Hot Water Beach

On Saturday the 19th of April We drove to Hot water Beach. We put our bags down and found a free space at the front of the crowded area to dig ourselves a small pool. We worked hard to build the front wall and side walls and to make the pool deeper. The deeper we dug the warmer the water got. All of a sudden a larger wave came up the beach and washed our front and left side wall away. Our efforts were wasted! We were determined to fight back so we dug and dug and dug. We obviously weren't pushing ourselves hard enough, as another big wave swamped our walls. This occurred a third time but finally the problem was resolved as a family left their pool so we stole it. Finally we could stop digging and relax in the water drowning out all the noise from around us.



Here is a photo of Zak and I at Hot Water Beach.

By Emma

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Kayaking

21st April

Today we walked down to Hahei Beach to do some kayaking. Zak and I paddled out first. I found it extremely hard to get in the kayak while it was in the water. After a lot of struggling, I managed to get in, with Dads help. Zak and I paddled a long way out from the beach. It was hard to balance my weight in the kayak and I was aware of it rocking back and forth a lot. I got pretty near falling out a few times. Zak and I drifted and paddled around. We bumped into each other a few times. Then Zak paddled back to the shore to swap for Dad (we only had two kayaks).
Dad and I headed for an island out from Hahei. Occasionally we were pushed about by the wake of passing boats. We were going okay but it was just too hard as the wind kept pushing us out to sea. Instead we went back down the beach. When we got nearer the shore we had to paddle as fast as we could before the next big wave came. But Dad didn't give me enough warning and as I was frantically paddling towards shore I was tipped out of my kayak by the wave and was aware of it hitting me on the head.




My sand man.




Zak's caterpillar
By Emma
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Eagle watching

On the way to Whistler we went to Sunwolf Eagle watching. It was really cold and it was a lot warmer inside the lounge/reception. We were given a brief explanation of the procedure, while we ate tasty muffins supplied by Sunwolf. Then we swapped our hiking boots for gumboots. Next we went for a short drive in a van, where we unloaded the raft and pulled it into the river. Then we put lifejackets on and watched a safety demonstrastion. It was cool to see so many eagles, there was over 100 and lots of juveniles!




A Bald Eagle
We got some pretty good photos (Aunty Leanne in particular). We had a lot of fun spotting, counting and attempting to take photos of eagles. The view of the mountains was also noted. We also had complimentary hot chocolates. After departing the raft we did a little bush walk before we went back to the lounge/reception to eat complimentary chilli for lunch, which was very yummy!




Me drinking hot chocolate
By Emma
- Posted using BlogPress from Dad's iPod

Whistler - aww, pretty!

I know we've completely skipped over most of San Francisco and all of Vancouver but this one is too pretty to leave for later.

(The picture now links to a much bigger version when you click on it).

This is from the top of the highest lift on Blackcomb looking back at Whistler mountain.


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Snow!

Both the kids have snow in their faces yet Auntie Leanne looks totally innocent. Do not be fooled!




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Vancouver. 7 degrees C

(Or 44.6 degrees F).

Obviously I've skipped some things. I just thought the temperature change was note worthy...


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Biking in San Francisco

We got to Blazing Saddles (the bike rental we were using) at 10:30ish. It took a while to get everything sorted, getting bikes (ours were tandems), helmets and a map with routes and places to avoid marked.




Tandems on the beach

Dad was on the front seat of our tandem and Mum was on the front seat of the other tandem with Zak on the back. We have ridden tandems a couple of times before: Over the Golden Gate Bridge and at Stanley park. Mum and Dad have also ridden tandems lots of other times.

We were trying to get to the Yoda statue near Lucasfilm studios and got a bit lost. After consulting the map we figured out how to get there. Inside the reception area there were books, trophies and little models of scenes and characters. We spent about 15 minutes looking at stuff and took some photos of us with Yoda.




Yoda statue

Then we biked up a steep hill, but walked most of it, it lead us to Golden Gate park. When we were biking through Golden Gate park we saw lots of trees, some small fields and some bison. It took a long time to cycle through the park, when we came out the other side it was very sunny. We stopped for lunch by the beach which we really needed because we were starving. It felt good to take a walk because our arms and legs were sore, although we had stopped on the way a few times to take our jumpers on or off.
Me and Zak walked around in the sand for a bit and attempted making sand castles from the sand, which didn't hold shape very well.




Me jumping in sand

After that we rode back through the park, the bike path went through some of the same parts as before. Then we cycled through the the wiggle (thats how the blazing saddles assistant referred to it). Next we rode through the centre of town then to blazing saddles. By that time we had all had enough, our limbs were sore and we were exhausted.

By Emma

- Posted using BlogPress from Dad's iPad