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Since it was Waitangi day today (the day the New Zealanders signed the treaty of Waitangi), it was a holiday, and so we got to spend the day with Lliana, Pete and the girls. Lliana drove us in her huge campervan (thank god we're not driving one that size- there'd definitely be a few crashes!), which had an array of plastic bananas on the dashboard, as well as some flowers, since she introduces herself to the scouts, etc that she leads sessions for as 'Lliana rhymes with banana'. First stop was the lookout, which gave us a view of Kapiti Island, and over Paekakariki, and the Kapiti coast. Then we drove to a place where you can do bushwalks. Since we only wanted a short one, we just did half an hour's walking, stopped for a snack, and then went back the way we came. It was interesting as Lliana was showing us all the edible plants- some of them didn't look very appetising, but at least me and Alice would know how to survive if we got lost!
Lliana had heard about a swimming hole called Devil's Elbow, and so we drove back in search of the entrance. There were cars parked outside where she had heard it would be, and so we stopped there, and headed down the path. Although the water was chilly, I went in anyway, as it seems that that's a New Zealander-y thing to do. When all the swimmers had come out of the water, we had a picnic of some very good bread rolls from the Deli, hummus, avocado, cheese, ham and salami, with some apples and Afghan biscuits to finish.
After stopping at the supermarket and to get Lliana a coffee hit before she had her choir practise, Pete took me and Ellie to the beach, where I had a go in their sea canoe. I got some tips for future kayaking trips- your arms should hold the paddle so that your elbows are at right angles, you should push with your hand that's out the water instead of pull with the hand that's in, and to do a swift turn you should put the paddle in out front and make a wide turn.
We then just chilled out at the house, before dinner of pesto and smoked salmon pasta, with a banana split for afters.
After washing and drying up, Ellie and Martha put on Muppet Treasure Island.
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