More East Coast.

I got to go back to the East coast with the Hingstons. It was fantastic! This time we camped in Bicheno. I learned a bit of cricket and finally tried Vegemite. It is pretty salty and a bit weird. It was not the worst thing I've eaten, but I would not call myself a fan. 

Here are pictures:

Redbill Beach

When the tide is low, you can walk out from Redbill Beach onto Diamond Island. It is pretty cool. There are tons of penguins that live out on the island. There were burrows everywhere. These pictures are all from on the little island.

Looking back towards Bicheno and the beach.

One day we drove into Douglas Apsley National Park. There is this fantastic little swimming hole you can hike to. It only takes about ten minutes and it is really pretty. It was a bit windy when we were there, but it was good. Still much warmer than the lake at CROW.

We went back to Friendly Beaches for an afternoon and I got to go surfing again. Sarah's dad and grandad caught some fish which were beer battered up for tea. It was delicious. I think that Friendly Beaches is my favourite place I have been to so far. 

I got to see a guy catch a squid one night when we went squidding at the breaking wall in Bicheno. It was crazy. They come up all crazy and squirmy. And then it made a big sneezing noise and inked all over everything. It shot the stuff really far. Unfortunately Sarah didn't get a squid so I didn't get to try freshly caught squid. I also did really get any good pictures of an actual squid. 

The Breaking Wall.

On the way home we stopped at a bunch of great places. First off was Four Mile Creek. It was a bit overcast and windy that day. But it wasn't really cold and the wind made the waves really cool.

Then we stopped in St Helen's. 

We took a little walk and looked at boats.

We got lunch in St Helen's and took it to Binalong Bay. Binalong Bay is at the Southern end of the Bay of Fires. It is lovely white sand beaches, super blue/green water, and rocks covered in this bright orange lichen. It is quite pretty. I imagine it would look even better when the sun is out. But it was still pretty amazing. I took a lot of pictures.

This guy was right across the road from the bay. Talk about lawn ornament.

The next stop was this crazy World War 1 memorial. After the war, a tree was planted for each soldier that died. Then a few years ago a guy turned the trees into carvings. All the carving was done with a chain saw and each one was done specifically for the soldier whose tree it was. So they depict the man or something significant from his life. It is pretty cool. The place was called Legerwood.

Our last stop was Bridestowe Lavender Farm. Lavender fields are pretty much the coolest thing ever. The purple and the rows, it just looks so cool.

I did some other things that I didn't get pictures of on my camera. We went out on a tour in a glass bottomed boat. It was really cool. I saw some stingrays, a little shark thing, some jellyfish, and a bunch of fish of various types. And an albatross swam around by us for a while. Those things are big as. 

I also took a surfing lesson. It was great. I got to use a wet suit that fit me fully and a bit of a longer board, which is much easier to stand up on. I was getting the hang of it pretty well on the big board by the end. Unfortunately the sun mixed with the reflection on the water was too much for my Canadian skin and I burnt my hands, feet, and face. Pretty much everything that wasn't covered by my wet suit. 

It was a great trip. I loved just wandering around Bicheno and checking out the shops. And spending the evenings down by the water watching all the people netting and squidding. 

Now I am back at Camp Clayton and the Jr Girls and Jr Boys camps are running. I am doing cabin leader support for the week and it is going really well. The girls are so well behaved and the staff this week is really good too. I actually know almost all of the female leader staff from previous camps this summer, which is really nice. I am having a great time with them. I'm a bit sad that summer camps are over after tomorrow. It went by so quickly and I wish I had more time to get to know all of the volunteer staff. They come and go so quickly. I must admit I wish it were a bit more like CROW with the longer camps and the whole two months of summer camps.