In November 2023 Deb, Bob and I explored the Coorong.The continuing La Nina result in strong
winds and some rain but we managed to have a great time exploring the
area.We saw lots of birds, found
several bakeries and understand a lot more now about the Aboriginal and settler
culture of the area.
We based ourselves in Clayton Bay (a big thank you to Cathy for the use
of the family holiday house when the thought of tenting it lost its attraction
due to the weather).
Day 1 was spent exploring around Clayton Bay on foot and in kayaks.
Pat impressed us with her knowledge of birds
and her ability to keep the spray off Bob when paddling!
For Day 2 we headed east to the Coorong National Park and Parnka Point.
Day 3 we visited Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island
Day 4 was a paddle from Hindmarsh Island to Godfreys Landing
And our final day was at Victor Harbour.
Here’s my best bird photo!
And check out some of the other photos from the trip.
Once more we’d planned to paddle from Port Welshpool to Little Musselroe
Bay and do the Bass Strait crossing.It
was good to have an adventure to work towards during yet another Covid related
lockdown in Melbourne.The team was
set, the training had been done and the logistics were in place.However, as the planned date of the trip
approached strong easterly winds kept blowing.The first week of our three week window was a right off as the
unseasonal easterlies continued.It was
apparent that paddling from Port Welshpool to Tassie in the time we had
available wasn’t going to be possible.If we wanted to paddle at all we’d need to go for a plan B.So, we went for plan B.
Plan B involved Bob, Grant and me, catching the ferry to Tassie, driving
to Little Musselroe Bay and paddling from there to Roydon Island, off Flinders
Island and then returning. In effect we
would be paddling the second half of the Bass Strait Crossing. Only we would have more time to explore the
islands of the Furneaux Group.
The team was Grant and me in the Mirage 750 and Bob in his Mirage
582. On Tuesday 8th February
we caught the overnight ferry to Devonport and then drove straight to Little
Musselroe Bay. We loaded the kayaks and
headed off to Swan Island.
The first challenge was launching.
Waves were breaking on the beach.
Our plan (or hope) was no surf landings or launchings. We launched into the estuary but the bar at
the entrance wasn’t covered enough for us to paddle across it. Bob, graciously came to our rescue and
dragged us over the bar and we powered through the waves. We were only paddling to Swan Island, 5
kilometres away. It gave us a chance to
get started on the trip and to have a taste of the currents in Banks
Strait. The wind was a 12-15 knots
headwind (north east) and the current was flooding (3 knots). The seas were messy and the current swept us
further left than we anticipated. The 5
k took us 1.5 hours!
We found a nice sheltered sandy beach on the north west end of the
island and set up our camp in the dunes.
That was when Bob pulled out his ‘treat’, a silver plated tea pot! Together with the jet boil, loose leaf tea
and powdered milk he had all the ingredients for a great cup of tea. We made excellent use of the tea pot
throughout the trip.
We then took the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. We headed to the north east end of the
island and the lighthouse. There were
also historical buildings and ruins to check out. I was in my element taking lots of photos.
Wednesday 9th February and the Banks Strait crossing. Banks Strait certainly has a reputation and
we weren’t sure what to expect. The
conditions were perfect, light winds from the east. There
were various rocks and reefs around Little Swan Island (to our west) and to the
north of Swan Island. Then there were
the standing waves and finally the main tidal flow. The swells slowly built up and we could see
the boiling of the current. The swells
became large and messy and at times were 3 metres in size.
We ended up being swept further east than
anticipated and ended up off Moriarty Point.
We had to paddle to get back on course and once we passed South Head the
swells abated. We were then able to
sail across the bottom of Clarke Island, before paddling up to Spike Cove
(Clarke Island) for a well-earned rest.
It was here that the march flies first found us. The concentration varied at each location
but they certainly accompanied us throughout the trip.
From Spike Cove we paddled north across Armstrong Channel to
Preservation Island. Preservation Island
was the site of the wreck of the Sydney Cove in 1797. The ship was carrying rum, Asian and
European goods to sell at the new colony when a storm drove it on to the
island. The rum was transferred to a
small island off the coast (Rum Island) and the ship’s boat with 17 people
sailed for Sydney to get help.
Unfortunately the boat was wrecked on the 90 mile beach and the 17 then started
walking to Sydney. They had some of the
first encounters with Aboriginals in Victoria and New South Wales. Only three of them made it to Sydney. Two ships were sent to rescue the others
left on Preservation Island and recover the cargo. Unfortunately one of the rescue ships was
lost on the return journey to Sydney.
