Maddie's Day

Maddie was up with the sparrows this morning, keen for poppa to wake up and take her swimming. Which he did twice during the day. Maddie has been having swimming lessons & is doing really well but we didn't have any floatation devices for her with us. She really wanted to swim in the big pool & then we remembered our life jackets. Turned upside down & with your legs through the arms holes you sit upright & bob about in the water. We have done this in the past ourselves in a hot water swimming hole on the Waikato River while sipping a glass of wine. Maddie was a little hesitant to start with but Poppa soon got her sorted & then he couldn't get her out of there.

We then found the eels to feed in the stream that runs through the campground. There were about 6 or 7  at first just lazing in the shallow water but as soon as we started feeding them they came from everywhere to join in the frenzy. Don't ever think there's no eels about when you have a paddle in a stream, I watched in horror as they came out of holes in rocks you'd hardly think they could fit & from under rocks & the retaining wall with gaps no thicker than your finger. They appeared from everywhere, swimming upstream through the rapids with their backs out of the water, climbing over exposed rocks & up the rocks to take the bread from David's hand. It was fascinating watching them and when the food had gone they all slithered back from whence they'd come until there were only half a dozen left again.

Next we had lunch at a café down the road & then went beachcombing There had been a large surf overnight & at high tide this morning due to the strong wind. There was a lot of debris, seaweed & shells washed up to the high tide line. Maddie collected a lot of colourful shells to take home & I found some familiar delicate "sheep's horn" shells. As kids we used to collect shells & make ornaments with plaster of paris. Sheeps horns were highly sort after by us as they only appeared after a heavy sea, which wasn't often.

Waihi Beach