Science and Music

This morning we headed off to the Carnarvon Space Museum.  We walked inside the dark building and first looked at a few facts about the Solar System.  Here are some of the most interesting facts:  The size of the sun could fit one million Earths inside it, the temperature of the sun is 5,538 degrees celsius, Venus spins in the opposite direction to most planets, Mars is covered in volcanoes, Jupiter can hold enough space for 1,000 Earths and Neptune is the coldest planet in the solar system. Then we tested ourselves on a skill tester which is like a game of Operation.  It is a wonky bit of wire and a looped handle and you try to get the loop handle all the way to the end without hitting the loop on the wire, to be an astronaut you need to have good hand eye coordination and

that is an example of one.  Then we went into a space shuttle flight simulator which showed us how it would feel to be in a rocket when it blasted off.  We had to lie down on our backs with our legs on a bench and we watched the T.V and looked out the fake windows and we could see the sky then the earth beneath us after we took off.  We walked around the museum learning about the astronauts and the satellite trackers because there were two large satellite dishes right next to the museum, they used to be used by NASA.  Then after we watched a few videos, we went outside to look at the giant satellite dishes, I climbed up a section of one and realised how large they really are.  Then we did a bit of shopping and then went back home for lunch. 

After dinner we headed down to the beach to watch the last part of the TropiCOOL Festival.  When we arrived at the beach we listened to James Abberley playing his guitar, followed by 2 fantastic girls/acrobats doing dancing and tricks on a trapeze and a rope.  Then there was 4 people on stilts doing and act, one had a flamethrower throwing flames at a person holding a ship which underneath a bird which was being held by a guy and next to the bird was someone holding a lantern.  Then one of the acrobat ladies came out again and did some more dangerous stunts.  Then a big group of girls came out and did a dramatic dance followed by a different lady on a trapeze who was then followed by a man doing tricks on a rope.  Just before we left to go home James Abberley came back out and sang a few more songs, including ‘Talk Is Cheap’ by Chet Faker, while playing his guitar.

TropiCOOL

Today the whole family went for a walk and I bought some some new thongs and a book.  Then we went back to the festival from yesterday and had a walk around the stalls and at one of the jewellery stalls I bought a beautiful ring and a few more books.  Kade and I participated in a dancing competition and we both won a small prize each. We went back to the caravan for lunch and then came back to the festival to watch the local Pony Club do some excellent show jumping.  The horses and ponies were all very cute and a few refused to do some of the jumps.  

On the way back we spotted some celebrities, Kelly and Chloe from My Kitchen Rules!  We walked over to where they were and realised they were cooking and handing out free food!  They were making Banana Spring Roles with Ice-cream.  I had a bit of the pastry and gave the banana part to mum (I don’t like banana) and the ice-cream part was unbelievable.  Then after we walked back to the caravan I Skyped one of my best friends Lily for the 2nd time and I got updated with all the things happening back at school.

Carnarvon

After we said goodbye to Rob we headed off to a large town called Carnarvon.  We pulled up in a Caravan Park and squeezed into our little spot.  We set up quickly and then drove around the towns farming areas and we spotted bananas, Butternut Pumpkins, strawberries and corn.  

When we were back at the caravan we heard someone testing the speaker all the way from the park for the TropiCOOL festival which we were going to a little while later.  I sat and read my book Rocco for a while until 5:30 and we started to walk down the busy street to the festival. When we walked in I could see brightly coloured rides, a stage and some stalls as well as Rob and we went over and said hello.  We first looked at a Jewellery stall and then we passed a sweet stall filled with Candy Apples, Fairy Floss, Giant Chocolate Freckles, Popping Candy on a disc and lot and lots of brightly decorated Cake Pops.  We got some dinner from one of the stalls which was chips and gravy, it was so large I couldn't eat it all.  We had another little wander, then mum and dad bought a Cake Pop for Kade and I.  My one looked like a white ball with sprinkles, but it was chocolate Mud Cake in the middle.  We sat down near the stage and the first band that played was called the Gassy River Band and they sang a range of types of songs.  Then the next person was…Beyonce! It really wasn't the real Beyonce, it was a Beyonce tribute show.  The girl who was dressing up like Beyonce was from Melbourne and her voice was amazing and she looked very beautiful.  She sang some of Beyonce’s songs swell as some other ones.  After Beyonce was a solo guitarist called James Abberley who I thought was very good.  