We found a small sheltered beach on the east side of the island and set
up our camp above the beach.
Thursday 10th February.
We rose to a strong westerly wind.
We paddled along the coast in the lee of the island up to the northern
end. The plan was to get to Trousers Point (Flinders Island). First we
needed to cross the channel between Preservation Island and Cape Barren
Island. This meant paddling into the
wind and against the current. Once we
got across we worked our way along the coast and into Thunder and Lightning Bay
(Cape Barren) for a rest on a beach in the north east corner. Then it was back into the head wind and
around Cape Sir John, in between the rocky coast and the standing waves, passed
Whale Rock and Big Black Reef. As we
neared Long Island Passage we were able to put our sails up. The sails made a great difference and the following
waves made it interesting.
We pulled up at Cape Barren, a small settlement opposite Long
Island. This is an Aboriginal
settlement. There was a lovely bbq
area, together with a large water tank.
There was also a primary school, a high school, a post office and most
importantly a community store. You’d
think that we’d never seen food. We
bought ice creams, chips, dip and biscuits.
With the wind still blowing and Trousers Point a couple of hours away we
decided to camp on Long Island.
We found a nice sheltered beach on the south east end of the island and
camped amongst the tea trees. We walked
up to the rocky eastern end. There were
spectacular views across Franklin Sounds to Mount Strezlecki. Strezlecki is like a multi-headed monster
with several rocky heads. The next
morning we explored the old sheep farm near our camp. There was an old hut with shingle walls,
another old house with layers of peeling wallpaper and an old shearing shed
with rusting equipment. It was
fascinating.
Friday 11th February.
The wind had changed to south easterly, which was great as we wanted to
keep heading north. However, the winds
were fairly strong. We paddled into the
wind to the lee side of Doughboy Island.
Then we set out across Franklin Sounds with sails. There were some large waves and Grant did an
excellent job keeping the double from broaching. Bob did a great job surfing several
waves. We took a break behind Oyster Rocks
before continuing along the south west coast of Flinders Island. The wind was so strong we had to let the
sails flap so that they didn’t overpower us.
Eventually we made it to the shelter of the bay south of Trousers Point
(Flinders Island). There were several
yachts anchored. No one else was out
sailing! Finally we paddled around
Trousers Point and into the beach on the northern side of the point. Definitely time for a rest.
We wanted to make the most of the south easterly wind and get as far
north as we could. From Trousers Point
we sailed across Fotheringate Bay and then across a large ‘green’ area at
Lagoons Point and inshore of ‘Big Green Island’ (what a great name). There is definitely a great advantage in not
having a keel and centreboard. The
large green area on the chart was just that ‘seaweed’ and it got very very
shallow at low water. We flew over the
shallow water keeping a very close eye on the depth. Bob was further inshore than us and ran
aground.
We kept sailing across Parrys Bay, bypassing Whitemark and on to Long
Point (Flinders Island). Long Point
isn’t recognised as a camping area but there is a long sandy beach which faces
west, providing protection from the strong south easterly. We pulled up at the beach and found a fairly
average camping spot amongst the dunes.
The dunes obviously get battered by westerlies and there was dried
seaweed everywhere. While the seaweed
was lovely and soft it did manage to get into everything.
Saturday 12th February.A relatively short paddle today to Roydon Island so a leisurely start of
9 a.m.The wind was still from the
south east so we had a lovely sail to Settlement Point (Flinders Island) and a paddle
around the point to Port Davies.Port
Davies is a pretty bay and there were several yachts moored there.We then walked a few kilometres up the road
to Wybalenna Chapel.Wybalenna is a
very sad and tragic place.It was
establishes as an ‘Aboriginal Settlement’ in 1833 for Aboriginal people removed
from mainland Tasmania.They were
banned from practicing cultural ceremonies and were given English names.By the time the settlement closed in 1847
130 people had died there.The
remaining 14 men, 23 women and 10 children were taken to Oyster Cove.The land title for Wybalenna was handed to
the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania in 1999.
From Port Davies we once again had a lovely sail with an easterly wind,
passed the Pasco group of islands to Roydon Island. We pulled in at a small beach at the south
eastern end of the island. Already on
the beach were three kayaks. The kayaks
belonged to Sandy, Doug and Harry. They
were doing the Bass Strait Crossing and it turned out that we had seen them at
Station Pier before they caught the same ferry and they had waved to us at
Spike Cove.
