Sydney Winter Sunshine

I love summer, for me it's the best time for being on the water - because it's all too easy to end up in the water :)
Having said that though, there's nothing quite like a warm winter's day in Sydney, it really is spectacular.
It's been a long time between drinks for the TKBs, the weather hasn't been all that friendly and we seem to have been busy with other things, and in many ways I think we just fell out of the habit of our Saturday morning kayaks - but we couldn't have picked a better weekend to get back in the saddle.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky and there wasn't a breath of wind as we left The Spit and headed along the shoreline to Balmoral.

The other great thing about kayaking in the harbour at this time of year is there is generally less boat traffic meaning less wakes to tackle and less risk of being run over! Having said that we make a point of spending the least amount of time as possible in the boating channels and I've never felt that any boat we've encountered was looking like running us over, in fact many are courteous enough to slow right down as they go past.

 We followed the southern shoreline of Middle Harbour around to Middle Head and then cut back across to the north, heading towards Manly. As we got closer we made a spontaneous decision (the best type of decision) to take a look at the old Sydney Quarantine Station.

As we turned to the east I glimpsed a rather large splash up ahead, I assumed I'd seen a bird diving or a fish jumping but soon I saw another and another - I was suspicious but skeptical that I was seeing dolphins - we were out in the swell now with a fair bit of chop as well so it was difficult to make out what I was seeing. Then I saw a black shape and had just finished saying, "was that a dolphin?" when one surfaced right in front of us!  

It was a pretty brief encounter with a pod of about half a dozen dolphins (of the bottlenose variety I believe), they swam past us within a couple of metres and continued on their way - it was a fantastic moment and not one I expected to have in Sydney Harbour!

We continued on to the Quarantine Station chatting excitedly about our encounter.

As we'd ventured further from our starting point than usual we figured we deserved a break so we pulled up on the lovely little beach at the Quarantine Station for a stretch and rapidly decided a beverage at the cafe was in order.

I was using a skirt on this paddle, the first time I'd used one and I was more than happy with how dry and warm it kept me. I was worried I might be a bit nervous about being 'locked in' but I was confident I'd be able to yank the release strap and get myself out if I somehow capsized - I haven't learned to eskimo role yet.

It'd been so long between paddles that when I got the kayak out of storage I found a few spiderwebs and as there's a healthy population of redback spiders in our backyard I figured a good spray of Mortein was in order. I fumigated the cockpit pretty well, under and behind the seat and right into the foot-well, paying particular attention to the rudder controls and other areas that would be good for spiders to hide. Two drunken spiders emerged so I'm glad I thought to do it. I also managed to kill a beautiful big grasshopper, no idea where that came from or how long it'd been living in there! Anyway when I released the skirt as we pulled up on the beach the lovely warm day and well-sealed compartment and created a lovely environment for the Mortein residue to concentrate and I just about gassed myself, hehe!

Here's our track for the morning, if you want to zoom in or see other details click here Kayak track

We enjoyed a lovely coffee, hot chocolate and jam cookies at the Quarantine Station Cafe.

The Quarantine Station was established in the 1830s, at the time it was a safe distance from the city of Sydney and it was an easy mooring for ships entering the harbour. Any ship that was arriving in Sydney that was suspected to have passengers with contagious diseases had to stop at the Station where crew and passengers were required to stay until declared healthy enough to enter the general population. No doubt through more recent years this would have been a relatively pleasant experience, little more than a quick hospital stay but in the early years it must have been an awful place of primitive health care, death and suffering.You can read about the history of the Quarantine Station here and about the Station in general here.

We didn't really have time to explore so we plan on heading back there as soon as the opportunity arises. One of the more interesting things we did have a quick chance to look at was the carvings in the cliff face made by sailors staying at the Station, there a lot of them and they are beautifully done and really interesting - I can't wait to go back actually.

From the Q Station, as it's now called, we hugged the shoreline around to the beautiful Spring Cove. The only breeding colony of Little Penguins on the NSW mainland lives in this area though we weren't lucky enough to spot any. This really is a very pretty part of the Harbour, the water is crystal clear and I have a sneaking suspicion this could become a favourite summer destination, the swimming would be fantastic.

