But this particular expedition proved ill-fated when the weather began to deteriorate, Cedar said.
"It started raining, it got cloudy with black clouds."
George, who was skippering the boat, tried to drive it through a channel between two reefs near White Rock on the Mahia Peninsula - a manoeuvre he had performed before.
But the boat was "caught" by a wave which broached it on to a reef.
"Instead of going up and coming back down we just tipped - the wave caught us."
After the boat capsized, throwing Cedar and her father into the water, Mr Pohe was trapped underneath it.
"He was in there still breathing and talking, but when he came out he couldn't swim."
Cedar and George pulled an unconscious Mr Pohe on to a reef and her father said to her, 'go to the nearest house and get help'."
"I helped Dad get Uncle on to the reef and then I took off."
Cedar ran, barefoot, 2.5km over a remote and desolate reef made up of "sharp" rocks.
"I slipped a couple of times but I just got back up. I was getting tired, but I knew there was less chance of my uncle surviving if I stopped. Everyone counts."
After avoiding a herd of barking seals on the rocks, she reached a road and arrived on somebody's doorstep - dripping wet, cold, with cuts on her feet and still wearing her lifejacket.
"My adrenalin was pumping. I was pretty cold, I never took off my lifejacket because I thought I'd get hypothermia."
The house coincidentally belonged to her auntie, Sophie Dodd, who gave her niece a change of clothes and called emergency services.
Meanwhile, despite George performing CPR on him for 20 minutes, 72-year-old Mr Pohe, known as "Tonto", died.
A tangi was held at Ruawharo Marae last week to farewell Mr Pohe, who Ms Wairau described as "stubborn but strong, confident and his own boss".
He is survived by wife Sonia and children Martin, Yvette and Nathan.
Mrs Wairau said her daughter had been inundated with support from her family since the accident.
"All the aroha, love and support is overwhelming, they give her heaps of cuddles and tell her she's a hero."
She would return to school today and also resume taekwondo lessons, after attending school camp last week.
She had also returned to the sea, swimming at a Mahia beach before her uncle's tangi and visiting the scene of the accident with relatives.
"It's back to normal now," Mrs Wairau said. "She's a pretty tough girl, our Cedar."