Sea World

What a big day. We woke up to more blue skies and sunshine. Caitlin & Cooper were very excited about their Dolphin Adventure which was a birthday present from their Nan & Pop. We arrived at Sea World at 9.30am checked in at guest services and only had a few minutes at Shark Bay before the kids had to get changed into their wetsuits and go to the meeting point. Fortunately for us Caitlin and Cooper were the only two booked in for this session so they had their own private show. They meet Shelley the dolphin trainer and the star of the show Zack the Bottle-nose Dolphin. The session involved them sitting on a pontoon in the water so when Zack came up to them they could reach out and pat him. Shelley involved the kids in getting Zack to perform lots of tricks and stunts. It was also very educational as she talked about the behavior and anatomy of these beautiful creatures. Rick and I watched from the sidelines. They had a great time and also received a photo and DVD each. From there we raced across to the 11.30 "Imagine Dolphin Show" and the other attractions including Shark Bay, the new penguin exhibit, and the Polar Bears. Caitlin and I booked to go on a behind the scenes tour of the Polar Bear exhibit which houses three bears. We learnt some interesting facts and got up close (the other side of the cage) to Nelson and Lia the only female. They have never bred polar bear cubs at Sea World and all the trainers were very excited about the prospect. Lia had been in her den for about 3 weeks but we were fortunate enough to see her come out for a snack of sardines, carrots and meatloaf. Polar bears are very adaptable and can cope with the very warm Queensland summers, they don't hibernate and weigh between 200 - 800 kg. The bears are rotated between 5 den areas and two outdoor areas including the exhibit area which has climate control features such as wind fans, sprinklers, waterfalls etc. The bears are mentally stimulated through toys, different scents, food etc. We met back with the boys at 3.00pm and decided to go across to Movie World for the 4.15pm stunt show. The queue was huge but they jammed everybody in. We headed back to Treasure Island for dinner - we were all exhausted. It had been a great day.