We camped in the dunes behind the beach and checked out the hut and
filled up with water from the rainwater tank.
It was great to make it to Roydon Island and I felt like we had now
experienced all the islands on the Bass Strait crossing route. Roydon Island is really a mountain poking
out of the sea. The peak is quite
dramatic. We had a walk right around the
rocky island.
Sunday 13th February and time to start heading back
south. Another fresh breeze but this
time from the north east. Perfect
timing for us. We got away at 8 a.m. as
we wanted to get down to Trousers Point (45 k). We had a tough paddle into the breeze to set
us up for a great sail across Marshall Bay.
There were even some reasonable waves for Grant to keep us straight on.
At Settlement Point we found a small beach to take a break on. Then it was another hard paddle around the
point and into the wind, to set us up for another sail. This time across Sawyers Bay and Arthur
Bay. Sailing is certainly the best way
to sea kayak!
We pulled in at Long Point for another break, and to retrieve a sling
we’d left behind. Again we had to
paddle into the wind to get around Long Point.
But it set us up for our final sail across Parry’s Bay and Fotheringate
Bay and finally around Trousers Point (Flinders Island). We pulled into the small beach below the
camping ground. It was quite a change
to have flushing toilets. However, the
smell of bbq and the sight of champagne and nibbles being consumed by campers
and sailors, was a bit hard to take.
Monday 14th February.
Another 8 a.m. start and another long paddle (43 k). We set off in perfectly calm
conditions. It was quite a different
paddle over to Cape Barren than the previous crossing of Frankland Sound. At Cape Barren we couldn’t resist the lure
of ice cream, chips, biscuits, dip and cheese.
We paddled on to Preservation Island.
This time we paddled down the west coast. We found a small beach to take a break and
have lunch. By this time a southerly
wind had sprung up. We paddled into the
increasingly strengthening wind to Spike Cove (Clarke Island). Along the way we’d seen a flying fish and it
flew for quite a way. There was also a
huge pod of dolphins. A few launched
themselves out of the water but they didn’t show any interest in us. There was also the ‘hopping’ birds. These small birds flew just above the waves
and every now and then would jump off the water. We didn’t see them catch anything so it was
all a bit odd.
We paddled into the small beach at Spike Cove. The main campsite under the only real tree
was already taken so we found a few spots in the dunes above the beach. After setting up our camp we took ourselves
down to the beach and treated ourselves to dip, biscuits and cheese. Not a bad life.
Our neighbours wandered up the beach with their beers. They were recreational fishermen from north
east Tassie. What’s more they’d had a
good day and offered us a fresh crayfish!
Not only did they supply the crayfish but they cooked it for us as
well. It was one of the sweetest,
succulent crayfish I’ve
ever tasted.
Tuesday 15th February and a lay day. It was too windy to cross Bank Strait so we
made the most of our one and only non-paddling day. We slept in, explored the area, napped,
drank cups of tea and most importantly planned our Banks Strait crossing for
the next day! After our previous
crossing and ending up a long way east of where we wanted to be, we would be
more precise with our calculations this time.
Wednesday 16th February.
Up early to make sure we were packed and ready to go as per our
plan. We set off at 7.30 a.m. with a
light south easterly breeze. The plan
took into consideration the easterly breeze and the flooding tide. We were anticipating to be swept west but
then the tide would change and we’d be brought back perfectly to arrive at
Little Musselroe Bay.
Of course it didn’t work quite like that. The easterly breeze swept us further west
and the change in tide didn’t bring us back.
We weren’t too far off but we did have to do some paddling into the
breeze to get to Little Musselroe. At
Little Musselroe the tide was rushing out of the estuary mouth which made it
challenging to paddle into the estuary and to the boat ramp. The 24 k crossing had taken us 4.75 hours.
Grant’s car was still there, which was a relief. There had been a visit from the police to
Grant’s wife about possible lost kayakers.
So, next time it would be good to let the local authorities know what we
were doing. We loaded the gear into the
car and the kayaks on the roof. It was
back on the road. We arrived at
Devonport and drove straight on to the ferry for the overnight crossing back to
Melbourne. We were certainly maximising
our time.