After him we started to walk home and when I was in bed I could still hear the music, I even heard Rihanna but once again it was a tribute show and I’m pretty sure that it was the same person dressing up as Rihanna as the one who dressed up as Beyonce.

Cape Peron, Shell Beach and Hamelin Station

Yesterday we visited some pretty beaches at Bottle Bay, Cape Peron and Herald Bight. At Cape Peron we walked along the cliff to Skipjack Point Lookout and we spotted a Ray down below, though we weren't sure if it was alive or not because it was staying in the one spot and last time we saw Rays they were jumping out of the water.  

Today we packed up out tents and drove back to Blue Dolphin Caravan Park and collected the caravan and drove off to Hamelin Station Stay.  Hamelin Station is a beautiful farm stay in the bush and recently they had shut down the sheep station but I still got to explore it.  On the way we stopped at Shell Beach which is entirely made of Cockle Shells and the water is two times saltier than the normal ocean.  

Back at camp, we met up with our friend Rob who camped with us at Margaret River and Parry Beach.  After we looked around the beautiful buildings we had a little walk around a perfect lake with little birds, Swans and some other birds I don't even know what they were.  Then we drove to look at the Stromatolites which were the first forms of life all the way back 3,500 million years ago.  They just look like rocks and you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between them.  They live in the salty sea and they breath and produce oxygen just like trees.  We had to go on a board walk over the Stromatolites because they take millions of years to grow just a foot tall and if we step on them it will take even longer to grow.  There is still car tracks on them from when there was no rules.  Then we had dinner at the fabulous camp kitchen because it was so beautiful.

Camping in Tents

Yesterday we didn't do anything because we were too busy packing the car, we were going to camp in our tents at one of the camp sites off the 4 wheel drive track.  We were taking our little tents because we cant take our caravan on the soft sandy road in.  Today as soon as we checked we had packed everything we need, we started off on the bumpy road.  We passed the turn off to Big Lagoon where we had stopped a couple days before.  After an hour of driving along the track, we pulled up to the campsite called Gregories in Francois Peron National Park.  It didn't take long to set up, so not much later we were taking our snorkelling gear down to the beach and had a little swim.  The water was freezing and we didn't bring our wetsuits because we left them back home.  Unfortunately the water wasn't that clear and it was very shallow so we didn't see anything interesting except for an old smelly shoe.  

After we warmed back up again dad, Kade and I went for a walk along the beach.  We spotted some very interesting things; purple sand, giant shells, fish skeletons, a tiny crab and a washed up baby shark!  It was sad to see the baby shark because it was laying upside down with its mouth open and its eyes shining bright.  When we walked back Kade and I made some tunnels and a battlement castle and we were at war with the waves.  

Then mum, Kade and I went for a walk in the other direction.  We didn't see much until on the way back we saw a pod of dolphins playing! Not only were they playing but jumping completely out of the water!  It was amazing and beautiful to see, but luckily we spotted them because otherwise we would of walked right passed them while they jumped because they landed silently.  They also jumped with their body straight up and their tails still in the water as well as splashing their tails and swimming very fast.  After we told dad about what we had seen, we walked back up the hill and watched the glowing sunset.  We had our dinner in the dark and then mummy and I climbed into our little green tent and went to sleep.

Shark Bay Discovery Centre

The first event that happened today was going into the Shark Bay Discovery Centre which was all about how Shark Bay became world heritage listed. It had lots of interesting facts about the things that make Shark Bay special.  We stayed in the room for an hour and a half and had the whole place to ourselves for the whole time.  Then we walked back to the caravan to have lunch and I did some more reading.  A little while later we walked down to the Heritage Hotel and listened to some live music while looking over the water.  Another thing which was great about going there was that we got free food!  We ate some Calamari, fish, prawns and wedges. 

Peron Homestead and Big Lagoon

Today I got to have another sleep in, and yummy bacon and eggs for breakfast.  We set off in the car and then we pulled over so I could ring one of my best friends, Holly.  We chatted for a while then I hopped back in the car and we drove into Francois Peron National Park and stopped at an old sheep station called Peron Homestead.  First we walked into a little information room which told us the way things changed in the area from when aboriginals owned the land till now. In the next room they had stuffed animals representing the animals that roam the area, some of those were Feral Wild Goats, Feral Cats, Shark Bay Mouse, Western Barred Bandicoot, Banded Hare-Wallaby, a Mala and loads more.  Some of those animals are greatly endangered and are found nowhere else in Australia. The feral animals were introduced and became a pest.

