Participants will experience an all-new Tropicolor Zone™ on course, where they will be bathed in a tropical array of colors and delicious island scents as they pass through the shade of palm trees, arches, and island-style music.

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Do you have a spare hour in your holiday schedule in Surfers Paradise? Why not take the kids for an Aquaduck Safari!

Aquaducks are vehicles which take Surfers Paradise visitors on an adventurous tour around the Surfers Paradise area – but in a really different way. They are amphibious vehicles, which means that they can go on both land and water!

You have to experience this tour to appreciate just how fun it is. First Aquaduck is a bus which you have a tourist cruise through Surfers Paradise on – next it’s a cruise boat which gives you a sight-seeing cruise of the waterways behind Surfers Paradise – so it’s two tours in one! At about one hour long, and with tours running throughout the day, this is a great way to fill in a some time with a super-fun family activity.

We had seen Aquaduck buses getting around Surfers Paradise for years – they are so very distinctive with their enormous painted-on duck beaks and eyes, and their super-huge tyres. The kids had been nagging at me for ages to be one of those lucky kids staring out from this strange duck-mobile, so we jumped at the opportunity of being their guest on-board one of their morning tours.

We boarded the Aquaduck from their departure point of 36 Cavill Avenue. This location is right in the middle of Surfers Paradise, and within a stones-throw of lots of the big hotels and resorts there. We walked there from Soul, near the Cavill Mall and Surfers Paradise Beach in just five minutes.

The jolly captain and his beautiful assistant welcome you on-board the Aquaduck – the wheels are so big, to get onto the Aquaduck you need to climb up a steep-ish set of stairs. There were mostly families on board – the kids all knew they were going to get a turn to steer the boat when it was in the water, and excitement reigned!

Off we went on our Aquaduck adventure, down the Esplanade and along the main beach strip road of Surfers Paradise. Finally my kids got to be the lucky kids looking out from the Aquaduck’s big windows!

There is interesting tour guide commentary along the way (including some wise-quacks from the Aqua duck himself), and you get to learn a whole lot about Surfers Paradise that you probably don’t already know (For the parents already totting up how much it would cost to move to the Gold Coast to live in a beach front apartment, hopes were slightly dented with the news that most start at around the 5 million dollar mark!). Within about 10 minutes we were at the boat ramp where we entered the water.

It was surreal to be motoring along the road and then – with some prior warning of course – plunging into the water. Not a beat was missed as our bus turned into a fully fledged cruiser!

The sides of the Aquaduck are open with ropes hung along the base of the huge open windows in a suitably nautical theme, allowing the water breezes to drift in, and a great view of all there is to see on the Broadwater of the Gold Coast.

We cruised along, spotting Whale tour boats, ski boats and private motorboats. The Gold Coast canals are lined with houses of the very rich and famous – fascinating to sticky-beak at. We were told many an interesting tale of the ultra rich sliding into bankruptcy and having to sell their amazing water-front mansions for a knock-down price. 20 million cut down to 9 million? Unfortunately, we parents with Gold Coast dreams were still not on that page – darn!

Soon it was time for each child to take their turn at being the ship’s Captain. Parents were allowed to accompany their child to get that great photo of their child steering the Aquaduck. My two girls were looking forward to this experience most of all. What a thrill to sit in the Captain’s seat and steer the boat! My 10 year old was possibly a little too enthusiastic when she swung the wheel a full 360 degrees! Luckily, our capable captain was on hand to ensure the boat didn’t turn too much in the wrong direction.

When each child had had their turn, they were handed an Aquaduck Licence Certificate – a very proud moment.  We were given the opportunity to purchase souvenirs on board too – the girls chose fluffy ducks ($15) and duck whistles ($5), but you can also get stuffed Aquaduck replica toys ($15) and captain’s caps ($15).

Eventually it was time to emerge from the water way via another boat ramp – the experience of transitioning from boat back into bus was just as exciting the second time around! You can see what this was like here in our video.

Ten minutes later we had cruised along the roads of Surfers Paradise, right back to where we started – it was time to disembark from the Aquaduck!

What a brilliant time everyone had on board the Aquaduck – if you are in Surfers Paradise and have a spare hour, you should really consider taking the kids on an Aquaduck Safari!

Let’s Go Info!

