Luna Park with Looney Parent

In the holidays, as part of our attempt to circumvent the utter chaos of our home life, we went to Luna Park.

It was an excellent way to spend some (albeit distracted) time with my sister and little nephew.

Each child took a friend to Luna Park.  Issy's friend came in the shape of her cousin who is five.  The other two were allowed to bring a mate.  Josh (my LP expert due to a couple of lucky invitations) assured me he was now the right height to wear a yellow wristband.  Yellow wristbands allow you to go on every ride in the park without an adult.

Now Josh is not a tall fellow, and I assume his mates are all either the same size or slightly (sometimes much) taller.  And he is.  Except for the mate we took with us.  Who, by the way, is awesome.

When measured, Josh's mate was officially a Green wristband.  This had far reaching effects.

1.  I could no longer stand outside rides, smugly waving at them as they were thrown around in space.

2.  I had to invest in a wristband of my own, so I could accompany my green wristed friend on any rides that demanded he have a companion.

3.  I had to GO ON SCARY RIDES.

I'd had so many plans.  For waving at them as they inched their way further forward in the queue and then, what seemed like hours later, wave at the blur I thought was them when they made it onto the ride and were taken up/down/round/back/spun.  And meet them when they came off.

Luckily (for me), Josh's mate was not incredibly adventurous.  He was happy to go on the Ferris Wheel, the dodgems, and through Coney Island, for which he needed minimal assistance.

Clowns are universal.  Any size, any height, the same crap toy can be yours. 

I did have to go on the dodgems with him.  I love the dodgems.  I am a bogan at heart.

Me (on the dodgems): 'Just pretend I'm not here mate'.
Him: 'OK'.

He then proceeded to drive like an utter maniac.  Far better than his supposedly more competent mate (driving alone) who spent most of the time driving backwards.

This is what I don't get.  Josh's mate is far more composed than Josh.  I would say, more mature.  Just shorter of stature.  So why on earth can't he drive his own dodgem?  Sure, I get that Issy can't, she can't even reach the pedals.  But I was just taking up space in that dodgem.

I took Issy on the dodgems next, she is in charge of the wheel and I am in charge of the pedal.  Occasionally I'm allowed to touch the wheel if she gets into a pickle.

So far, Luna Park was low key and very enjoyable.

Which brings me to the Flying Saucer.

The boys decided they fancied this.  It looked like a Ferris Wheel, but on it's side and faster.  It didn't look fun.  But I had to take it for the team.  Also, it fit quite a lot of people on one go so the line was short.  We walked straight on.  We stood inside a little cage.  We started to revolve.

This is not the Flying Saucer, this is the Rotor.  But this is how it felt.  Blurrrrrr... 

I shut my eyes.  Keeping them open would have been disastrous.  For about a century, we kept spinning.  Then we slowed down and stopped.

Josh' mate looked slightly green about the gills and said he might not go on any more spinning ones.  I high fived myself very quietly inside my own head.

Then I looked up at the ride as it took off again.  My heart nearly stopped beating as I realised what I'd been unable to sense with my eyes shut.  The fucking thing rose up out of it's horizontal position and whirled around vertically (like an extremely fast and demented Ferris Wheel).

While I was on it, I never realised this was happening.  Thank goodness.

While I was still contemplating what I'd just been through (without knowing), Sarah and her mate appeared, having gone on about 50,000 spinning rides, demanded fairy floss and disappeared again towards another nasty bone shaking monstrosity.

They went so fast down the slide that I kept missing them in the photo.  

My sister and I herded everyone into Coney Island where we enjoyed the relative calm of the giant slide and the thing that spins until one kid is left.  Issy nearly won this about 5 times but it was Josh's mate who eventually took victory for our group.

Issy, spinning and spinning. 

Finally we waited for what seemed like hours for the Ferris Wheel and then, when we finally got on, Issy began having hysterics and insisted she get off.  Immediately.  Which was not possible.

Navy Ship Central

Apart from all the screaming, the view from the FW was awesome, and it was two days before the Navy Review so the harbour was pumping with boats of all shapes and sizes.

And so, after such a day I would like to thank Joshie's mate who only made me go on one scary ride.  I would have gone on more if I'd had to.  I'm not sure if he was just being kind by not asking to go on any more, or if he was too embarrassed to be seen next to a shrieking middle aged Mum of his friend, or whether he really didn't like those kinds of rides much either.

Honestly, what use was I on the Flying Saucer?  In what way did I improve his ride or make him feel safer?  He was the one next to me, reassuring me it would be over soon.

Talk about your role reversal.  Josh had to take my hand and lead me off.  He was very kind.

Any Luna Park experiences to share?