DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER
Once K10, L7 and the Eds got to the bach at Lake Rotoiti they unpacked the car and started to skid on the go-cart on the loose gravel in the rain. They got sopped. That night after lighting a huge bonfire, they went to see some glow-worms in a nearby cave. Bedtime wasn’t till after 10.30pm.
The next morning after J11 (author of this post), Dad and Grandpa arrived we all went to a freshwater stream that runs under the road, which goes into Lake Rotoiti.
After we carried the kayaks to the river, we had turns at going under the road. Dad made all six of us boys get on one kayak for a photo. Before we managed to get the nose of the kayak into the tunnel one side went up against the top of the wall & JE12’s leg got stuck between the wall and the kayak, the very strong current of the water squashing his leg.
Once we had had lunch we had a rugby match that lasted for 40 minutes. Then we gathered a full trailerload of large pieces of wood for the bonfire.
With the bonfire preparations complete, we went walking in the bush by one of the lakes and found a little bay. Upon discovering some good skipping stones, we just had to have a wee competition. Dad A made the record: 15 skips.
We returned to the bach to cut up the big bits of wood & light the fire and put some potatoes in the ashes. Not too much wood though – so that the potatoes would not burn. After dinner we made the fire enormous. Huge. Gigantic. At least twice as high as the men. When it darkened we roasted marshmallows. YUM.
The next morning we swam & jumped off the jetty before breakfast. It is very refreshing to swim before breakfast.
But that wasn’t enough activity for the day. There was another bushwalk in store. You should see the tree we came across:
It took all the kids and three adults to stretch around the tree!
That afternoon we sailed the boats after dismantling the tents.
Then we left.
It was a really fun weekend & we loved having the grandparents with us too.
Competition: guess what we were doing in this photo!
inventions & adventures 
I’m stumped, what ARE you doing in that photo? pretending to ride bicycles upside down? some sort of pre-kayaking pilates warmup? a legless and armless race where you have to lie on your backs and move by wriggling your shoulders and hips? practicing your frosbury flop landing pose?
or… doing a haka on your backs? trying to make your feet and hands go numb? having a weird sort of sit-up competition? seeing who can go the longest without touching the ground with their arms or legs?
Your weekend looks like it was lots of fun :o)
They were good guesses, but none of them were quite right. We were warming up on the road being road blocks. There is another photo of us lying down to warm up.
It was Mr E’s idea.
And yes we had a great time!!
J11