From here we popped into Manly Cove and then along Sydney Harbour National Park - this is usually pretty tough going as the swells are starting to stand up a bit but I also enjoy watching the backs of the waves as they break against the beaches and rocks.

This is the longest (in both time and distance) kayak the TKBs have done as group (or a pair as the case was this weekend) and added to the length of time it's been since we last paddled we were both pretty knackered when we made it back to The Spit, but if this isn't my favourite kayak of all time so far, it comes awfully close.

Here's our run home, if you want to see the track proper click here.

More birds than Kakadu

The guide book in our accommodation informed us that the Myall Lakes area is home to more bird species than Kakadu, they certainly make themselves known every morning and we saw plenty of them while out in the kayaks.
Given the windy conditions we'd experienced over the preceding days, on my third day at Hawks Nest we decided to head up to the lakes to try to find some calmer conditions.
We launched from the Mungo Brush camping area - outside of school holidays there's plenty of parking here and great little sandy beaches to launch from. The usual NPWS parking fees apply.
The lake, the most southern of the Myall Lakes is called Bombah Broadwater, the western side can see heavy boat traffic as holiday makers and locals make there way up the Myall River and through to connecting lakes to the north. We hugged the shoreline to the east.

 

 

 

 

We'd made it so far around the lake that we (okay, I) decided we should try to make it all the way to the car ferry at Bombah Point - turns out I was being a little ambitious - but we got pretty close before we realised we needed to head back before we got too exhausted to get there!
You can just see the ferry in the middle-distance, centre frame (so close!):

We then decided to straight-line it back to Mungo Brush - a shorter distance but pretty hard going against the wind and we already pretty fatigued, not to mention the mental challenges of feeling like you're going nowhere when in the middle of a large body of water!

Back at Mungo Brush

After three days straight of morning paddles we decided a sleep-in was in order, we'd also noticed that despite weather predictions to the contrary the afternoons were offering up much nicer paddling conditions.
Even after a sleep-in though my fellow paddler staged a mutiny and I was on my own for this short but beautiful late afternoon paddle.
I launched at the Hawks Nest boat ramp and headed down river which required very little paddling as I drifted with the outgoing tide. The afternoon light was stunning and the water was like glass.
The tide was running much faster than I anticipated and a second or so after I'd stopped paddling to take the following photo I banged into the structure the birds are sitting on and Discovery gained her first cosmetic damage.

 

 It was a stunning afternoon on the water with plenty of birds around, fish jumping and very few boats. Unfortunately I had left my run a little late in the day and I had to head back much sooner than I would have liked so as not to get caught in the dark - future purchases will definitely include lights!

  A pair of Black Swans enjoying the afternoon:

Soldier crabs!

Racing the sun home:

 

A little 360 degree video of my view that afternoon. 

The next and final day at Hawks Nest had to be an afternoon paddle too - it was just so spectacularly beautiful the day before.
Kell and I put the kayaks in at the Tea Gardens boat ramp so that we could go a little further up river. We headed for Swan Bay knowing the waterway would be sheltered and that we'd have the opportunity to see plenty of bird life, all without having to worry about boats venturing into the shallow waters at low tide.

We circumnavigated the island in Swan Bay in an anti-clockwise direction and we certainly weren't disappointment with the bird population - birds spotted included grebes, cormorants, egrets, herons, spoonbills, ibis, terns, pelicans (of course) and the eponymous Black Swan.

 

 

 Perhaps we should have taken a little more notice of just how far the egrets and ibis were wading out into the bay...but we didn't and it wasn't long before we were beached! Thinking we could probably drag the kayaks over what we assumed to be a small sand bar we ended up dragging them for quite a way - doing the sting-ray-shuffle the whole time in hopes we'd disturb any of the very-common locals before treading on them. I swear the pelicans were laughing their heads off at us.

Free of the sand bars and heading back to Tea Gardens:

 

So long to the Myall - thanks for a great week of paddling!

Birds, Turtles, Dolphins...oh my!

