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A story of a lake, a swamp, a cow, and a "knight in shining armour".

Today we were on our way to Lake Catu to swim. We being: Julie, Avis, Denise and yours truly. It was Julie's birthday and this was her chosen activity for the day (the helicopter-ride turned out to be way too expensive). So there we were strolling along through low bushes on a sandy trail, when suddenly we get to a swampy, muddy bit, which we have to cross. Not feeling too thrilled by the prospect of wading through muddy water, especially not knowing what could be in it, I cautiously stepped in. Bad idea. My slow pace made my flip-flop get stuck in the mud, and I was now faced with a dilemma. Either abandoning my flip-flop and getting quickly out of the mud, or enduring the mud-river and digging my flip-flop out of it (having to find it first, as the water/mud was dark and my flip-flop buried under it). Seeing as my flip-flops are original Havaianas, I decided to stop to dig it out. Stood there, vocally disgusted by the mud and searching for my flip-flop, a young chap came over to see if I needed help. He even offered to carry me over the swamp bit, to which I replied that I was fine, but thank you. He continued to be a real gentleman to us though, as he walked ahead and held branches for us so we didn't have to have quite as much of a jungle experience.

Almost at the lake we suddenly hear a scream and Denise running back at us. Julie's dog had come back frightened, and after Denise had caught a glance of some cow-legs in the bushes, she backed up startled at the prospect of meeting a big, angry cow. Yet again our "knight in shining armour" or perhaps an angel (?) came to our rescue, and bravely went ahead of us shooing away what turned out to be a young calf which seemed quite peaceful once we got a better look at it. Having successfully got through all the obstacles in our path, we had a lovely time swimming in the lake, and thankfully no-one got eaten by the piranhas which allegedly live there.

It was an adventurous day, and the polite young chap gave me renewed faith in that there are still decent people in this world.

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