On the ferry we finally managed to get a shower and to eat some
non-dehydrated food, as well as a drop of alcohol. We texted friends and family to let them
know that we were safe and sound and heading back home, and also that Miriam
Margolyes was on the ferry. It is
amazing how much the presences of a celebrity overshadowed our achievement of
paddling to Roydon Island and back!
The Furneaux Group is a great place for sea kayaking and exploring. We were incredibly lucky with the
weather. After losing the first week to
wind from the wrong direction, we’d had wind that either helped or didn’t
hinder us for the whole trip. Also we’d
had no rain, which is pretty incredible. We ended up doing at least 260
kilometres. There were many places we
didn’t get to so lots of reasons to go back!
I received a
cryptic text in December last year ‘are you still paddling’.While Covid had greatly impacted my paddling
in 2020, since the lockdown had lifted I had tried to paddle, mountain bike
ride and sail as much as I could.So
the answer went back – ‘yes’.The
response was ‘interested in a paddle to Tas – in a double with me? And 6
others?’My answer was quick ‘Yes, when
are you looking at?’
Bob, Grant and I
had been planning a Bass Strait crossing back in 2018 but a range of reasons
had prevented it and I’d basically given up on the idea. While I’m not a sea kayaker, a walking trip
to Flinders Island had whetted my appetite for visiting the Bass Strait
islands. The only way to get there
appeared to be by sea kayak.
Bob’s text came
out of the blue and I was in. The trip
was being organised by a group from the Adelaide Canoe Club and was planned for
April/May 2021. The group consisted of
Phil Doddridge and is son, Pat, Bella Kostermann and Anthony Ardenburg, Bernard
Goble and Mark Loram, Hugh Stewart and Bob Newlands and me as late inclusions. Everyone was in Adelaide except for me and
we had four doubles and one single.
Bob had bought a
Mirage 730 which needed a bit of repair.
It turned out to need quite a lot of repair and Bob did a great job,
with assistance from his partner Alex and advice from Grant, to get it ready
for the big crossing. Extra
compartments gave us a lot more storage room and added strength to the
boat. I flew over to Adelaide twice for
training paddles which gave me a chance to meet the rest of the group and to
see how the kayak was shaping up. Bob
also drove over to Melbourne for some training paddles and to get advice from
Grant on the repairs. Grant was great
providing lots of advice and organising paddles to help with our training.
Covid made things
a bit more complicated with both of us having to get entry permits from South
Australia and Victoria whenever we travelled.
Bob had to cancel one trip due to Victoria’s 5 day lockdown. It also made it interesting with most of the
paddlers coming from South Australia, the trip commencing in Victoria and going
to Tasmania. The beach at Little
Mussleroe Bay wasn’t an official entry point to Tasmania so we had to get
special approval from the Tasmanian Police.
We also had to agree to pay the cost of ‘recovery’ if it was identified
that we had been in a hot zone in the 14 days before the trip started.
The plan was to
paddle from Port Welshpool, to Refuge Cove, then Hogan Island, Deal Island and
on to Flinders Island before the final section from Clarke Island to Little
Mussleroe Bay on Tasmania’s north east coast.
The paddling was due to commence on Tuesday 20 April, enabling the SA
crew to drive over and settle themselves at the Long Jetty Caravan Park at Port
Welshpool.
The week before
the trip was windy and raining, not auguring well, but the weekend before was
light winds so hopefully we would get our weather window. We all arrived at Port Welshpool on Sunday
18 April to enable a start the next day.
However, the weather window was shutting quickly. The decision was that we might get away on
the Friday!
That left us
with several days at Port Welshpool and the Long Jetty Caravan Park. Fortunately the caravan park had a handy
camp kitchen which we took over. The
delay enabled Bob and me to do a test pack and paddled. We realised that the boat was quite heavy
and didn’t handle great in seas.
Performing more as a submarine and going through the waves rather than
over them. Weight had been a bit
consideration and we had weighed everything we were intending to take. We were over 100 k in total and needed to
lose some weight. The food got reduced,
extra bottles of metho were ditched as were spare t-shirts, bowls, snake bite
bandages and insect repellent. We only
thing we regretted was the insect repellent when the mosquitos at Johnny Souey
started eating us. Another pack and
paddle test and the kayak was handing much better.
We checked out the
local area, Welshpool, Foster and Agnes Falls and spent a lot of time reading
or napping. The concern was that we
wouldn’t get a window at all and that the trip would be called off without us
getting anywhere. I’d heard of people
who had camped at Port Welshpool for two weeks only to abandon their attempt.
