"Camping"?

Last week we stayed in a motel room in a camp ground in Doubtless bay. Because Mum and Dad were worried about getting rained out.

On Tuesday we slept in till 12, had pancakes for breakfast and made plans to go for a walk.

We went to Matai Bay, the beach was very long. We walked all the way to the end were there were lots of pebbles and stinky seaweed.

Then we came across a creek, luckily it was very shallow. There were also some large rocks we could use to cross without soaking through our shoes and socks.

From there, we walked along a track up a hill. The journey up the hill was long and tiring. In some places the path was very narrow and there were tree roots and tree trunks to trip you. There was also lots of nasty gorse and cutty grass everywhere.

The path got steeper after a while and it became very dry and it was challenging to find footholds. At this point you are practically climbing up the hill although the view at that part is amazing. What we saw from the top was even more breathtaking - you could see the sea, the beach and even distant islands.

By the time we got to the carpark we were exhausted as we had walked almost 6km.

By Emma

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Whatuwhiwhi, Northland, New Zealand

Waiheke trip

A couple of weeks ago we went to Waiheke to visit Graham, a friend of Mum and Dad's. They met him at university and lives in California but was staying in Waiheke at the time.

He drove us to where his mum was staying. At about 9:00 we got our stuff and went down to a beach. We went for a swim and then got ice creams but it was so hot that I went back in the water. The water was refreshing and Zak tried to dunk Mum in but Mum managed to stop him.

We then had lunch at the house. We had bread, ham, tomato, lettuce, honey, iced fruitcake and scones for lunch. The view from up there was beautiful, you could see the boats in the water and the people on the beach.

Shortly after lunch we went to another beach which was near the east end of the island and quite windy. We passed a soccer ball between us for a while then we went swimming again. Zak and I attempted to body surf. I was the last one in the water and when I eventually got out I was freezing cold. We then went for hot chocolates at a cafe near by. We really enjoyed Waiheke Island.

By Emma

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Waiheke Island, New Zealand

Two days of sailing...

The weather can change quite a lot between Friday night and Sunday morning. It makes a big difference to the experience of sailing.

Zak and Emma are both sailing, Friday night coaching sessions and Zak is racing on Sundays.

On Friday we had blue skies and 5 to 10 knots of breeze from the south (which means calm water where we sail).

Emma is sailing an Optimist. They are sailed all over the world by kids as young as 8, up to 15. It is about as small as you can get. Zak sailed this boat for the last couple of years.

Zak cruised by Emma's group in his new boat, a Starling. These are a New Zealand design, not sailed much anywhere else. It's a bit longer, has more sail area and goes much quicker!

The Starling is big enough for me to sail... I've only had one go so far and didn't tip out. (I did sail the Optimist a few times too but people laughed at me because my legs stuck out one side of the boat and my head out the other :-) ).


and then... Sunday.

Zak has been doing Sunday races for a while now but until recently they were in the Optimist. Today, under a more threatening grey sky, racing started with 10 - 15 knots from the north west.

Zak made a really good start at the head of the Open class. (Click on the image for a larger version - number 2168, you can make out the red 'Angry Birds' hat he sails in). But... it didn't take long for the bigger Laser Radial boats to catch him up. This was expected. The actual problem was the wind increasing to 15 - 20 knots and gusts up to 25. The water got bumpy too (not like the ocean or even a big harbour but enough that it knocks the boats around some).

On his first gybe he and the other Starling in the fleet capsized and got there masts stuck in the mud. :-(.

In the Opti, he's sailed many races where the wind came up this high but things happen quicker in the Starling and he is only just at the minimum weight so today was... a challenge... Over the next couple of hours he lost count of the number of times he tipped out, somewhere around 7 but was still in good spirits (and good company) after racing was abandoned because there were a couple of breakages and way more sailers in the water than rescue boats available!