I was wondering why mum told me to wear my bathers and then I found out, we were going in a hot tub!  It really is a hot tub but a natural one called an Artesian Hot Tub, the water in the hot tub is naturally hot and comes from a 540 metres deep under ground Artesian Bore.  I read a sign which read : the hot tubs water temperature is 40 degrees! I didn't believe it until I put my legs in, it BURNED!   After I slowly made my way in we had to get out regularly so we didn't suffer from over heating.  Then we walked around the shearing shed and learned about how the shearers lived and how the shearing worked which I found really interesting.  

After we found our way back to the car we had to let down out tyres so we could drive on the soft sand of the 4 wheel drive track.  It was our first time driving on a 4 wheel drive track and it felt like a roller coaster, we went up and down big hills as well as continuous sharp turns.  After a while we reached our destination, Big Lagoon.  The lagoon really is humungous and it was also very pretty, we walked around a part of the lagoon on the tops of the cliff, trying too spot any marine life but we didn't see any.  The colour of the red cliffs against the white sand against the turquoise water was a real contrast.  After we finished our lunch we drove back along the roller coaster track and out of the national park and stopped to have a look at Little Lagoon which had a stream connecting it to the ocean.  As we drove along, we found an entrance to the little stream and we went to have a look.  The stream was very pretty and peaceful, it was so clear that I could see gorgeous fish swimming gently down the stream. When we got back to the caravan we had a rest then after dinner the family watched the end of the Harry Potter movie we had started watching the night before.

Eagle Bluff and some fishing

This morning I got the chance to sleep in.  When I got out of bed, I had my toast and cereal for breakfast.  Then when I went outside a weird thing happened, I couldn't see the ocean, so I asked dad if he could see it and he said he could just make it out.  The reason the ocean was hard to make out was because the sky was the exact same colour as the ocean so I couldn't see the horizon.  

The first place we went to was called Eagle Bluff where we went on a boardwalk on a cliff looking over perfectly clear ocean. It is supposed to be a great spot to find marine life and at first it was so clear we could tell that there was nothing there.  As we walked along the boardwalk we spotted a few schools of particularly long fish and a few species called humans.  A little drive later we stopped to have lunch at Denham Lookout and while we were there we spotted a shack covered in thongs called (obviously) the Thong Shack.  

Then after a walk along the shops we got some bait and got ready to go fishing. When we had chopped up our squid bait we walked to the end of the jetty to catch some fish.  We waited for fish to come to our fishing rods for a bit more than two hours.  In the end Kade caught five fish and mum, dad and I caught one fish each but we didn't take any home because they didn't reach the size they have to be to pass the Western Australian fishing law.  While my rod was in the water I could see large and small fish nibbling at my bait and I tried to get them on the line but I couldn't and we didn't have a net to scoop them up either.  Then, still smelling fishy, we hopped back in the car and headed home for our dinner which was yummy burgers.  After that we got out the laptop to watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but we only watched the 1st half because we all got too tired.

Monkey Mia - Dolphin feeding

Today was one of the most exciting day of my life!  It started with getting up early and driving to Monkey Mia to watch the first of the dolphin experiences.  We waited for a little bit for the dolphins on the sand and while we were waiting an adorable little Green Turtle came swimming past.  The Green Turtle splashed its little flippers and kept lifting its head for a breath.  Then eventually a mother dolphin called Puck and its calf Piccolo came and joined us on the shore, so close to us we could of touched them but that is illegal.  Two of the rangers gave us some information about dolphins and then told the crowd it was feeding time.  Right at that moment a pelican came down to get ready to steal the fish but the rangers were prepared for that and had a distraction bucket called the Yellow Bucket full of fish to distract the pelican.  When a few more rangers came down with 1 bucket of 3 fish for Puck because Piccolo had left, the people picked out 3 volunteers to feed the dolphin but unfortunately neither Kade or I was picked. 

