The Travellers Return.

Gordon and Kay were due back from their travels today and had stayed at Nelson Lakes last night, so we decided to pack a picnic and meet them there for lunch before returning here to Richmond. St Arnaud, which is the village at the Lakes National Park, is where Tom used to work and is about 1 hours drive from here. We met Gordon and Kay at lunchtime and enjoyed a peaceful picnic at the lake side. The boys went in swimming but it was a bit chilly for the rest of us. Kay did try out Findlay's small inflatable boat and had us all a bit worried when she started to drift out into the lake and looked as if she had little control of the paddles! Niall even got his Tshirt off ready to swim and rescue her if necessary. But after a bit of twisting and turning she managed to get the paddles working well and was soon heading into land again. It was really quite hot there so we just stayed a couple of hours then headed back to Richmond. Kay at last got to drive the camper van and enjoyed the drive through the Golden Downs, Wakefield, Brightwater and back to Richmond.

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It was late afternoon by the time we got back to Richmond and still very hot so we decided to go to the beach to have a BBQ. Kay and I went to get some meat at the shops while Mum and Tom made up some salad and got the BBQ things ready. We headed off to Rabbit Island and parked ourselves next to the beach beside one of the wood BBQs which are there for the public to use. Tom, Gordon and Kay soon had a good fire going and tom took charge of cooking the steak and sausages. It was great sitting in the sun looking out to sea while someone else cooked!

After we had eaten the sea looked very inviting so off we went for a swim in the sea. The sun had gone down behind the trees so it was actually warmer in the water than out. Mum didn't come in but stood and paddled and took pictures of the rest of us. (Luckily her film ran out before i got out of the water!) We all had a really lovely time. Gordon even had his first swim of the holidays. We are so lucky to have the beach so close.

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On the way back from the beach we dropped into see our good friends Raewyn and Bruce. Poor Bruce had ripped his hand on some barbed wire and had been at A&E earlier in the day to get stitches - his second lot in a week. (He already had 5 in a gash in his head!!!) Gordon and Kay had a tour around their garden while Mum and I had a cup of coffee/tea with Raewyn. Gordon and Tom then had a whisky with Bruce - purely medicinal of course! All in all we had a lovely day - 2 picnics and a swim. We all slept well - well apart from Mum who woke up in the morning terribly choked up. She had paddled in the sea but her feet had got quite cold and it took a while for them to warm up so she blamed that. Luckily it hasn't seemed to have got any worse.