Friday 20th August

What a day!!  Russ came by on the pontoon boat at 10.30, we headed off on a tour of Gull Lake, stopping off part way to swim off the boat (really warm and good to do) then at the jumping rocks.  There are three levels of jumping rock – low, middle and high.  High was just mad, but low was fine and the middle rock was about 20 feet up.  Gillian and Ryan found it easy.  Ian was a little more hesitant and Ellie stood for quite a while thinking about jumping from the middle rock, but decided against it.  I made the mistake of climbing up to have a look, then with everyone watching and Gillian diving in easy as anything, felt I had to jump myself.  It took me a few minutes to work out all the angles to ensure I made a safe entry, then I jumped without any hesitation at all, whatever.  Wow – what an experience.  The water was about 40 ft deep so there was no danger of hitting the bottom.  Lots of swimming round as well.

We then headed back to the cottage for lunch.  After lunch, Russ took the kids back to his place and Ken took Helen and me in his Panther speedboat which was a real blast!  Up to 70 mph down the lake with the wind blasting us. 

Russ and Lee have a great place – they have a boat house and big dock down by the water with loads of fantastic boats (the pontoon floating palace; a top notch ski boat and two tin boats with skis, tubes, a giant hamster wheel and a diving board.  The water there is about 18 ft deep so it’s great to jump and dive in.  Ryan showed me how to stop my ears hurting when diving by blowing the pressure and I got to the bottom.  Russ took the kids tubing – two on each tube, then Ellie tried wake boarding.  Gilly gave a good demonstration, but Ellie’s feet were just too big for the bindings.  Gilly then showed what she could do on one ski – fantastic.  As the sun began to set, we piled into Ken’s boat, back to the cottage for dinner – followed by a game of Hoopla with some very tired children and adults.

We’re all a little red from the sun today, but had a fantastic, exhausting day.