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:

The Summer That Wasn't

Rain, rain and more rain.
That pretty much sums up Sydney's (and the whole of Eastern Australia's) summer, yes I've been pretty slack on the blogging but there hasn't been a great deal of paddling to report on and very little TKBs action!
But I've also been a lazy blogger and now I have a rush of adventures to update you on. I'm going to spread them over three posts, this one is going to concentrate on three Sydney based paddles.

In early January I made a solo trip through the upper reaches of Middle Harbour, leaving from Healey Way just off Warringah Rd and heading west. This is one of those paddles that has you wondering if you're still really in the heart of Sydney.
Launching is pretty easy here with a couple of places set up specifically for kayakers, one to the east of Warringah Rd, one to the west, the western one being the best for heading up river.
It only takes 10 minutes or so to paddle away from the majority of the few power boats that use this area, the narrower and shallower the river gets the less people you see. In fact you'll mostly only see hikers using the trails that run either side of the waterway.
On this day I paddled as far as I could without having to get the kayak out of the water if I'd wanted to go further. It was about a two hour return trip. I did land and take a few short walks.
I could see plenty of Bream swimming in the shallows, this would be a great location for fishing from a kayak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not long after I managed another solo kayak, from Rodd Point Drummoyne. Rather than heading out to the islands I hugged the coast around the Balmain Peninsula, making it further around than ever before. One of the reasons for having not proceeded past the Birchgrove ferry wharf until now is because the water gets pretty choppy in this area - the harbour narrows and there is an increase in large boat traffic. It wasn't any different on this day but I decided it was time to brave it!
It was really hard work but I paddled around the tip of the peninsula and into Snails Bay where I pulled onto the little beach at Birchgrove Park to catch my breath and steady my nerves before heading back!
While I try to hug the shore as much as possible, to keep out of the main boat channels, it's tricky coming around the tip of the peninsula and passed the ferry wharf, the water is deep here for the ferries and so the boats cut the corner tightly, you really need to pay attention. You also have to dodge the spiderweb of fishing lines emanating from the shoreline too!
Looking down the harbour to the bridge from Snails Bay:

Finally, in late January, a TKBs get together, just the usual pair, myself and Rod. We decided on a southern Sydney paddle and struck out from Taren Point and headed up the Georges River.
I tracked this paddle using the Sports Tracker app on my iphone but the app seems to have crashed and won't let me upload any of my maps, which I'm seriously annoyed about. The app seems to only work about once every four paddles, the rest of the time it crashes mid paddle and I lose all the data. If it does manage to track an entire paddle it doesn't upload them anyway!
This was a long paddle, we started off by cruising around Barcoo and James Cook Islands to check out how the other half live in their waterfront mansions in Sylvania Waters, then headed up the river.
While there's plenty to look at it's not as peaceful as Middle Harbour, there's a lot of traffic noise from the roadways and a lot of boat traffic too, especially of the PWC variety and the water is not as clear either, which overall makes for a less pleasant experience.

I'm not sure how far we went but we both commented on being exhausted when we returned to Taren Point.

Next post will be a trip to Central Western NSW!