5 Adrenaline-Pumping Thrills

1. Zip line, Maui, Hawaii

Ziplining through the Hawaiian mountains

Toben & his roommates were so welcoming, it was the friends we made in Maui that really set the island apart from the others. With them, we visited a spectacular blowhole fueled by massive waves, played improvised music at the Fuzz Box studio, & had a private sunset zip-line tour.

2. Rain forest sledding, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

On a bobsled through the rainforest

I couldn’t take pictures until we were at the end of the ride- wheeee! was it ever fast!

3. Crocodile close-ups, Darwin, Australia

Elijah holding a crocodile at Crocosaurus Cove

You pay big bucks to be lowered in a cage to swim with the BIG BOYS (Saltwater crocs). Not much action today from the crocs but you can see the scratches on the cage where they have obviously given it a go in the past. It’s a fairly good park although I’m not sure it’s worth what you pay. Seen a lot of the same stuff at a couple of the other places we’ve visited lately too. One novelty is a cage that you can get up underneath & look up at the croc through glass domes so can look face to face with them. Kids enjoyed this. They do the standard feed the crocs  try & make them jump out of the water… they seemed pretty sluggish to me. There’s a pretty good reptile walk through area & also a museum of stuffed crocs  all the different types from around the world which was interesting comparing them all. Think I might nearly be over crocs! –

4. Kings Island, Ohio

Kings Island Theme Park

There were so many cool rides at Kings Island we could have spent another day there easily. There was a couple of indoor rides that really surprised us, one was a indoor coaster & another was the Tomb Raider ride which went pitch black then flipped us upside down a few times.

5. Six Flags Magic Mountain

Tatsu rollercoaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain

For our second day in LA, we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain, which is a massive themepark (apparently one of the best anywhere). While it was a Sunday, it was actually fairly empty (I was expecting it to be packed seeing as it was a weekend). Quite a few of the rides had virtually no queue at all which was pretty cool. I did as many of the rides as possible in the time available, & they were all awesome – needless to say they were a million times better than what Rainbows End has to offer back home!