Wow, what a day! Way more physical exertion than I am used to. Not that that is saying much.

We had a typically slow start. Elizabeth was pretty pasty at dinner last night and went to sleep about 9:30 pm and didn't wake up until 8 or 9 am. She is usually the first up. She will go downstairs and sit quietly on the bottom step until someone else gets up. Not today. Everyone was out on the deck talking and it didn't even wake her up.

I cooked breakfast this morning, I did the bacon and scrambled eggs and Emily was in charge of the English muffins. Mom's friends Brenda and Peggy came over to visit and have tea and cookies. I did the usual tidy of our room as well as vacuuming the upstairs. After Aundine woke up from her nap we got ready to go to Cathedral cove. Sunblock and bathing suits, towels and miscellaneous stuff to gather up.

It was just a short drive as the trail head is only one headland North of Hahei. It was supposed to be a 30 minute walk but it took Mom, Elizabeth and I 45 probably. No watch but we were definitely a ways behind everyone else. The path was very well maintained hard pack dirt and gravel with nice stairs at the steepest parts. It was a lovely walk through the bush. I am fascinated by tree ferns but restrained myself from taking any more photos of them.

The track was very up and down and I was glad Mom made us wear our tennis shoes. We got to the beach and went under the archway of rock to Cathedral cove. The waves were pretty big but there were a lot of people out body surfing in them already. We shucked off our clothes and joined them. Dad and Derek went out to the deeper water, diving under the waves.

Kacie and I held hands with Elizabeth so she wouldn't get swept away and Emily was with us also. We were out there quite a while getting pounded by the waves. Elizabeth got pounded one to many times and I made the mistake of trying to wipe the water out of her eyes and ended up rubbing it in instead. She ran crying to Grandma and decided to play in the sand after that. Kacie, Emily and I moved out a little deeper. I got dumped once - I hear salt water is good for clearing out your sinuses. I hope it is true because I had water go up my nose and come out my mouth. I do not like the taste of sea water! I almost lost my hat once too.

Derek kept telling me I should take my glasses off but I hate not being able to see. It would have been really bad if I had lost them but they are a pretty tight fit.

It took a while to get dried off and ready for the hike out. Elizabeth had been playing in the sand - I looked over and she was laying full length on her stomach pretending to swim. I yelled at her. I dried off and dressed and then I took Elizabeth under the canopy of a very convenient pohutakowa tree. It made a great changing room. I hung a towel over a low branch to shield her from the beach and undressed and de-sanded her. We then walked back through the cave to the other beach and had to get all the sand off our feet so we could put our socks and shoes on. The walk back was a little easier for me because Elizabeth walked with Grandpa and I didn't have to listen to her whining the whole way out. I also got to carry to water bottle. I was very hot and thirsty so I was glad to have it. I had forgotten to bring mine.

Mom and I were the cow's tail (a term left over from the hiking days of my youth. We were always the last then too) bringing up the rear. We walked and talked.

It was nice to be home but Derek, Kacie, Dad and Emily wanted to go boogie boarding and Elizabeth wanted to go swimming too. I had said earlier that I would go so I couldn't back out even though I was pretty tired. I was a bit revived by the tasty ice cream treat I had also. It was a Memphis Meltdown, vanilla ice cream dipped in raspberry and then chocolate. Yummmm....It was a much nicer walk to get to our beach.

The estuary is still pretty high but is much clearer. The tide was coming in and a lot of fresh sea water was coming in despite the fact that someone had dug an outlet for it in the sandbank. We all went out into the waves and I tried to get Elizabeth and myself out past the breakers but we ended up cleaning out our sinuses again and Elizabeth decided that the calm waters of the estuary sounded better. I went with her and sat in the water while she paddled around with her floaty. After a while I persuaded her to give it up. The deepest part of the water was probably up to her stomach. She was practicing her floating. She is excellent at it!. Even without her floaty! She would lay back in the water with her ears in the water, close her eyes and stretch out her arms. She would be totally calm and still. She looked so peaceful. Then I had her try to swim, kicking her legs and moving her arms. That wasn't quite as successful but she was trying it.

We stayed several hours I think. I watched the boogie boarders for quite a while also - Emily is an amazing boogie boarder. She has good timing on when to launch into the wave so that it pushes her ahead of it and she is light enough that she goes way up on the beach. Awesome. I am going to have to take the video camera down next time they go. I have no desire whatsoever to try it. They are all covered with sand abrasions, scraped knees, elbows, legs... Nope, not for me. I don't mind standing in the waves having the crash into me but that's it. The shower felt sooo good when we got home. I had sand everywhere and it stuck. It was really hard to get clean.

Emily was on the phone to Kristin when I got out so I terminated that call by telling her that it was her turn for the shower. I called you. It sounds like you are doing well at home alone. I really like talking to you. Elizabeth perked up after she talked to you. I started writing this after I said goodbye. Mom really enjoyed talking to you.

Dinner was good, chicken shishkaobs, venison sausage, left over potato salad, beets, peas, butternut squash and grape cider. Very delicious. Everyone had a good appetite. Elizabeth is very crabby - she needs to go to bed but won't until she gets the laptop to watch a movie. I am using it and after me Dad needs to get on the internet to check some things for our upcoming travels. Mom also wants to see the New Zealand web page. Gotta go,

Love Dawn