Took the kids to Underwater World in Mooloolaba the other week as a treat for the Christmas holidays. Hadn't been there before so was somewhere new for me too. It's quite a long drive to the Sunshine Coast, one I haven't done myself before either, so I felt it was quite an achievement to get there in the first place (yes some mental high-fives were given!).The drive through Mooloolaba was terrible, with slow moving traffic. I don't think the fact that there is one road along the point helped the problem much. Also there was not enough parking near the event, but thankfully we got something along the roadside and only had a short walk back. Driving home again in the afternoon proved to be not much better either.
Underwater World itself was quite reasonably priced compared to the tourist traps on the Gold Coast - except for food, take your own or go hungry.
There's all the usual highlights, pet the starfish (surprisingly they're quite hard), sharks, rays, moray eels, fish, alligator, plus an enormous frozen Hammerhead (certainly put things in perspective! - don't think I will ever get in the ocean in Australia). The seal show is worth a look, especially to see the seals being trained and some of the tricks they can do.