By Thursday the
decision was made. There was a window
early next week which would enable us to get to Flinders Island. We would leave on Saturday (24/4/21) and
paddle in ordinary conditions to Refuge Cove ready to take advantage of lighter
winds from the right direction. A
celebratory counter meal was had at the Welshpool pub on Thursday night and
Friday was spend doing last minute preparations.
Saturday 24 April
We were up early
and transported our kayaks and gear to the beach next to the Long Jetty.Kayaks were packed and lots of photos were
taken by our support crews.Grant had
come down to farewell Bob and me and to take Bob’s car back to Melbourne.Bernard’s wife, Frances, was there as were
Anthony’s sister and brother in law.They would take the various vehicles to Tasmania in order to pick us up
at Little Mussleroe Bay in about two weeks at the latest.We had used up four of our rest days but
finally we were on our way.The distance
to Refuge was 43 km.
The wind was
still strong from the west north west but we would be sheltered by Wilson’s
Prom. We paddled down the channel with
the falling tide and then across the exposed area of Corner Island. A short stop at a beach to check an issue
with Bella and Anthony’s kayak before continuing on to Johnny Souey for
lunch. We arrived at Refuge Cover about
4.30. It had been a long day with a
variety of conditions, pouring rain, wind gusts of 30 knots, gentle following
seas and finally calm conditions with a slight swell. We’d battled into head winds and also enjoyed
the advantage of sails.
At Refuge there
were several boats in the cove but no campers.
Flood damage had led to Parks Victoria closing the tracks and campsites
at the southern end of the Prom. We
camped at the boaties’ campsite. It was
amazing to have the whole area to ourselves.
There was
telephone coverage from a spot above Refuge Cove. So every weather site was consulted to work
out the best day to head to Hogan Island and the crossing of Bass Strait. We ended up having two lay days at Refuge
waiting for the conditions to improve.
It was lovely to be back at Refuge, to walk up to Kersop’s Peak and
explore the area. However, we were all
getting a bit toey, and wanted to be off.
Our spare days were quickly disappearing, meaning that we may have to do
some big paddles back to back or in the worst case, call off the trip.
Finally the
decision was made to head off to Hogan Island on Tuesday 27 April.
Tuesday 27 April
We set off about
7.20 a.m. for Hogan Island – distance 50 km.It was beautifully calm and quiet in Refuge Cove and close to the
Prom.The plan was to head further
south than the direct line to enable us to make the most of a forecast wind
change in the afternoon (and take into account the tide) and hopefully a sail,
rather than paddling all the way.As we
came out of the shelter of the Prom the swell increased and we started to feel
the wind.The seas were quite messy and
the swell was about 2 metres.The
conditions were a bit worse than anticipated and were probably marginal for sea
kayaking.We also had two shipping
channels to cross.We saw three ships
with only one being a bit of a concern.It was great to see the islands off the Prom, such as Rodondo.We also saw lots of albatross soaring above
the waves, together with petrels.About
half way across we could make out Hogan Island on the horizon.As planned we managed to hoist the sails and
get some assistance from the wind.
The campsite at
Hogan is on the north east corner. To
get there we had to paddle between the main island and a large rocky
outcrop. The rebound from both the
island and the rocks made for an interesting paddle. Finally we were all through and it was a
relief to paddle into the small beach at the camp site. Bernard and Mark were particularly relieved
as they had broken their rudder when a wave pushed them 5 metres sideways.
At Hogan Island
there is a light on the hill, lots and lots of shearwater nesting holes, lots
of penguin burrows, a water trough and a hut!.
The hut, which had been rebuilt after an earlier one burnt down, was
fantastic. There was a light, a gas
stove, emergency food and even a sleeping bag.
We quickly pitched out tents amongst the penguin burrows and Bernard set
to fixing his rudder.
Group meeting
that night to plan our next paddle, another big one, to Deal Island. The plan was another early start. We all went off to bed amongst the cacophony
of the penguin rookery.