Then we had a long rest at the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort while watching the waters for playful dolphins which we didn't find. Then we went back down to the beach for the 2nd dolphin experience which had just started because there was already 2 dolphins there, Piccolo was back and there was another one called Shock (all the dolphins they feed are girls because the boys are too aggressive).  We didn't have to hear it all again because the lady soon said that it was time to feed and immediately 2 pelicans came and out came the Yellow Bucket. They picked out people to feed the 2 dolphins and once again we didn't get picked. Then luckily another dolphin arrived just in time, its name was Surprise and I held my breath to get chosen to feed her and YES! I got chosen, so I brought Kade along with me and I got handed a slimy fish by the tail and WOW as quick as a flash it was in the dolphin’s mouth. It was such a great experience to see the wild dolphins so close and to see their actions while feeding them some fish. Later we went on a 4 kilometre walk which on the returning leg was along the beach, where we passed 3 camels on the beach waiting to be ridden. 

(Kade and I actually feeding a dolphin)

After lunch we went out on the boardwalk and dad spotted another adorable turtle swimming near the posts. We got out our snorkelling gear and went down to the beach to test them out for the first time.  The mouth piece felt funny at first, then it felt fine but I still can’t get the hang of the flippers. I found some pretty shells and things and the water was very salty. Then after we got dry we went up to the café and dad ordered a chocolate milkshake for Kade and I, it was very yummy and had the perfect thickness though mum thought it was a bit big. Then we went back Peaches and got ready to go back down to watch the sunset again. When we got down to the boardwalk it was dark and there were a lot more fisherman, I was disappointed because the sky wasn't as spectacular as the night before but it was still very pretty.

Shark Bay

Yesterday we stopped at a 24 hr rest stop on the side of the highway.  I didn't think many people would stop there but there was heaps, and a good thing was we got to have our own fire that night.  

Today we arrived at Blue Dolphin Caravan Park in Denham, Shark Bay and I have the best view from my bed in the caravan, facing the ocean.  After a bit of reading in the sun, the family walked down next to the ocean and walked along the shopping strip.  We stopped at the information centre and the lady there told us all the fun things to see and do around the area, she told us so much that we have basically planned out the next 6 days we are staying here for.  

After another set of reading back at the caravan we walked back to the jetty to watch the men fishing they caught a few fish and it was fun to watch. Then on our way off the jetty I saw an incredible sight, the sky was filled with most beautiful colours of red, orange, yellow, pink, purple and blue. The sun had already set, I don't know why there was so beautiful colours, it was so beautiful that mum said it was the most beautiful sky mum had ever seen. Then we walked back up to the caravan to have our dinner.

The Loop

Today, the first thing we did was head straight to the Kalbarri National Park and got prepared for our 9 km hike. We started the long scenic hike at Natures Window and then continued along the cliff top, then around the corner and down to the sandbar next to the river. On the way as we were going around the twisty-turny shapes of the river, I spotted two kangaroos bounding on the edge of the cliff alongside us, then we spotted 2 more red kangaroos being one of the many bushes further up. The cliff faces were beautiful because of its magnificent colours as were the caves made from fallen rocks.  The hike was very long and had some tricky parts along the way, especially  trying to fit through small gaps on a rock on the river and the climb back to the top of the cliff at the end. The hike took us 3 hrs and for a treat for hard working we got a delicious Golden Gaytime ice-cream back in town before going back to the caravan. After a nice cold shower to cool us down we relaxed by the river for the afternoon.  

Kalbarri Lookouts

Today we did a lot of sightseeing around the area.  The first place place we went to was a lookout over the Murchison River it was pretty to see the red colour of the cliff face joining the brown/green colour of the river.  Then we walked down to the river and balanced across the slippery rocks from the rain last night, Kade jumped off some big rocks to dad and I thought it was a little funny watching Kade’s face as he jumped. Then we drove up a big mountain to a spot called Meanarra Hill Lookout where we could look over all of Kalbarri.  A sign up the top told me that the ocean used to be up to the point where we were standing.  

Then we drove to the other side of the town to a place called Mushroom Rock which of course there was a rock shaped like a mushroom.   We went for a walk along a track beside the coast, the waves crashed up against the cliff edge and sprayed us as we climbed across the rocks and sandstone.  There was some very pretty patterns in the sandstone almost like stripes and there was walls of it in cave like things.Then we had a look at some interesting cliff faces and rocks, there was one rock which looked like a bridge, another like a crown or a castle, some cliff faces looks like big pillars of a castle and a cut out of a cliff which looked like a grandstand. So after seeing all those we thought we had done enough driving and it was getting near sunset so we headed back to the caravan for the rest of the afternoon.

