a Clone Wars version, as the original Star Wars version (or many of the other Star Wars Monopoly versions) are hard to come by. It's still a pretty good game, with steel playing pieces resembling various characters and properties from all over the Star Wars universe. There's even some special rules to make things a bit more interesting.

I should also mention I had another present, which was for everyone, not just Courtney, but seeing as she wouldn't be here I thought I'd let her open it now.

At a glance it looks fancy and decorative, look closer, you'll notice the nerd art, listen...well, thats the fun bit.

A TannenBomb, from the mastermind monkeys at ThinkGeek,  - plug - If it's cool and geeky, they've got it, one of my favourite websites, even just for browsing...but buying is fun too - end plug -. I was doing some Christmas shopping on there, and happened to find these, one of the best decorations you'll buy. Me being the awesome evil genius that I am, I thought I'd better get 2...1 for my family, and 1 for my girlfriend's family.

The rest of the presents came on Christmas Day. Some of the bigger items include some focus mitts, rubber knives, and a wooden sword for my taekwondo (I've been doing taekwondo for 10 years and recently opened my own centre for Sun Bae, so I asked my parents for some equipment). 

The recent autobiography of of one of the biggest and most iconic bands in the history of rock.

Another present of mine, something I really wanted. The Chili Pepper's have been my favourite band for quite some time now, they were the ones who really got me into music, defining genres and making me realise the difference between liking music, and just listening to it because everyone else does. In recent times Muse have slowly worked their way up, but they're not at the top yet. I'd also recommend Scar Tissue (autobiography of Anthony Kiedis), Me and My Friends (an insight into the band through their photographer, Tony Woolliscroft), and also U2 By U2 (band autobiography). That was from my Kate-Lyn by the way, she always knows what to get.

That was more or less my Christmas, there were a few other presents, typical Christmas roast turkey lunch etc. 

This is a long post, due to the combination of Christmas and New Years, so give you self a break, grab some coffee, then come back. Or you can keep reading if you're really that enthralled.

The day after Boxing Day I went down to the Gold Coast with my family (minus Courtney) and Kate-Lyn. We stayed the week until NYE, and came back the next morning. 

We decided to go the the movies one day. Mum Dad and Michael saw the new Harry Potter, which in my opinion is a fairly decent adaption of the book. I think it was a good choice by Joanne Rowling to split the movie up into 2 parts, which perhaps should've been done for some of the past few Potter movies as well. Even in the first couple movies, a lot of detail and even whole scenes/chapters were cut out, so splitting it should free up a lot of time to concentrate on more important parts of the final movie. 

The 3rd installment, let's hope it can meet the standard of the first 2.

Kate-Lyn and I had already seen it however, so we went and saw Little Fockers. Usually these sort of movies don't make very good sequels, even big action Blockbusters can sometimes be ruined by sequels, but this series is an exception...so far. Meet the Parents was a good, funny movie, and I reckon Meet the Fockers was even funnier. I'll admit I didn't have high expectations for Little Fockers though, but it pulled through. Maybe not quite as good as the first 2, but still provided some good laughs. Owen Wilson plays a good role, as always.

Kate-Lyn and I also went to Sea World. Normally not a choice of mine, but we got the My Fun passes, unlimited access to all 3 parks (Sea World, Movie World, Wet 'n' Wild) for $99. Pretty good deal if you ask me. I think this is a good park for little kids, the heaps of shows and attractions, which are informative and funny, plus kids love animals. Theres also Sesame Street Beach, which has heaps of kiddy things. For anyone older than 10 however, not much there. The only show we saw, was the Jet Stunt Extreme (all the others were either old or for a much younger audience). That was good, but only goes for 20 minutes (yet somehow was a bit repetitive), and the commentator is really annoying.

The Batte Boats  with Sky Fortress in the background of the new and highly anticipated Castaway Bay.

