Tag: water fun

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Munich, Last Day

We took a couple different routes on the Hop-Off-Hop-Off buses so I feel like we really got to see a lot of the city. That includes Marienplatz, St. Michael’s church, the eternal flame monument for those lost in WWII, Nymphenburg Palace, Olympic Park where we went to the top of the tower, a market where we saw a maypole,  Odeonsplatz, and the English Gardens. The gardens were beautiful, and we stumbled across a place where apparently a lot of people go to surf the little waves coming out from under the bridge.

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Cruise

Set out for our day cruise today where we laid out on the front of the boat soaking in the sun. On the first island, Aegina, there was a beach near the port so a bunch of us went swimming for about an hour and a half or so which was really fun. It seemed that there was more time spent on the boat to get to the other islands – Hydra and Poros – than there was actually on the islands, but we at least got to wander around a little bit. On Poros there were lots of cats and donkeys which were pretty fun to see. On the about 3 hour long boat ride back to Athens, I lathered on sunscreen in hopes that eventually I might tan a little bit, but even after many reapplications, I got so burned :(. It was a really fun day though, and when we got back we walked around in the rain to get another gyro.

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Kealakekua Bay, Snorkeling

Today we went out on a snorkel tour. The fish were ones that we had already seen before, but we got to see them feeding more which was cool. Our captain also threw some food in the water and the fish swarmed around which looked awesome. I also saw a couple fish playing with each other; 2 kept circling around each other, stopping and then starting again, while others looked like they were playing tag. My favorite fish were the ones that are all black but they have a neon stripe where their fin is; they looked really sleek. The boat rides were also really enjoyable and our captain was really funny, but it did make my shoulder sunburn worse.

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Kua Bay, Boogie Boarding

I got a sunburn on my butt from snorkeling yesterday, so that sucks. Went to another beach and boogie boarded all day; it was fun but I got a rash on my stomach and another bad sunburn on my shoulders and back. Also, Daddy and I tried to copy what some teenage boys near us were doing (me riding on Daddy’s back) and that failed the first time but mostly worked the second. Then we visited some lava tubes and the boys hiked down in them a little ways.

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Snorkeling & Mauna Kea

We went to a beach which had really good snorkeling. I saw 2 sea turtles there too, and the second one almost bumped into me! We then went up to the tallest mountain, Mauna Kea. It was really cool to see the clouds below us. There was also super good stargazing, including a constellation of  across that can only be seen from 2 places in the United States: Hawaii and Florida.

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Hiking

We went to Emerald Pools, but couldn’t get past the first pool because of construction, so we went to the Weeping Rock and the Temple of Shinawava. At the end of the temple hike there was a river that you could walk in and continue onto another path. Daddy and I went, but had to go barefoot. When we made it to land, the views were spectacular and definitely worth it. Aunt Robin didn’t come with us tubing because she thought it was too shallow. We did get stuck a bunch, but it was mostly fine, except once when Momma was trying to get me loose the bungee cord slapped my leg really hard.

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Boating

We rented a boat to go out on the lake. I had to go in a tube with Momma because I was too light and would get flipped over too easily. I even got to drive the boat for a bit!

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Brisbane>Sydney, Parliament

We had to get up at 3am to go to the airport to get to Sydney. At least we got to have sparklers since it was the 4th of July! We had a lot of time in the gate and I actually fell asleep on my leg which left a mark on my forehead! Sadly, we had to leave behind Alana and Heidi who couldn’t stay the extra two days. By the way, we were supposed to be going home today (like Heidi did) but because of United, we got to stay 2 more days.

After we got to Sydney we went to the Olympic Aquatic Centre and got to swim in the not so lazy, lazy river (or just river). We all had to dry off once we got out because it was time to go to Parliament. We got to see the queen’s chair which was very fancy!

After the Parliament tour, we were able to go back to the hotel to change to warmer clothes before getting on our dinner cruise boat. We shared it with a high school People to People group who were fun to dance with! Some of the little guys like Ian and Mason got to dance with some girls! The food on the boat was really good, along with some of the boys’ moves! We could see the Sydney Opera House at one point too but sadly, the light show was not on yet.

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Surfing

We got to go to the beach and learn how to surf and boogie board! Surfing was painful since the board kept hitting me in the stomach. One time it flipped over my head and I couldn’t get it off until the next wave came. I also wasn’t able to stand up because it was too slippery. You might say I’m not that good at the whole surfing thing! But at least I was good at boogie boarding, and that was a lot more fun too! It might be because the board was not as painful hitting me in the stomach the first few times.

After our lessons, we took a walk along the beach where I got lots of cool seashells and rocks! Then we ate dinner and went on another walk to go shopping.

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Great Barrier Reef

It was Tori’s birthday and her special present was to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef! We had to go on a 2 hour boat ride to get out to where we could get into the water. We spotted a whale on the way and named him Wally! He was showing off his tail flippers mostly, so we didn’t see his head but we believe he was pretty young because of the size of the flippers. The Great Barrier Reef was FREEZING! I had to come back to the ship early because I felt like I could get frostbite and the flippers were giving me cramps. I also didn’t want to get kicked in the face with flippers any more.

When we got back to the hotel, apparently some girls had “paranormal” activity and they thought some Australian boy stalkers or ghosts had broken into their room and taken their keys. And some people’s belongings ended up in different rooms and their suitcases were unlocked although they had locked them. There are perfectly good explanations for all of that; the maids, themselves, rumors, and seeing things because they are tired. Honestly, I think they were making mountains out of mole hills.