Pelican Feeding and Rainbow Jungle

In the morning we drove to the foreshore to watch the pelican feeding.  Kade and I got to throw out some of the slimy fish to the 5 pelicans.  We learnt how to tell males apart from females and babies apart from adults.  The male pelicans are taller then the females and I think 2 of the 5 pelicans were male so that leaves 3 girls. The difference between an adult  and a juvenile pelican is that the colour features of the adults are darker.  Their wings, feet and even the yellow colour around the eye are darker than the young pelicans. 

After we made a donation for the pelican feeding, as it is run by volunteers, we went for a drive along the coast but only stopped to go outside at Eagle Gorge because it was raining and windy. 

Then we arrived at Rainbow Jungle which is a parrot breeding centre with birds such as parrots, cockatoos, macaws, parakeets, lorikeets, budgies and heaps more.  Just as we started looking around at the magnificent birds, one of the staff was coming through and feeding the birds.  Luckily Kade and I got to help hand feed the larger birds some almonds.  We held the almond up to the edge of the enclosure and the birds would come and hang on the sides with their beaks and feet and take it out of our fingers with their strong beaks.  The colours of the birds were all stunning, there was a mix of rainbow birds, bright coloured birds, pretty patterned birds, talking birds and funny looking birds.  There was a bird in the doorway named Cocky and when I sang to him he would dance to the music.  Then because it was still raining when we left, we went back to Peaches to play a game championship uno.

Kalbarri National Park

After we got our visa card stamped to leave the country we had a short but bumpy drive to where we are going to spend the next few nights, Murchison House Station. It is a pretty farm stay and we are camping right next to the river, there is some beautiful animals such as 7 goats and their 3 babies, some Alpaca, chickens, a rooster and some white ducks that swim in the pool overlooking the river. 

It was a beautiful day so we visited the Kalbarri National Park and didn't realise how beautiful it would be. We first walked to a spot which was called Natures Window and the view over the gorge was phenomenal and I couldn't think of a place more beautiful. Then we went to a lookout called West End Loop and I could see out to the cliff edge and the big rocks I was standing on before at Natures Window. Then we drove a few minutes on the bumpy road to the carpark of the Z Bend Trail, it is 1.2 km return down a150 metre drop to the river in the gorge. We climbed down the gorge on loose rocks, it was a deep descent and there was also some ladders to climb, when we reached the bottom it was breathtaking I can’t describe how beautiful and peaceful it was. The river flowed down around the rocks and the colour of the cliff was spectacular, I splashed my hands in the water and it was the perfect temperature that dad jumped in for a swim and I could see lIttle fish in the transparent water which came up to the water to breath. We explored the rocks then had to climb all the way back up to the top and had a quick peak at a look out where we could see where we had been standing below. Then we drove back to the caravan and we saw 2 of the baby goats being fed by a lady, they were drinking out of baby bottles full of milk. 

International visit

After my last NAPLAN test, we started our drive to our next stop which is in a different country.  The place is called the Principality of Hutt River, it really is a different country but only the royal family live in it so it is called a micro nation. The country is 18,500 acres or 75 square kilometres in area and is comparable to the size of Hong-Kong. How it became a different country is because Leonard had a very large amount of land and the government said he could only farm a certain percentage of the land and the government wanted to cut it down from his 13,000.00 acres to just 100 acres. So Leonard threatened that if they continue with trying to stop him farming his own land he will secede (leave) from Australia and they didn't take his warning seriously and continued so Leonard seceded from Australia and started his own country so the government couldn't boss him around. He named himself Prince Leonard and his wife was princess and all their daughters and sones were either prince, princess, duke or duchess and the funny thing is their place is a farm. When we arrived we got a visa card stamped to say we are allowed in their country we camped on a part of their land with some other nice people. 

On the way we stopped to have a look at Pink Lake and the water was actually pink, it was very pretty to see it from above and as well as on the sand. Apparently the farmers use the salt that makes the water pink to help them with their farms but I think if they continue the water won’t be pink any more. After dinner the family sat around the campfire with the other campers and watched the stars because they were phenomenal.