I blame Port Stephens for giving me the kayaking bug - twice I went on guided tourist kayaking tours, once from Tea Gardens up the lovely Myall River, the other experience was from Nelson Bay, out into the port itself. Both were sunset tours and both were amazing. After the second trip I knew I was hooked!
Since I purchased my first kayak I've been itching to get back to Port Stephens, I can't believe it's taken me so long to get there that I'm onto my second kayak!
Thanks to my current joblessness and some serious bludging off my sister I managed a whole week at Hawks Nest, on the northern shores of Port Stephens, five straight days of kayaking, I thought my arms would fall off!
You can see a map of the area here: Hawks Nest - Google Maps

Hawks Nest is about as good as it gets for anybody who loves being around the water as much as I do. This small town is bordered by Port Stephens, providing the beautiful Jimmys Beach as well as ocean beaches to the east, the Myall River seperates Hawks Nest from the slightly larger town of Tea Gardens. To the north is the Myall Lakes National Park...there is water EVERYWHERE!

On my first full day I awoke to crap weather and the forecast was looking the same for the next few days...thankfully the forecast was wrong.
Day two dawned sunny but windy, we decided to hit the water asap in case things got worse. We, we being myself, my sister Kelly and my uncle Trev (who has just retired to HN) felt the Myall River would be the most sheltered option so we launched just east of the Hawks Nest boat ramp and headed up river.
My visit coincided with the a full moon so the tides were huge. We took the opportunity to explore the mangroves, paddling well into the forest in shallow but sheltered water.

Yes, there was water on the lens...

 The tide was running pretty quick and some too-close encounters with the trees were inevitable, though Kell displayed particular talent in this area:

 Heading back into the river:

Back in the main river and into the wind, we paddled up river, around Witts Island and back to our starting point, taking in the sights of Tea Gardens and the local pelicans as we went.

The next day Kell and I headed to Jimmys Beach, on the northern shore of Port Stephens, we were really hoping to see some dolphins.

We entered the water towards the Corrie Island end of Winda Woppa, off The Boulevard. We hadn't been in the water long when it became apparent that the wind and chop was bigger than it had looked from the beach! We headed towards the mouth of the river but decided to head back to the beach after about 15 minutes of hard slog. The highlight of this short trip was spotting a turtle, I don't know what type it was, but it was about the size of a soccer ball and yellowy in colour - it disappeared before I could get a photo.

After taking a breather I decided to head out for a solo paddle while Kell kicked back with a book on the beach (a much more sensible option). This time I headed in the opposite direction and with the wind at my back made it quite a way down the beach...the return paddle was not so pleasant and easily the toughest half hour or so I've ever paddled.

When I finally got back to my starting point the dolphin watch boats were there, I caught a quick glimpse of a few dolphins at a distance before they were gone...back to the beach for a rest for me!

There were huge schools of fish running up and down the beach and it wasn't long before we spotted a pod of dolphins moving up the beach toward us. We jumped in the kayaks hoping they'd keep coming in our direction (but figuring they'd probably disappear as soon as we got in the water).

Conscious of the laws regarding approaching dolphins we simply paddled a few metres out into the water and drifted. In a moment we had dolphins approaching us from all sides, a few came up for a very close look (much closer than the photos) and the pod included a baby. It was a thrilling several minutes!

Next update will be a continuation of Hawks Nest adventures.

Go West! Chasing the sun.

In late February I decided a trip west of the great sandstone curtain was going to be in order, to get away from the rain!

My sister and I headed to Mookerawa, at the southern end of Lake Burrendong, an hour or so drive from Orange in Central West NSW.

When full, Burrendong holds three and half times as much water as Sydney Harbour, it wasn't full when we there but it's still an enormous body of water. While we were there on a weekday, which meant it was very quiet, the vastness of the waterway means a close encounter with a boat is almost completely out of the question! We were there for two hours and saw two boats, way, WAY off in the distance. We left Mookerawa at the same time as two other kayakers but we didn't see them again until we returned. Burrendong truly is huge.

Besides the serenity :) interesting highlights included several sightings of feral(?) goats, a floating dead snake and the rugged shoreline scenery.

Mookerawa is a State Park so you need to pay a small fee at the office as you enter, there are toilets (the cleanest, most well-maintained toilet block I've ever seen) and BBQ facilities and you can camp at numerous places around the shore (fees apply). 

Best to pick up food and drinks in Orange (or whichever large town you are coming from), or grab some basics in Stuart Town.

Leaving from Mookerawa:

Goats: