Yesterday was a day of bumming around, doing some washing, sitting in the sun, watching the kids play and doing not a lot. Was good for the soul. We did nick out to Coffin Bay though and grabbed some oysters. I bought 2 dozen for $16 and got a lesson in shucking oysters thrown in. I have never shucked an oyster before, so it was a big deal when we got back to the caravan, because these babies were part of our dinner. I am pleased to say that I succeeded and I only stuffed up (by that I mean mutilated!), three of them. The rest were pretty much perfect. I will not, however, make a living from shucking oysters. It took me about 1/2hr to do 12. But I did come away unscathed so I didn't put the shucking knife through my hands or anything silly like that!
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| Not a great one of Bella! |
Today, we did the 'Swim with the Tuna' and what an experience. These babies are BIG and FAST. All of us except baby H got in the water with the tuna and the other fish. I was really proud of the kids because even though they are all quite decent swimmers (well, Bella needs help), this was something WELL out of their comfort zones. To not really see the bottom and to have these whopping fish darting around, and to wear a snorkle and mask and to try and breath under water....it was all a huge learning experience for them.
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| A couple of dolphins that came out to the pontoon with us |
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| The two older kids stood out at the front of the boat for almost the entire trip |
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| Tying up Bella's feet! |
You are provided with wetsuits, booties, gloves and snorkles. You have to wear booties and gloves because the tuna can't tell the difference between pilchards which you hand feed to them and your digits. They didn't have boots small enough for Bella, so there was a big operation to tie off the ends of her legs on her wetsuit with rubber bands so her toes didn't poke out!
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| Shelly with baby H |
The staff were such great sports. Because we were all in the water (and you only get about 1.5 hours and it really flies), baby H was all by himself in the pram for the whole session. But Shelly - one of the crew - took it on board to look after him and she took him out of the pram and walked around with him. She even gave him a 'swim with the tuna hat'. So many people were besotted with him. I reckon if I had of turned my back for too long, someone would have stolen him!!
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| the tank of smaller fish |
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| The tank of tuna |
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| Feeding frenzy of tuna |
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| Tom feeding the fish...with fish! |
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| And Biddy! |
The guys helping us in the water were great too. At one point, I couldn't work out why the tuna were going nuts around me and darting really close. I thought they were trying to freak me out or something. Turns out, the guy up on deck was throwing the pilchards really close to me and the tuna were eating them. They all thought it was a great joke. They must have heard me squealing because they made me get back int he water and hand feed them, but singled me out by calling me the 'Screamer"!! LOL. But these big fish can weigh up to 270kg, although I doubt any of these were quite that big. But I would day that there were a lot over the 150kg mark. Easy.
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| Me feeding the smaller fish |
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| Mark having a great time |
The other tank that you got into was chocka block full of smaller fish and Port Jackson sharks and other types of fish that I never found out the names of. This was a funny experience, because there were just so many fish in here, you could not help but touch them all the time. They banged into you and swam all over you.
All too soon it was over, but on the way home, the captain took us past the Port and explained all the boats and their capacities. It was very interesting.
The kids found some other kids had arrived at the caravan park whilst we were away and they had bubbles, os they all had a ball chasing these around for an hour or so.
Later in the arvo, I caught up with a friend of mine, fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator Alisa Tilsner. We had a great catch up while our kids screamed around the playground. I will be able to see Alisa again at the end of May when we attend the Stampin' Up! convention in Brisbane.
Too tired to cook dinner, we took the kids out to a pub for dinner. It happened to be one on the wharf where we caught the boat earlier in the day. An obliging waitress snapped us on the deck.
Total kms travelled yesterday and today: 126
Total kms travelled for trip so far: 7,481
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