The Long Lost Day Four: Sea World

On day four, Saturday, we wanted to go to some kind of "attraction". I thought it would be interesting to ogle Oz animals at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, which Michael and Rebecca had recommended. We'll have to make another trip to Oz-land for that, because instead we chose to go to Sea World. Thankfully, it wasn't a regrettable decision. We had a really great day there! Lots of pictures are below; forgive me for lacking motivation to put them in any kind of order. Suffice to say that Koji knowing 'Finding Nemo' so well had a payoff there; he knew the names of several fish that I'm confident he never would have otherwise! And, the "kiddie area" was more fun for him than I thought it would be...aww, he's all grown up and can ride on rides now! Sort of...one of us always had to go with him, of course, but he loved all the rides, especially the airplane ride ("cokey") and the helicopter ride. I would be remiss in reporting the events of day four if I didn't also mention that evening.
After we finished the fun at Sea World, we decided to go a nearby mall. I think it was called Paradise Fair or something. Sorry, I can't be bothered to link to it. :0 I was enjoying being in Target again after more than four months of going without, when they suddenly started announcing closing time...at 5:30 p.m.!! It's hard to say what surprised me more though, the mall closing so early on a Saturday night, or the fact that Aogu thought that was a wonderful idea! He said that American shops (stores) should do the same so that workers can spend time with their families. True, but not something I expected him to advocate! What does he care really though, I'm the one who does all the shopping around here. I'll just go ahead and boldly admit it now (as if anyone reading this blog who knows me at all had any illusions to the contrary)!
I supposed it was just as well that we were kicked out of the mall, because we were able to get to dinner a bit earlier than we would have otherwise. We went to Gino's and we were able to take advantage of the "early bird order before 6:30 pm" offer. More importantly, we able to have our first delicious meal since arriving in the Gold Coast, thanks to Gino's, which was recommended by the concierge at Courtyard. The food here in Tokyo is too delicious! We are spoiled!

Aogu, the knowing pilot, was clever at convincing his tiny co-pilot that he was actually driving this "copy (helicopter)".
posted by jcm