We walked through the entrance to the bay, it looked promising. Little kids squirt you from the boats as they travel around on the circuit. That might've been fun, but I thought I'd leave it for the young ones. Sky Fortress is like a jungle full of ropes a platforms, looked really good but Kate-Lyn didn't want to go on it, apparently I was too old. Which leaves Sky Climb, which I was really looking forward to, a high ropes course. So we walked over, only to find out it cost $10 to do it. OK, that's not a lot of money, but seeing as it's an in park attraction, just like any other ride, I'm sure they could do it for free. So that was all disappointing. The rides are a bit more fun, but with only 3 currently working (the Bermuda Triangle is closed, something new currently being built in it place), that doesn't leave much to do. The Jet Rescue is really good, no loops or anything, but lots of sharp corners, and you get a nice spray of water as well, possibly the best ride there. The old Viking Flume ride is still there, but not as fun as I remember it being, fairly tame and boring up untill the wet drop at then end. Fun to Boring ration of 1:5. The Sea Viper, sounds like a new ride, looks like a new ride, but essentially it's the Corkscrew with a paint job and a name change. In the end, it was a pretty good day, but with more rides to come in the future, it should get better.

Another good place to visit if you're down the coast, is Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. This place is full of Australian animals: reptiles, marsupials, and birds. 

Kate-Lyn going down one of the flying foxes on the high ropes course.

The new big attraction here (not completely new...been around for a few years now), is the Green Challenge, a high ropes course (that IS included in the entry price *cough* Sea World *cough*) that takes you through the trees, around 20m above the ground. The course starts nice and low, fairly easy (Green Zone) with a few tight ropes, bridges, small flying foxes etc. There's 2 starting points for this one, both have similar 'games' as they call it, and follow a similar path to a common starting point. It's a good starting point, a good starting point for kids, and good fun for adults. After green comes the Red Zone. For those still not quite competent, there's an easy start, but if you're up for more of a challenge, there's a start for that as well, including a Tarzan type swing on a rope. The 2 starts for the course soon meet up, and it continues to go higher into the trees (now about 10m up). You get to a point where the course splits again, one way ends the Red Zone to continue on with Black Zone (adults only), the other is an extension of the Red Zone. This is where Mum left us, she's not one for heights. Kate-Lyn, Michael, Dad and I continued on with Black. This part of the course is quite intense, steep climbs, suspended gym rings, large flying foxes, one of the funnest challenges I've done in a while. That was a really good day.

If your staying at the Q1 (tallest residential tower in the world), or if you staying close enough to bother, the Q Deck at the top is a great place for dinner with a view. Normal entry price is something like $20 per person, but if you go after 5.30pm it's only $15, and you get a $15 voucher pp to use at the bar.

Day and night shots over the same spot. Notice the Gold Coast Eye.

I  personally think this is a better time to go anyway, especially during summer, get up there with plenty of daylight to look out over the coast, then by the time you've had a look around and something to eat, you can enjoy the night view as well, which is quite a sight.

Then came the fireworks. NYE was a pretty tame night actually. We watched some TV, played monopoly (see above), which I won. From our spot 33 floors up, we had a good view of the beach, and saw the 9pm kids show from our room. Around 11pm we looked out, and in the distance, we could see fireworks from Coolangatta, as NSW celebrated NY in a different time zone. Once midnight came for us, we went down to the beach to watch the main Gold Coast display. I wasn't expecting anything 'Sydney Harbour Bridge', however what we saw was pretty pathetic. 12 minutes of fireworks getting let off from the beach, but nothing spectacular, just the same thing over and over really. Then they started letting some off from Q1, which I thought could be sorta cool, allows them to do a more interesting set. But what came from that was just a few of the sparky ones, the ones that go only a couple meters into the air, then sparks everywhere, and there wasn't even a pattern. Still, it was pretty cool to watch, even if not that entertaining. So we wished each other new year and that was the end of a good week down the coast.

I should like to mention, the poll has now ended. The winner...    ...Aloysius Knight from Scarecrow, taking out half the votes in first place (mind you with only 6 votes total, not a very big win). Unfortunately my pick, Boba Fett from Star Wars, lost by 1 vote.

New poll up now!!