Tutti Fruitti

That night we found a perfect campsite, Big 4 Tweed Billabong, just before the Gold Coast, with it's very own billabong! This was obviously a surprise to me as I didn't know a billabong actually was a something, but it turns out that a billabong is an Australian-English word for a lake - you learn something new every day.

Ben loved the billabong, especially as it had a large inflatable platform to swim out to and jump off and then get back onto and then jump off again.. you get the idea. Anyway, I was nervous at first as it was pretty deep and out of his depth, but he was determined, and Benny is nothing if he isn't that, so off he went, armed with the boogie board for security purposes (I would have superglued it to him if I could have). He cautiously used his boogie board the first three times, then after that, he started copying the rest of the kids and throwing the boogie board in, then jumping and swimming to it. I was quietly having a heart attack every single time he did it, but smiled and raised my thumbs in support and he was delighted with his new found skill - well done Benny, at the age of eight, you are already a more confident swimmer than your mum!!!








Naomi too, gasped in awe and amazement at Benny's fantastic swimming achievements!




The last time we were on the Gold Coast for a holiday we spent an exhausting week running from one theme park to another, and at the end of the week, when we asked the kids what they liked the best, they said, 'the beach', so this time, we decided to enjoy some more sedate activities. First stop, Tropical Fruit World - who knew?




We enjoyed an excellent and informative talk all about wierd and wonderful fruits that we had never heard of, then got to have a tasting session.




What a beautiful morning tea - they were all delicious (but some of them I still can't remember the names of).





Jackfruit, amazing! So huge! The largest one they have grown at Tropical Fruit World weighed in at 39kgs, but the world record was a whopping 81kgs (for the English readers, that's even more than I weigh!!!).







Red bananas!




Avocados on a tree, never seen that before either!




Benny brought a dragonfruit home (I think he only wanted it because he liked the name;).




There was the black sapote, or 'chocolate pudding fruit' which actually tastes of chocolate pudding,




the Abui fruit, which tastes of caramel,




and there is even the ice cream bean fruit





- we felt like we were in a scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

With all these wonderful tastes and treats on offer, I will be sure never to fall for that 'tomato is a fruit' trick, ever again;)

Love
Est xxx