She was Worlds away;

Yesterday at 8:00am (or shortly after due to old bones), I embarked on a journey to DreamWorld with a group of friends. We bought online passes so we could return up until late September.

I was appointed the job of DJ and keep-driver-awake-arer. With fully sick beats blasting, we pulled up to the colourful gates of DreamWorld and got really excited just like little kids.

Finally, we were in! Quickly, we hired a lockyer, stashed our stuff and were off running to get on the big thrill rides before the lines grew too long.

First up - The Claw. This has some of us questioning whether we should have eaten such a big breakfast, but with a little peer pressure we all lined up to get flung about helplessly.

Ahh! Intensity. Wind blowing hair everywhere. Ground so far below. It didn't look this high in the queue. Boy beside me screaming like a girl. Woah, how did my feet get there? It's going to go over! TOO YOUNG TO DIE.

Lived. Exited the ride a little wobbly but a lot awake and pumped with adrenalin. A deafening metal screech roared through the air drawing our attention. "TOWER OF TERROR! Let's go!" We dragged the unsure and nervous with us and waited in a short line.

Dramatic music. Heartbeats thumping and metallic alien sounds. 

"Hello, this is an announcement that the Tower of Terror is temporarily down however an engineer is on his way to get it up and running quickly."

Shifty eyes. The crowd looks a little nervous at the word engineer in relation to the very fast very high ride we were lined up to strap ourselves into. Some couples duck under the rope and leave.

"Pussies!", I call out as they leave. Finally it's ready and we're sitting in it. A few of us look pretty green already, too late now! We're blasting off - and backwards too! 

We seem to rocket through the dark neon lit tunnell forever before the ground plummets away from us and the people shrink like ants. It's going too fast for you to scream so we're all hanging on in silence trying our best to keep our eyelids open. The car reaches the still point at the top of it's climb and we start to freefall back toward the earth. Now you hear screaming.

Another deafening tunnel ride which leaves us all looking like we had a bad hair dryer accident, and we're done. One of our group is feeling a little queasy so we plod our way to the next ride, slightly tamer this time.

Motorcross!   

We get squished into the very very comfy fit bikes and make immature reving sounds as we speed around the coaster. So much fun, we check out our photos at the end and I have the biggest cheesy grin and one of the others has their eyes squeezed shut. We were tempted to buy be-dazzled bling P plates.

With one member of the team feeling very queasy and needing a rest for their internal organs to re-arrange themselves, we rode the tranquil Log Ride.

I sat on the back with the two smallest members of our group, knowing deep inside that it would be a very very bad idea. We're bobbing along discussing how we're going to pose for the photo on the way down. Yup we're set!

It drags our log boat up the slow climb and finally we're tipping over the edge of the descent. Wee!! Fast fast, it's so fast. I feel the urge to scream, NO! Must hold the pose. Camera lights flash and then a tidal wave engulfs the back half of the boat. I hear laughter far away from friends watching on.

"We didn't get wet that bad!", the girls in front of me comment whilst brushing off loose droplets. They turn around and I deadpan them with a floppy dead fish fringe, soaked pants and mascara dribbling down my face. "Mhm."

However, the wet was worth the photo. It's hilarious. The two girls in the front are peace'ing in opposite directions and I'm up the back with my hands crossed behind my head, hair perfectly spread in front and the biggest celebrity cheesy grin out. It doesn't even look like w'ere on the ride, it's surely photoshopped.

The sound of screaming catches our attention and we look up. Giant Drop? Why not! We coerce two not so sure girls into riding it and they didn't seem to enjoy hanging up at 120m high too much. I think they liked the free fall though, I heard laughing. Although it did sound a little delirious . . .

By now we're really really hungry but we push on in our marathon of rides so we don't miss out on any. Our attention is snagged on the Wipeout. I've never been on it before so I'm pretty curious. But all that upside down business? I'm glad we haven't stopped for lunch yet.

It's wicked! I ramble on continuously about how I'm going to die and fall into fits of delirious laughter. It gets to the point where I can't breathe and my abs feel like they're on fire. The ride stops and we all take a breath thinking it's finally over, but it starts to slowly move and spins us upside down. The blood runs to our heads and our eyes bulge as we get tipped upside down and all the way over, hanging in our seats. Woohooo! What an adrenalin kick. We decide to ride it again later.

It's the kid rides time! Heading on down to Nickelodeon land we stop to take pictures in the Wiggles World. It's Henry!

Jumping onto the pirate ship we break out into dramatic statues. How mature are we?

 

Yarrhhh I see you there!

They jump on a spinning disk ride while myself and another girl sit this one out. Too much spinning for me!

 

It's funny because even though they are disorientated, they manage to grin and wave each time they passed us. It just became less and less coordinated and enthusiastic as they got spun more.

We took a second while the crazy people who enjoy spinning rode what could only be called the Merry Go Round Gone Upside Down, to take some cute photos.

Finally after 4-5 hours of riding we stop to eat lunch. Indulging in some overpriced miniature sized meals was fun, except for being payed out for munching on fries while spaced out. Really?

We hobbled our way toward Tiger Island to watch a show but got sidetracked by a very large panda with hot nuts.

Told you he had hot nuts. On the way to the tigers we decided to ride  a crocodile too. As you do.

Finally we watched the tiger show and fell in love with the giant kitties. Don't they just need a big cuddle?

By the time this was all over, the sun was low in the sky and it was getting cold out. We dashed to the river rapids to get one last blast of water and then sprinted to Wipeout for a spin dry cycle. After all this, we went and bought old school icecreams and enjoyed them together while watching the pretty neat Laser Show.

So we left poor, yes, but so rich in happyness for a humongous day spent with friends. It was so good, I guess we'll just have to do it again.

Melanie xx