Our Final Full Day in Australia: Sea World Gold Coast, Sharks, Rays and the Pacific Airshow

Eat Clean, Health and Dream | Melbourne to Brisbane Road Trip with Teenagers

Our final full day in Australia had arrived.

It felt strange to think that just over a week earlier we had landed in Melbourne after two long-haul flights and a rather memorable layover in Shanghai.

Since then, the three of us had driven north through Victoria and New South Wales, explored Sydney, encountered wildlife in Port Stephens, walked through rainforest, watched whales and dolphins in Byron Bay and finally made it to the Gold Coast.

And now we were down to our final full day in Oz.

The following night, we would be flying across the Tasman to New Zealand.

But first, I had a promise to keep.

Sea World was on the agenda

I'd promised the boys, mainly Archie, that we would visit Sea World.

There are plenty of theme parks on the Gold Coast, but I wasn't particularly keen to do all of them.

Firstly, there was the expense.

Theme parks are not cheap, particularly when you're travelling as a family and trying to keep an eye on an overall holiday budget.

Secondly, I wasn't entirely convinced that either of the boys would actually go on many of the big rides.

Sea World felt like the better option for us.

I'd visited previously with Craig and remembered that it had a good mixture of things to see and do.

Animals.

Marine life.

Shows.

Rides.

Play areas.

And enough to keep both an 11-year-old and a nearly 15-year-old interested for a full day.

That was important.

Because when you're spending a significant amount of money on an attraction, you want to feel that you've genuinely made a day of it.

I'd rather spend money on a full day of activities than pay a small fortune for something that lasts 15 or 20 minutes.

I'll be sharing more about our trip costs, spending and budgeting in a future post, including links and some of the ways I tried to keep costs down along the way.

An early morning and a little preparation

We started the day with a swim, well 2 of us did anyway.

The sun was shining again, but after checking the weather forecast I could see things were expected to become more changeable later in the day.

So I packed accordingly as a Brit am used to doing this anyway.

Raincoats.

Trousers.

And our reusable water bottles, of course.

Lunch was packed into the backpack too.

I'd made it very clear to the boys that I wasn't planning on buying lunch inside the park!

Travelling with teenage boys can quickly become expensive enough without buying every meal and snack out.

I had pre-booked our tickets and had checked several online attraction providers to see whether I could get the price down.

In the end, the best price I found was booking directly.

It was still a fair amount of money, but with a whole day ahead of us, I felt it was worth it.

Arriving at Sea World

I wanted to arrive when the park opened.

The Pacific Airshow was also taking place nearby, and traffic was predicted to be busy.

Getting there early also meant we could make the most of the day.

Fortunately, the queue to get in was short.

Only a few people were ahead of us.

There was that familiar mixture of excited children and equally excited adults all waiting to start their day.

As soon as we entered, we checked the show times.

Then off we went.

Starting with the Sea Lions

We passed the pelicans and headed straight towards the Seal Guardians sea lion presentation.

I'd seen this show on my previous visit with Craig and remembered how good it had been.

The boys have also always loved watching the sea lions at our local animal park back in North Devon, so I thought it was the perfect way to start our Sea World day.

The presentation had changed since my last visit, which was good.

It felt like a new experience rather than simply repeating what I'd seen before.

The theatre area was busy, and the boys were engaged from the start.

For us, it was a great introduction to the day.

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Polar bears, rides and teenage decisions

As soon as we left the show, the boys started eyeing up the rides.

Well, the SpongeBob rides at least.

Neither seemed particularly enthusiastic about the bigger rides at that stage!

We headed towards the polar bears next.

They are always fascinating to watch, although only one was out while we were there.

We decided we'd come back later.

Because there was somewhere else calling us.

Ray Reef

Ray Reef was next.

And we arrived just as a feeding presentation was beginning.

Perfect timing.

Albie had developed a real love of rays since getting into the water with them at Port Stephens Animal Adventures.

And I completely understand it.

For me, rays have the same incredible grace and presence in the water that I associate with whales and sharks.

They move so effortlessly.

Gliding through the water.

Turning and sweeping around each other.

They are absolutely beautiful.

Like whales and sharks, rays also feature heavily in my tattoo choices, so you could probably leave me sitting next to the ray pools for hours and I'd be perfectly happy!

The boys, however, were ready to keep exploring.

Shark Bay and a missed opportunity

Next up was Shark Bay.

Initially, we just went for a quick look.

But it didn't take long for Albie to spot the snorkelling opportunities.

He would have been straight into the water given half a chance.

Looking back, it's probably one of the opportunities I regret not taking.

Sometimes when you're travelling, you think you'll have time to come back to something later.

And then suddenly, the day has gone.

The walk-through viewing area underneath the water was just as special as I remembered from my previous visit.

The giant sea turtle.

The sharks.

The rays.

The variety of fish.

Watching everything from beneath the surface gave you a completely different perspective, obviously if you are in the water under the surface as a diver or snorkelling which are both amazing ways to see what is our oceans but this gave I guess the next best way to view.

And then, as you made your way out, you could look down into the water from above.

Occasionally, gannets came down towards the water too.

For Albie and me, this was definitely one of our favourite parts of Sea World.

The ONE Dolphin Presentation

Next, we headed towards Dolphin Beach for the ONE Dolphin Presentation.

Now, I want to be honest about something.

I'm not personally a fan of dolphins or orcas being kept in captivity unless it is genuinely for rehabilitation and cannot be avoided.

That is simply how I feel.

I love marine life and believe we need to do more to protect the oceans and the animals living in them.

The presentation did include jumps and splashes, but I felt that the educational element and the cultural significance connected to Indigenous Australian people were an important part of how the show was presented.

