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!