Welcome to Spl*shl*nd

The first day....a quiet introduction to Alt*n T*wers, when J,K and me went into the hotel spa and did some serious catching up whilst sitting with our feet in foot spas, lying on heated ceramic loungers, or sitting in the gorgeous jacuzzi. Fortunately it was very quiet, we had the place almost to ourselves.

Then there was lunch, while we were still dressed in our white towelling bathrobes, and it was warm enough to sit out on the terrace, to continue talking and sharing, and enjoying a lovely lunch.

Afterwards, back to the spa, to lie in the meditation room, a warm, dark, scented room, with heated ceramic loungers, calm music and star lights on the ceiling. It was an oasis of calm and we could have laid there for a while, letting our lunch go down, only after one minute, K said the room made her feel sick so we all had to leave. Remember that when you think I'm a wuss for getting sick on a scary ride.....

After a short sit in the steam room, and then the Roman sauna, and a last visit to the jacuzzi, we decided we were calm enough to cope with a visit to Caribba Creek, the Spl*shl*nd complex attached to the other hotel.

Again, this huge water complex was amazingly quiet, very few visitors, so we could explore it at our leisure, finding the climbing tower, water pistols, the Tipping Bucket and so on. Of course I was taken up to the Mega Blaster water shute, and persuaded to sit on a large rubber ring, hold on tight to the handles and be pushed down the shute. OMG!!!! The first three seconds were fine, then the speed got out of control and I was shooting down into a dark tunnel and in fear of my life. As I came out of the tunnel I was suddenly going uphill on a kind of conveyor belt (visible in the picture below) with my bum, in the middle of the ring, bumping on the track below the water. Ow. As I got to the top, the water cleverly spun me round, and I disappeared into another tunnel and headed down it literally backwards, head first like a backward facing luge, and unable to see where I was going..then, splosh, I arrived in the splash pool.

K and J took one look at my face, and just wet themselves..did I want to go again..no thank you.... I did go down another shoot on a different coloured rubber ring, which wasn't quite so bad...and was persuaded down two shutes without a ring, and raced J and K to the bottom.

Then we swam through a plastic curtain and found ourselves outside in the Wubbly Bubbly pool which was an outdoor hot tub, and was so nice we stayed there a long time, relaxing and talking....

Oh joy, we then discovered the lvoely little river, which went round a large oval rock, with a gentle river current and water falls, and you could climb on a rubber ring and simply float round the river. K and J found a rubber ring. They then attempted to get me on it..they were pushing, I was pulling, and kept collapsing with laughter and falling down the middle. With no dignity left, I was eventually heaved up on to the ring, and happily floated round the river, joined by J and K . The occasional push off a rock was required to get you through tiny waterfalls....of course I got stuck at one point, K sailed by, unable to move me, and I eventually had to ask a little girl of about 6 swimming by to give me a push.

When it was time to go, one simply had to guide one's ring to the side and jump off, and climb out. Mmmm. J and K did just that and waited for me. I tried to lever myself off the rubber ring and failed, and so floated gently by with them gesticulating at me to come in... I sailed round the whole circular river again, helpless with laughter, knowing that without help I was destined to sail forever....

Fortunately, J and K had guessed my dilemma, and when I came round the rock at the third attempt, they kidnapped me, manhandled me to the side and to the steps and forcibly tipped me out of the rubber ring where I had become wedged. Oh, how we laughed.......