Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/95079
outtahere pink tongue, which he then sticks out of the side of his mouth and swims about, having a joke. As if that wasn't enough, before we leave, his trusty human pal, Travis, gives Sirius an easel and a few pots of paint. One by one, Travis hands the marine maestro some paintbrushes, which Sirius holds with his teeth as he does a painting for us – a self-portrait of a dolphin. Kind of. We can't stop smiling and Sirius gives us a tail slap of a farewell before he goes off for playtime with his son, Tyson. The kids cheer and excitedly talk about everything they've learnt. I can't help thinking, how could anyone even think about hurting such gentle, amazing, clever creatures? They are more beautiful than I'd ever imagined, up close. Previous spread: Get up close to dolphins at Sea World; the kids will love the water park at Paradise Resort. Below: Number two on our youngest's list was scary rides. 2. SCARY RIDES I'm one of those people who gets really excited about spending a couple of days at theme parks, racing from one ride to the next. But I'm not 10 years old any more, so it takes a bit more to scare me these days. Fortunately, Warner Bros. Movie World and Dreamworld promise plenty of thrills. If you really want your socks knocked off, Arkham Asylum at Movie World is considered the big daddy of theme park rides. I often let out laugh-type screams on scary rides, but on Asylum I'm open-mouthed the whole way, completely unable to get a sound out, I'm so shocked by the speed and ferocity of it. It's like a roller-coaster but you hang underneath, strapped into a chair connected to the bottom of the roller-coaster rails. As you tear around at 85 kilometres an hour, you feel as though you're being thrown around by the scruff of the neck by a giant throwing a tantrum, your arms and legs helplessly flung every which way in super-rapid succession. The staff overseeing the ride wear orange mental asylum outfits and the speakers blare out asylum orders in a zone of wire-fenced dreariness, giving the impact needed to get your blood racing. It's purely mental and I come off the ride feeling suitably unbalanced. Movie World's Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster, on the other hand, looks like a lightweight compared with Asylum, and they let little kids ride it, so we didn't get too excited while waiting for the dodgem- sized cars to turn up. Off we go into the dark passages of the 'haunted house' roller-coaster, with the cartoon characters' voices calling out around us. Then we suddenly zoom upwards, then backwards, a feature of the Batman universe, and where Arkham Asylum is FAST FACT Gotham City's lunatics are sent, including the renowned villain, The Joker. 15