Admission

Adult $38
Child $30
Family of 4 $120
Seniors $34

Departure location

36 Cavill Ave, Surfers Paradise.

Tours depart regularly from 10am to 5:30pm

More info, terms and bookings at the official Aquaduck website here

All prices are accurate for August 2016
We reviewed this tour as guests of Aquaduck

Have you ever been, or do you plan to take the family on the Aquaduck? Comment below!

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Here’s a brilliant new gift idea – Cupcakes Delivered!

Beautifully packaged, these cupcakes are a gorgeous surprise gift to receive. They are absolutely perfect for so many occasions too – birthdays, new baby arrivals (order pink or blue icing!), a congratulation gift (graduations, weddings, new job…) and of course, love – who needs boring old flowers and chocolates when you can have cupcakes?!

Samantha savours her Cupcakes Delivered cupcake

it’s tough to think of a celebration where these wouldn’t be a great surprise! Even corporate branding is available as a cupcake-topper, which makes them a really unique business catering idea or gift. Plus these cupcakes are so pretty to look at that they would be perfect for super-stylish party display tables too.

Cupcakes Delivered cupcakes don’t just look good – they really are delicious! There are a lot of bland-tasting cupcakes out there nowadays, but these taste just like they should – the real bakery item.

We had a Mixed Dozen box with both vanilla and chocolate mud, plus a Choc Decadence box of all chocolate mud. The vanilla was deliciously light, and the chocolate mud was rich and chocolate-y – real mud cake, not pretend!

All of the cupcakes were beautifully decorated with a melt-in-the-mouth icing swirl – some with choc sprinkles – some with party-confetti sprinkles, topping them off nicely.

Cupcakes Delivered packaging is top-quality and stylish

But how do the Cupcakes Delivered crew manage to mail these cupcakes without them losing their shape, icing or freshness? It’s quite ingenious really. The cupcakes themselves are packed within individual cells which keep the cake, icing and sprinkles exactly where they should be.

The cupcakes sit inside a pretty pink cupcake box of superior quality, packed within an insulated satchel with a cool-pack bag inside. This whole package is packed within yet another lovely gift box. It all looks great and works like a charm – cool, scrumptious cupcakes that taste super-fresh.

My whole family loved these cupcakes, including my extremely fussy 7 year old, Samantha – if something passes her taste test, it has to be good! She normally just licks the icing off cupcakes, but she ate the whole of her Cupcakes Delivered cupcake and asked for another! Indeed, both kids were clamouring for more cupcakes and I must admit that I went for seconds too – they were just too hard to resist!

I’m excited to tell you that I have been given an exclusive discount for my Let’s Go Mum readers! You can use the below voucher and discount code to get $5 off a Cupcakes Delivered purchase! To check out all the yummy options to order, you can visit the Cupcakes Delivered website here

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As soon as I navigated to Love That Pet, I found myself drawn to their pet information sections, using the left-hand menu navigation buttons. There is information on an extensive range of pets – from the smallest to the largest domestic pet! The tips are interesting and useful – and even unexpected! We have a new baby rabbit, and in about one minute I had learned several facts about rabbits that I had had no idea about previously (For example, put hay over the rabbit’s toilet tray – ah! So that’s why he wasn’t keen on using it!). After a combing through the pet info, I decided to check out what else Love That Pet had to offer – as it turns out, quite a lot! There are pet communities and forums (with a resident vet!), and even a funny pet photo section that had the whole family laughing! Check out the mouse with it’s teddy for ultra-cuteness…

Then it was time to go shopping by clicking into the Love That Pet online pet store. The first thing that was obvious, was that this pet store sells quality pet products. The cosy-looking dog and cat beds, the solid and attractive leads and harnesses (pink hearts – so cute!) – plus a stack of toys and other accessories. The best thing though, was the fact that they sell all the top brands of wormers and flea removal products for both dogs and cats – so you can do a proper flea or wormer (or combined) product comparison on the one website – and a quick Google reveals just how price-competitive Love That Pet is, too.

The thing I really liked about this website was the easy, clear navigation menu. I could find exactly what I wanted, pricing was clear and each product I purchased was a simple price selection click into the cart. Upon check out, I was really happy to find that Paypal was accepted as well as credit card (saves typing in all those numbers – I’m lazy!). The next morning I received an email with my delivery estimated times, which were more than reasonable at just one week from my order date.

A great online pet store ordering experience.

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