For me, that made it feel more focused on education and awareness than simply putting on a performance purely for entertainment.

Anything that helps the next generation and even the general public no matter of age, understand the importance of our oceans and drive the awareness of the need to protect them has value.

Little blue penguins

From dolphins, we headed to see the little blue penguins.

They are absolutely adorable.

And because little blue penguins are also found in New Zealand, I have been fortunate enough to see them in the wild there a few times too.

That always adds something extra.

Seeing an animal in a managed environment when you've also been lucky enough to experience them in the wild gives you a different perspective.

The boys were enjoying the day and was definitely worth it seeing their faces.

But by now, the weather was starting to change.

Clouds were gathering.

The temperature was dropping.

Occasionally, aircraft from the Pacific Airshow would suddenly appear overhead, putting on their own mini display in the sky.

It was quite surreal.

One minute we were watching penguins.

The next, planes were roaring overhead.

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Time for lunch

Eventually, we needed a break.

Lunch.

Coffee for me.

And somewhere to sit for a little while.

We made our way back towards the food area near the entrance and exit.

We found somewhere to sit and ate our packed lunch.

Perfect timing too.

Because we were waiting for the stunt show on the lake.

This was another thing Craig and I had really enjoyed during our previous visit.

The show we saw was called Thunder Lake – Final Days, and from the information available at the time, it appeared that this particular show would not continue after the end of August.

So I was pleased we'd managed to see it.

The boys particularly enjoyed the wakeboarding and stunts.

And to be honest, so did I.

Something wasn't quite right

As we sat eating, though, I could tell Archie wasn't completely himself.

Now, anyone travelling with a 14-year-old knows that sometimes they can simply be quiet or a little sullen.

Teenagers.

That's normal.

But this felt slightly different.

I wasn't sure whether he was cold, tired or simply feeling the effects of the previous week of travelling.

The weather had definitely cooled.

But something felt a little off.

At that stage, I wasn't sure what.

So we continued with the day but kept things relaxed.

More sharks, rays and SpongeBob

Once we'd finished the stunt show, the boys were ready to get moving again.

So back towards Shark Bay we went.

There were photos in front of Moana, the great white shark.

Another visit to Ray Reef.

And, of course, the playground.

We also explored Sea Jellies and went on some of the SpongeBob rides.

I spent a good portion of the afternoon trying to convince the boys to go on the Jet Rescue coaster.

Neither was interested.

Honestly.

Craig hadn't wanted to go on it when we'd visited.

And now neither of the boys did.

Doh!

Apparently, I'm destined to never experience that ride.

One final look around

By this point, we'd pretty much seen everything.

So we went back for one final look around and to see the polar bear of course again.

And it took Archie almost physically dragging Albie and me away from Shark Bay.

We could have stayed there for ages.

One final lap.

One last look.

And then it was time for the obligatory gift shop visit.

Of course, the boys ended up with shark T-shirts.

Naturally.

Because apparently you can't visit a marine-themed attraction without coming home with something shark-related!

Is Sea World Gold Coast worth visiting?

For us, absolutely.

Whether you're travelling as adults, or with younger children or teenagers, there is plenty to see and do.

If you have an interest in the ocean and marine life, it's particularly worth visiting.

For us, it worked well because there was enough variety.

The boys could look at rides.

I could spend time watching the animals.

Albie could happily stare at sharks and rays.

And everyone could find something they enjoyed.

It's also located out on the Spit, making it a relatively straightforward place to visit when you're staying around the Gold Coast.

An Unexpected Airshow Bonus

Back at the car, we realised we were in a great position to watch some of the aircraft displays from the Pacific Airshow.

So we sat and watched for a while.

One final unexpected bonus to the day.

I had expected the traffic to be awful because of the airshow.

There were diversions.

Police directing traffic.

And definitely more people around.

But overall, getting back wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected.

Eventually, we made our way back to Nobby's Beach Holiday Park.

For our final night in Australia.

A swim in the Rain

Back at the chalet, the boys still wanted to swim.

Even though there was now a little rain.

So they did.

And after a full day at Sea World, a swim and some much-needed chill time were exactly what we needed.

Archie, however, still didn't seem himself.

I knew he'd been unsure about this trip before we left.

The road trip style of travelling was definitely a little outside his comfort zone.

But this felt different.

He seemed as though he might be coming down with a cold or simply feeling unwell.

So I didn't push anything.

We had an easy evening ahead.

Using up the fridge before flying

Dinner was deliberately simple.

We needed to start using up the food we had left before flying to New Zealand the following evening.

That is one of the challenges of self-catering travel.

You don't want to throw food away.

But you also don't want to be left with a fridge full of things on your final day.

So we made a meal using what we had.

One less thing to worry about.

One less thing to waste.

And a quieter evening was exactly what everyone needed.

Cards, Sleep and an Early Night

Archie was asleep in bed early.

Albie and I played cards for a while.

And then, before long, it was time for us to head to bed too.

Our final full day in Australia was over.

From Sea World sharks and rays to sea lions, dolphins and penguins.

From stunt shows and SpongeBob rides to watching the Pacific Airshow overhead.

It had been a busy, fun and memorable way to end our Australian road trip.

But by now, we were all tired.

Especially Archie.

The following morning, we'd be packing up the car for the final time.

Returning it after our Melbourne-to-Brisbane road trip.

And then heading to the airport.

Because the next part of our summer adventure was about to begin.

Across the Tasman.

Back to somewhere that has always felt incredibly special to me.

Aotearoa, New Zealand.

And the boys were about to discover even more of the places I love.

But first?

One more Australian morning.

And one final goodbye to the road trip car that had carried us all the way from Melbourne to Brisbane.