Drive to Bay of Islands

Today, we decided to check out the east side- where the beaches are.

It was almost 2 hours drive there. Since its a beach area, I was looking out for good seafood restaurants to have a nice seafood lunch. So, we first dropped by the Information Centre to ask for the map of the area and recommended places to eat.

Here is the beach where we went...


Though the sun rays were so strong, the water was still icy cold. I didnt go down in the end as I felt it would be a messy affair having to be wet and having no proper facilities to bathe.

The shells in the beach were so lovely. So, I was busy picking up nice ones for me to bring home and maybe decorate my fish tank.



As for my brother, he was busy building sandcastle.


Here is his finished piece! With added decorations from the shells I picked..



And what was Janine doing? She was playing by herself..


After a while, I suggested to CT to climb up the mountain and check out the view. If you look at the mountain or hill behind us, that was where we actually ran to and climbed up. It was far...very far. CT at first thought we might not have enough time, but I told him it is possible.



So, we actually ran on the beach towards the hill! Its no joke running on the sand and I felt so weak as I was doing it because of how tough it was for me. I was panting and panting. Sigh..

The running reminded me how I went to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a swimming camp and we were all made to run on the beach to our swimming complex for training every morning at 5 am and every evening at about 4 pm and then run back after our swimming training. The run was about 20-30 mins each time. That was serious business. But about 10 years later, here I am running on the beach and boy, I could hardly move! I felt weak..sobsob.

Ok...we finally ran closer to the hill. CT was fit and he was running fast.



And after running to the hill, could you see the numerous steps we have to climb up? Here's the view as we were walking up..



Check out the steep slope..pant pant.



After that exercise, we went back down to meet up with our family.
Here's my parents.



We then went for lunch.

Here's what CT ordered - orange roughy fish. Its real nice and flaky.



Here's Janine with her grandma.



After lunch, we went to a place for kayaking along the river. So, my bro, Pamela, CT and I went and we got a 2 persons kayak. It was fun as we got upclose with ducks and cows as we row.




It was a nice scenery as we paddled..


and boy, it was even more fun when we went close to the other persons' kayak and splashed water at one another. The water was nice and cooling. That is why I didnt bring along my camera.

What a tiring day. It was a real full body workout for me as I got to train my legs from running in the sand and up the hill at the beach area and also trained my hands from the kayaking.

Will definitely ache tomorrow. But truthfully, I like the aching feeling from a good workout!