Christmas holidays - Day 2

Twas Christmas Eve and we were offically on holidays.  I'd forgotten how tropical the weather can be in Coffs Harbour.  It can be hot and muggy, even when it's overcast.  First order of the day was to take the kids to the Pet Porpoise Pool (now called Dolphin Marine Magic).  This was meant to be a day of fun where you can touch a dolphin, get kissed by a seal, feed the fairy penguins, and basically get up close and personal with some marine life.  Once we were through the gates, it became clear that the only people who wanted to be there were me, Michael, and Henry.  Buster just wanted to run around and wasn't interested in the animals, and Milly panicked if an animal came within five metres of her and wouldn't stop whinging.  Our day of fun was fast becoming our day of "why do we bother?".

 





 

Thank goodness for Henry.  He patted a dolphin, got picked out of the audience to play throw and catch ball with a seal, feed the penguins, and was front and centre completely engrossed in a reptile show.  Buster and Milly were finally happy when they got an ice cream.

 

While Henry, Buster and Michael were at the reptile show, me and Milly were watching a baby dolphin and its mother swim around a large pool.  There were big viewing windows at the sides of the pool and wouldn't you know it something magical happened.  I was filming the windows waiting for the baby dolphin to swim by and it swam up to the window Milly was looking through and started interacting with her.  Milly would run up and down past the windows and the dolphin would follow her back and forth.  Milly stuck her face right up to the window and the dolphin mirrored her actions back.  It was the most beautiful thing to see her and the dolphin playing together, with the added bonus of Milly finally smiling and having fun.  Their little play session lasted a good few minutes and I'm so glad I got it all on film.  Their playdate ended when the dolphin splashed Milly with water, but she didn't care. 

 

After the experience, Milly was keen for me to buy her a toy dolphin but she was just as happy to have her picture taken with one instead.  As did Buster.



 

Then we were off to lunch.  We had heard The Greenhouse Tavern was good for families and they certainly had a lot of things to occupy the kids with while they waited for lunch.  The food was a bit ordinary though.

That night we watched the Carols by Candlelight on the tele and sang along to the songs we knew.  Milly made sure we put out some biscuits and milk for Santa, plus a little something for the reindeer.  The kids then went to bed, with Henry given strict instructions to try not to wake early and if he does not to wake anyone else.