Straddie - day 4 - gelati party

After the pack-up, clean-up routine we trooped up to Point Lookout for a final look at the whales - who performed especially well. A play on the swings was followed by gelati.

Our family had a 'gelati party' - named thusly because at the last Pine big kids camp they pooled their money and bought lots of trial size cups of gelati to share. The remains of our gelati party are below:

After a bit of tree climbing and playing - and after talking to Peet and Nathan's brass teacher from school who was there on holidays too - we left for Dunwich where we had lunch in the park before taking the barge home.

Everyone over twelve was exhausted - sadly those under twelve seemed to be just fine.

Straddie - day 3 - 5.2 km

We split up - some went to do some more whale watching and our family and David and Beth's family went to Brown Lake,

and then did the 5.2 km (return) walk to Blue Lake.

Both were so cold that only Peet went swimming at Brown Lake.

But at Blue Lake Peet, Nathan, David, Roger and Louisa all decided that the walk warranted swimming even if it was like ice.

We walked home along the four wheel drive track,

and had pies at Dunwich for lunch. Then home for more sandcastle building and some fishing before the State of Origin that night. Queensland won the match and the series - many cheers.

Straddie bedtime

The house Anne rented is huge and fabulous - but there were 21 of us. The kids all slept on air mattresses in the lounge room - one big cousin sleepover. Alec and Daniel abandoned the happy group for the garage.

Straddie bedtime

The house Anne rented is huge and fabulous - but there were 21 of us. The kids all slept on air mattresses in the lounge room - one big cousin sleepover. Alec and Daniel abandoned the happy group for the garage.

Straddie - day 2 - whale watching

Tuesday morning was french toast for breakfast then straight off to do the gorge walk and watch for whales. We were in luck and saw quite a few - too far out for a decent photo - but close enough to be fun for us.

Then on to the gorge walk and more whale watching, dolphin spotting

rock climbing,

and turtle spotting.

Max found a hole in the rock - about ten feet up - and climbed up through it - don't know how he managed.

Finishing the walk tired out Samuel briefly - but he was on his feet again pretty quickly and Jesse, Samuel, Max, Peet and I walked all the way home.

Straddie - Day 2 - Sandcastles

Tuesday afternoon was spent on the beach - swimming in the middle of winter no less.

And most notably having a sand castle building competition. Nature was the judge - each castle had to have a shell as a flag on its highest point and the last shell to be knocked over won. A line was drawn in the sand and all building had to stop when the first wave reached the line - the idea was that the sand castles would be more or less in line - and they were - more or less.

The first shell to go was..... drum roll .... Nathan

Then David and Robert.

Then Jesse and Monica - who were so happy to have beaten Nathan that they might as well have come first.

Simone and Louisa.

Closely followed by Roger.

Then a long wait till Alec and Max fell.

A longer wait till Brenton's washed away.

Down to the final two. Daniels went first.

Making Peet the winner - though video evidence later that night cast doubt on the result as Peet was seen making some running repairs.

Some of the spectators got a bit a cold:

A few extra smaller sandcastles were also constructed - below the water line.

A bonus photo of Louisa because I love it.

Dolphins, Whales and Dugongs

Louisa, Jesse and Peet had the most wonderful camp on Stradbroke - near perfect weather - perfectly behaved children according to the teachers - and amazing experiences.

Peet tops the list - he was swimming at Cylinder Beach - as far out as he was allowed - which was a long way out - level with the rocky headland. Annabelle was there too when she saw a fin which she thought was a shark. Peet claims that he stayed because he knew it was a dolphin - I hope that's true and he wasn't just being foolhardy. But it worked for him because a short time later 4 dolphins came in and swam with him. There was a baby, a juvenile and 2 adults. They put the baby with Peet and the other 3 swam around them both in circles. They were no more than 2 metres from him the whole time and the baby was in touching distance. Caryl (his teacher) was watching from the rocks and said it would have lasted 10 minutes.

The next day they came back with two other adults and swam in the waves behind the kids - except for the baby who came in and swam with Peet for a little while, and one of the adults who caught a wave in beside Peet.

We did wonder about there being a shark. We asked Louisa what the lifeguards were doing and she said 'texting their friends, like they always do.' Comforting!

Peet also saw a dugong, and they all saw whales going south. The whales were close enough that they could see the barnacles, and there was one baby - who was still all black - who was trying to learn to breach right in front of them. It tried over and over again and finally got it in front of the kids.

Other highlights of the camp were playing in Louisa's 'secret cove' where she found a small cave part way up the rock wall, and the gelati party the had at the end.