Melbourne Australia Day 6

Today we went to The Melbourne Scienceworks Museum. There was some displays based on fairy tales and some displays based on science fiction or the future. They also had lots of displays about your fitness and what sports you would be good at. One of the fairy tale displays I liked was the three little pigs. It had a video explaining why each material the pig used would be good to build a house. The display also had little house models with furniture and a pig in each of them. One of the other displays I liked was the touch screen that allowed you to build a car. My favourite part of this was the futuristic add-ons, you could choose from a force field, wings and 3 others. 

My car

Then we went to Direct Factory Outlets (which Mum went to the other day) to buy me some new converse. I spent a long time trying on shoes but had trouble deciding between a light blue and a purple pair. In the end I choose the blue pair. While Mum tried some shoes on I looked at the array of flat laces. The different colours were multicoloured, fluro pink, fluro green, fluro yellow, black, white and lots more. Then we stopped off at the supermarket to stock up on icecream and other essentials.

When we got home Dad and I went to check out the pool which is next to the gymnasium at the ground floor in our apartment block. It is about 15 metres by 5 metres, the pool water looks a deep blue because along the sides of the pool there are bright blue lights. Dad and I swam around for a while and then went back to our apartment for dinner.

Melbourne Gaol

Today I went to the old Melbourne Gaol with Dad while Mum and Emma went shopping. It was very cool and old and I had lots of fun. First we watched a reenactment of the criminal Ned Kelly's trial and Dad was one of the volunteer actors. Next we got went on a tour of the temporary holding cells and then finally explored the main prison. I got to wear a replica of Ned Kelly's armour and take some mug shots.

From Zak

Melbourne Australia Day 4

Today we went shopping at the Chadstone mall. We went to quite a few shops and I tried a lot of clothes on. In the end I only brought two tops and some hair clips. 

We went to Gazi for dinner. Gazi is one of George Calombaris's resturuants. Dad and I had tuna, Zak had steak and Mum had pork belly. We also had chips, a lettuce salad and some dips with bread. Overall we quite liked our dinner except we thought that the pork belly was very fatty. 

The desserts were even better though. Zak had chocolate icecream in a waffle cone with chocolate popping candy on top. Dad had strawberry mouse with strawberry gel. Mum and I shared the nights special which was a red coloured white chocolate medium sized Easter egg with passion fruit ganache inside it. It came with strawberry gel (which tasted like strawberry jam), chocolate spaghetti (chocolate flakes), marshmallows and a chocolate and coffee flavoured crumble.

Zak's dessert

Dad's dessert

Me and mum's dessert

Melbourne Australia Day 5

Today Dad, Zak and I went to the Sealife Aquarium while Mum went shopping. We saw lots of fish, sea horses, crabs, sharks, stingrays, a saltwater crocodile, jelly fish, a manta shrimp and a lot more.

The scariest by far had to be the saltwater crocodile because it was massive and it stayed so still, without even blinking until it had to come up for air (which was every 20 minutes or so). Some people even commented and said that it was fake. The saltwater crocodile was Zak's favourite thing at the aquarium.

My favourite thing at the aquarium was the stingrays because some of them were huge and some of them had cool patterns on the top. Some stingrays were triangular on the sides and flapped when they moved, others were more circular and there bodies moved in ripples. One of the other things I liked in the aquarium was how many blue dorys there were.

Dad's favourite thing was one of the humungous crabs which had a pincer more than twice the size of a human hand. Unfortunately we do not remember what type of crab this was.

After we had looked at everything in the aquarium we checked out the gift shop. Then in a sheltered area near the exit/entrance of the aquarium we waited for Mum. When she got there we ate our packed lunch together. Then Zak and Dad went to visit the Melbourne gaol while Mum and I went shopping. While looking for the shops we found quite a few cafes and chocolate shops. We went into one of the chocolate shops and bought a milk chocolate caramel bar and a milk chocolate peppermint bar which Mum and I shared. There was one place we passed through which had a tearoom with people queuing out the door. There was a big display of all the cakes and slices they sold in the window. When we finally got to the shops I tried on quite a few things but in the end only brought one top.

Photo of tearoom display