Dylan's 8th Birthday week

The week of Dylan's birthday started with Cyclone Rene and ended with a fantastic day at Keleti beach with our new family tribes, the Brookers (who came with us from Cairns) and the Grahams (Kiwi Army). The cyclone didn't stop Dylan's pressies, most of which actually arrived on the day itself (17th) which of course made him extremely happy. Thank you to all for the great gifts, a wide variety for the little fella and hard for him to decide which was the best, a gun that shoots bullets that stick to the wall, chocolate ($10 for a 100g block, mind you) or $AUD20 that actually turned into $30TONGAN. After a practice cake -due to a very dodgy gas oven, the actual birthday cake made it to school a day late (the school was closed for 3 days due to the cyclone) for all his friends to sing the happy birthday song (which extends into a happy long life song).

Dylan's shark birthday cake was enjoyed by his teacher and class mates


Some of the birthday stash that arrived on the day

Keleti Beach is about a 10 minute drive from our house and is a great spot whether high or low tide. At the "resort" we had a great lunch then spent the next 3 hours snorkeling in and out of, and over, some very interesting coral and fish. At high tide it is deep enough to put on the scuba gear and check out things of the deep and at low tide you can see the coral is exposed and little water holes remain. Out on the lagoon edges are built up coral sections, we found one that had a white sandy bottom in the hole, (think the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road but with the top cut off and the inside hollowed out- but on a smaller scale) that get pounded by the open ocean on the other side.

Dylan's first ever go on a regulator (thanks to his new mates Tyler and Jayden)

Dylan over one of the swim through caves which Tiny(the Dad Kiwi) was diving through during the day! (who needs a snorkel and mask)

When the waves break over the edge the water gets sucked back through blowholes and caves. Lyndon happened to be in the right place at the right time with the camera to catch this little whirlpool

Jodie and the kids out on the edge in one of the coral spa pools..... before the wave

...and during the wave. Life gets hairy for parents and more so for on lookers! Hang on kids!!!