Young, fun and full of sun

ANSWERING the call for adventure, Glenn McFarlane takes his impressionable children to the Gold Coast and finds out you really don't have to grow up.

MY wife and I have a problem – our children want to move to the Gold Coast. Not by themselves, but with Mum, Dad, golden retriever and the rest of the extended family.

Our fork in the road came after a holiday in Queensland.

"Why couldn't we move, Dad?" offered up son, 7, with the sureness of a born salesman. Then he tried to close the deal with cold, hard facts.

"You have to admit the weather's better, the beaches are better and there's just so much fun up there."

Daughter, 4, was a not-so-innocent party. She was so excited she hummed Jetstar's hypnotic "aa, ahha, ahha" jingle throughout the two-hour flight.

Fortunately, the humming halted not long after we landed at Coolangatta, but the excitement rose a few notches as jumpers came off, sunglasses went on and the 77-hour adventure unfolded.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is near the airport. The children enjoyed watching aircraft coming in to land, picking the airline from the tail insignia. But what they loved best was getting up close with the animals and, especially, feeding the kangaroos.

You name it, Currumbin has it – kangaroos, koalas, wombats, snakes, birds, echidnas, goannas, dingoes, pelicans, Tasmanian devils, crocodiles.

The sanctuary's many shows, especially the Snakes Alive and Totally Wild sessions, combined fun with information.

I had not been to Currumbin since I was in primary school and found the non-profit sanctuary – takings are used for park maintenance and animal care – more pertinent in the 2000s than in the 1970s.

The Australian Outback Spectacular is a musical stage show billed as "like no other show on Earth". They are right.

The $23 million sound and light extravaganza is in a 1000-seat indoor arena about the size of an Olympic swimming pool, but when the lights go down you'd swear you were in the Outback.

Growing up can be tough

The 90-minute show captures the grandeur of the bush through the eyes of those inhabiting it. It gives a sense of Australian traditions – mateship, loyalty, courage, resilience and laconic humour.

Bush men and women introduce lives that include stock horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, emus, kangaroos, cattle dogs, four-wheel-drive vehicles, bikes, horse-drawn carts, homesteads and a helicopter.

We laughed along with the jokes, wore – and were able to keep – a bushman's hat, ate a bushman's meal of eye fillet steak, salad, damper and pavlova and took part in a challenge between two stations. When invited by a stockwoman, my daughter showed no hesitation in running on to the stage to chase chickens.

The Australian Outback Spectacular is less than two years old, but Dreamworld and Seaworld theme parks have long been Gold Coast must-sees, not least because they have evolved with changing trends.

Almost a year ago, sister park White Water World, where almost every activity involves getting wet, opened next to Dreamworld.

Adults can chill out or take on the bigger rides. Especially for youngsters are pursuits complementing Dreamworld's Wiggles World and Nick Central.

A visit to one all but necessitates a visit to the other, so take advantage of the special deals.

Most popular attraction introduced at Dreamworld since Big Brother, the Big Drop and the Tower of Terror are Indah and Rahni, the park's two Sumatran tiger cubs. They sleep up to 16 hours a day – growing up can be tough – but visitors queue just for a glimpse.

Seaworld, too, is evolving and the baby dolphins are a hit.

But my son loved his Reef Adventure. He waded through rock pools and learnt about marine life from a staff member.

Back in Melbourne, we have managed to defer debate about relocation – at least until next the family ventures north.