Ellendale Pool, Wind Farm and the Leaning Tree

I went back to school today to do my NAPLAN reading test. I stayed at school until the test was over then my family came and picked me up.  As we were driving we drove right through the middle of a Wind Farm we pulled over at the information bay and we could touch an old blade and stand right up close to one of the thousand windmills. 

We drove to a beautiful part of a river, the place was called Ellendale Pool. I could see giant rock faces coming down in to the slow flowing river with caves spread out along them. There was lots of Aboriginal history about the place and that a Serpent lived in one of the large caves. 

On the way back to Geraldton we stopped to look at an old settlement village with all the original building. We could not see much because it was fenced off and the buildings were in rows so you could not see behind the first few. After we got back to Geraldton and bought some fish we went back home and jumped back in the freezing pool but it wasn't as cold as yesterday because it was a 28 degree day. We went back out to the beach again that night to watch the beautiful sunset on the water, the sun shone different colours and behind us we could see the lighthouse in front of the pink and blue sky.

School time

School again. Today I went to school like every other kid in Australia and did NAPLAN. I went to school at Allendale Primary in Geraldton WA for 3 hrs. After I arrived at the school office the Assistant Principal, Mrs Gadsby, took me to classroom 15 where I was to do Naplan. I met my teacher Mr Belevia and a girl called Holly, who was going to look after me for the next 3 days, and then I got introduced to all the girls and some of the boys in my class. Mr ? took us outside and we played duck duck goose and then changed to indians and tepees and I came third out of the class. Then we came inside to do NAPLAN which I felt confident in and I finished Language Conventions in time. Then I did maths with the class, and a really short recess where I played Golden Child for about 5 minutes when the siren rang to go back to class. I finished doing the Writing part of NAPLAN and then mum, dad and Kade came to pick me up at exactly 12:00. 

We drove to a memorial which was very pretty, it was for the men on the HMAS Sydney that lost their lives in the second world war. Then we walked on the Esplanade to a little look out and we could see the giant cargo ships coming in and getting loaded. We had lunch on the foreshore and then drove past the red and white striped Moore Lighthouse and then finally for the end to our day we watched the sun set over the beautiful ocean. Just when I thought it was over I was lucky enough to have a hot chocolate with two melted marshmallows in it, delicious!

More dolphins, and moving on to Geraldton

Today we did a little more travelling to Geraldton. Before we left we saw two dolphins playing around and splashing their tails hard against the water while blowing through their blow holes. On the way through Greenough, the trees we saw were bent over sideways because the wind is so strong here, it forced then to grow in that position. When we arrived at the caravan park, Kade and I jumped into the pool which was colder then ice! 

The special part to my day was when I got to call one of my best friends Emma and we had a nice long chat. 

Dolphins at Cliff Head North

Today we didn't do much, we had our smallest drive to arrive at our next destination, which is called Cliff Head North. It was only 70 kms away and took us only an hour.  As we were setting up, in the ocean which is 50 metres away, dad spotted dolphins only 10 metres away from the beach. A little while later we stood in the water and the dolphins swam past again while Kade and I were only 50 metres away from them. We went fishing but didn't catch anything, though little fish swam to my feet while I was reeling in the rod, I tried to catch them with my hands but they were to quick.   Then we just stayed in the caravan for the rest of the day doing some homework even though it was very sunny outside. Later, Dad showed me there was an oil rig out on the ocean, all the way out on the horizon.

Sandy Cape / Lesueur National Park / Jurien Bay

Before bacon and eggs on toast, I started my day with Kade at the door saying there was a sea lion out in the bay. I grabbed my dressing gown and beanie and sprinted to the top of the hill and … it had gone. :(  At least I got to see photos that dad took. (they were of the sea lions cute furry nose and tail)  

A little while later we drove into Lesueur National Park which covers 26,987 hectares and did a 2 and a half kilometre walk to the 2nd lookout on Mt Lesueur. Then we drove to the closest town Jurien Bay, and watched skydivers land on the beach. We had lunch next to the jetty on the beach and we saw 2 dolphins nearly jump completely out of the water.  They came up a few times and the last time we saw them, was when one almost did a full somersault in the water. 

When we got back we went down to the ocean and had another search of the rock pools where we found two large sea snails in very pretty shells as well as a crab which I thought was a giant muscle so I kicked it around and was just about to pick it up when the crab unfolded itself and showed me its pinchers and crawled onto my foot. We had brought goggles so we looked at the seaweed and explored under big rocks and rock caves.