April 6 - Brook - Today we were able to sleep in, but I couldn't. So I went for an early morning walk down to the beach to check things out. The swell from the night before was still moderate in size. Once I returned home everyone was up for the morning. After breakfast was done my host family Graeme & Linda, Brenda & I decided to go for a walk down the east side of the beach. This morning the beach was littered with all sorts of seaweed that had been ripped off the ocean floor in the recent windy weather. Brenda and I also found a couple of starfish that were stuck in the sand, they were still alive but not for long out of the water. So we did our good deeds for the day and saved the starfish and threw them back into the water. Hopefully they stayed there.

Next we all drove to Hot Water Beach with our spades in hand. The beach was absolutely packed!!!! People everywhere, hardly room to dig your own hole. The ocean was so rough that the fact that it was low tide didn't really matter. People were digging holes right to the back end of the beach but the waves kept crashing through their holes and erasing all their hard digging. Still a fun experience, we all got a good chance to experience the extreme heat that a hole in the right spot could produce. I even was brave enough to sit down in it.

After this we drove to Haihe and hiked down to Cathedral Cove. It was a beautiful day at this point and a lovely downhill walk. The walk was about 45 min through thick bush and farmers fields. There were also huge crowds walking both up and down the trail with us. Once at Cathedral Cove I was impressed by the large hole in the wall, which gave the cove it's name. However what was different by this hole in the wall is that it is more like the tunnel in the wall. It is almost 100meters long. After taking a few pictures a few of the host families were going for a swim. I debated things for a bit as I had left my bathing suit in the car. However, it looked to inviting to turn down, so off I went, pants and all. The waves were huge, and I had a great time trying to catch a few and body surf them in. After I was done swimming it was time for a quick fresh water shower under the natural waterfall (more like a small dribble) to get clean. Then I had a rather wet walk uphill back to the cars.

Once home the team decided to have a quick meeting to plan our final presentation. Then back to my home hosts for a lovely dinner and then off to bed.