Brad only gets two days off per week so we try to make them count! This past Saturday the weather was perfect for a jam packed day. There's so much to do within an hour or two of where we live. We have yet to go on "holiday" and I feel like we've seen a lot!
First we headed over to the Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk. Essentially, it's a suspended walkway that was designed to have a "soft footprint" with minimal impact on the environment. It offered a unique perspective of the rainforest - from the canopy of the treetops instead of the poisonous snake level. Despite being a hot and hazy day, the views were spectacular. Alan got a kick out of bouncing and swaying on the cantilevers and climbing the stairs of the tower. I don't think he realized that he was supposed to be looking at the trees. Oh well! Maybe in a few years.
The boys ready to explore the rainforest
Family photo at the top of Knight's Tower which is 150 ft above ground (whew)!
View from Knight's Tower of the rainforest (looks like a regular forest to me)
A view of Knight's Tower from the walkway
As you can see, Brad is having more fun going down. Alan preferred climbing up the stairs which is why Brad decided to carry him down. Otherwise we'd never get to Jamberoo!
Another hazy view toward Lake Illawarra and the South Pacific Ocean
A massive Dicksonia antarctica (tree fern).
View from the cantilever once it stopped bouncing and swaying.
There was a fun surprise waiting for us when we returned from our walk in the rainforest - a helicopter and fire trucks! Lucky for us, the local emergency services were having a demonstration that was open to the public. It ended up being a huge bonus! Alan got to sit in the pilot seat of the helicopter and to my amazement didn't touch a single button. I can only imagine how bad he wanted to.
After that he got to sit in the driver's seat of the fire truck (to the folks back home it probably looks like the passenger seat). He was on cloud nine because the radio went off every few seconds and he was "responding". We spent a good fifteen minutes letting him soak it all in. The fireman couldn't believe how fascinated Alan was with the truck and commented that we might have a future fireman on our hands.
Somehow we managed to escape our first activity of the day without a tantrum. We moved on to our next stop at Jamberoo Action Park. It happened to be the HOTTEST Saturday during SCHOOL HOLIDAYS! Truly INSANE on our part. The place was seriously jam packed. We had to park in overflow parking which was a pasture (cows were literally grazing when we returned to our car). We can't wait to go back during the week when the kids are back in school and hopefully it's a little less crowded. We mainly went for the water park but they also had mini-golf and go-karts. It reminded me of a concert because people had pop-up tents with coolers out in the grassy areas. We'll have to keep that in mind next time we go.
My only pic from Jamberoo so I'll have to take more next time.
From there, we made our way over to the Kiama blowhole. Alan fell asleep in the car on the way over so Brad and I took turns going out to look. It doesn't erupt like Old Faithful so we want to go back another afternoon and make an event out of it with a picnic. Apparently, Alan knew he wasn't going to miss anything at Kiama. He woke up in time for a delicious dinner at Outback Steakhouse to end our fun-filled day.
Walkway to Kiama blowhole
The Kiama lighthouse with Norfolk Island pines
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