Free falling in Falaraki

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Jonathan was actually ready at 8.00am with his stuff in the car. Unfortunately for Harriet who was sleeping in the lounge, he was actually ready and waiting at 6.50am. He was very excited about the day but insistent that he was not going on the kamikaze.The Waterpark is in the north of the island at Falaraki. Most of the resorts and nightclubs are in this area. It's about a 45 minute drive from Lardos and we had asked last night at the information office in Lindos for the opening times of the park. They told us 10am so we didn't want to leave until 9 at he earliest. John is not keen on water and so he was having a day on his own at home, but the rest of us piled into 2 cars and set off.

We actually got to the park at just after 9.30 as a bus was pulling up. Jonathan sprinted to the ticket desk telling us to hurry up before the bus load of people beat us. It turned out to be a little unnecessary as about 8 people got off the bus.Instead of having to carry cash with you or to go back to your locker whenever you want a drink or food, the Waterpark had a clever system. They link the barcode on your wristband to an account that you can put any amount of money on. Anything unspent at the end of the day is refunded. Kirsty and Fiona both cashed up their wrists ready for the day and we were rushed to the mat racers to start the day.

James is too young for quite a few of the rides but desperately wants to do them. The mat racers was a good start to the day as it was something we could all go on. Then the older kids, including Toby and Fiona, went on the space hole, which was like a toilet that you spun around in, whilst James went to get his goggles. There were plenty of rides that everyone could go on. The attendant pushed Harriet backwards down the stingray which was funny to see her reaction - pure terror. We also all went on a multi slide, black hole, lazy river and a new ride called the 3 cones. We were glad we had brought our thongs because the ground was really hot. Some people had kept their socks on which meant they could also wear them on the ride - a very clever idea.

It was really tiring going up the steps to the rides and also carrying the inflatables if they were needed. We were all ready for lunch and a drink. We ate at one of the snack bars and were really surprised how cheap it was. In australia the prices would have been ridiculously inflated, but the prices here were normal.

James couldn't go on the kamikaze and Fiona didn't want to, but Harriet and Toby convinced Jonathan to have a go. There were 3 different slides all with varying lengths of almost vertical drops. Some people were getting huge amounts of air as they came over them. Jonathan said he was scared but he went anyway and ....... Loved it! He loved it so much he went on all of them several times. Harriet managed all of them too and had a great time.

At the end of the day we were exhausted. Some of us were also a little burnt. Jonathan's feet were really burnt across the top and very painful - another good reason to wear socks.

On the journey home we spotted a fire in the hills north of Lardos. There was a lot of smoke and the cloud was drifting quite a bit, but it was far enough away to not be a cause of alarm. The area around Lardos is quite fireproof as there is nothing left to burn from the last fire.We thought a meal in the village was a better idea than driving to Lindos, so we ate at Valentina's. The meal was great but Toby wanted ice cream so we went over to the cocktail bar,Yamas, which means cheers, to end the night. They play the oldest songs in there which John knew all of, and they had the Olympics on which occupied the kids.

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Photos

Volleyball at home
I didn't take a camera to the water park!