Wednesday 28 April
We were all
getting ready for the paddle when a team meeting was called.After the big paddle to Hogan a few people
weren’t keen for another big paddle.There were concerns about the replacement rudder but the main issue was
more bad weather mid next week.We
needed a few good days to be able to get to Flinders, some reasonable weather
to paddle down Flinders Island to Clarke Island and finally we needed a nice
day to paddle Banks Strait.All this
had to happen in time for flights and the ferry on 8th/9th
May.We might be able to make it if we
paddled straight through but it wasn’t clear if we would get the day we needed
to paddle Banks Strait any way.It was
all getting too tight.We’d used up too
many of our lay days at the start and now we didn’t really have any wriggle
room.We all agreed that we would have
to turn around.
The most
favourable winds to paddle back to Refuge were on Saturday so that meant three
days waiting on Hogan. We could see
Deal, it was just there. My main
purpose for doing the trip was to visit the islands, in particular Deal
Island. I’d spent a week on Flinders
but I really wanted to get to Deal.
There was lots of discussion but in the end the plan was that Bob and I
would paddle to Deal Island and return on Friday, to paddle back to Refuge with
the group on Saturday.
It was strange
paddling off by ourselves. While Deal Island
was just there, it was still 42 k away.
The day was beautiful, light westerly winds but still a swell of about
0.8 metres. We managed to get some help
from the sails and made it there is about 5 hours.
Deal Island, is
actually three islands, Erith, Dover and Deal.
Between Erith/Dover and Deal there is Marshall Channel. The current is quite strong in the
channel. As we entered the channel from
the southern end (there was an ebb tide) we were met by a stretch of
whirlpools. We then paddled into East
Cove, actually on the western side of Deal Island. At the jetty we were met by the caretakers,
Craig and Deb. They were incredibly
welcoming and were coming to the end of their two months on the island. The camping options were, Erith Island
(including a hut), Garden Cove and Winter Cove on Deal Island. We opted for Garden Cove so we could explore
Deal Island. Back into the kayak, we
paddled around to Garden Cove, a magic small cove on the northern end of the
island.
Thursday 29 April
It was fantastic
having a full day to explore the island.From Garden Cove we walked along the air strip (uphill and with a big
dog leg) and through the casuarinas to the caretakers house, via the Telstra
chair.There are actually two Telstra
chairs.They are actually chairs built where you can
get a telephone signal.
Up at the main
settlement Craig and Deb invited us in for a cup of tea. It was great to sit on a couch and drink a
cup of tea with milk, together with a plate of pumpkin humus dip, cherry
tomatoes and baby cucumbers. A
fantastic change from dehy and freeze dried food. Craig and Deb told us about the kayakers who
had been stuck on Deal for two weeks waiting for their weather window. Deb had given them some produce from the
vegie garden to keep them going.
We then headed
up to Barn Hill and some great views over Dover and Erith Island. We also checked out the grave of light house
keeper, John Thomas Hague and the remains of the whim, which was used to haul
oil and goods up to the settlement.
Then on to the light house. The
tallest light house in the southern hemisphere. A whim was also used for the last climb up
to the light house as it was too steep for the bullocks. The view from the light house was
fantastic. Flinders Island was just
over there (actually about 60 k). Near
the light house was the site of a plane crash in 1943. An Oxford bomber on submarine patrol, with
four airmen on board, crashed into the island and killing all on board. We walked down to the site. It was chilling to see the remains of the
plane and a small memorial to the men.
From the light
house we walked to the site of another disaster, Squally Cove and the wreck of
the SS Karitane. However, the ship had
struck the island during a fog and no lives were lost. The survivors did have difficulty climbing
up from the cove. We found it a hard
climb even with a track.
Back to the main
settlement and we visited the museum in the old light house keeper’s building,
before filling our water containers at the water tank and heading back to
Garden Cove. It had been a beautiful
day and I was extremely happy to have got to Deal Island and to be able to
explore it.
Friday 30 April
In the first
light we paddled out of Garden Cove.A spectacular
sunrise and even a pod of dolphins.It
was another beautiful day, with light winds but a lot of haze.On the paddle over we could see Deal Island
and Hogan Island all the way.Now as we
paddled in the direction of Hogan Island we couldn’t see anything.About half way across we did see an unusual
sight, six jet skis!Apparently they
had started in Tasmania, travelled via King Island to Victoria and were now
heading back to Tasmania via Flinders Island.
Although the
wind was light it was a head wind so we had to paddle all the way. As we got closer three land masses
appeared. We didn’t have the chart with
us so we weren’t sure what we were seeing.
Hopefully one of them was Hogan Island but which one. (Note we did have an extract of the chart,
Google Earth images of the island, two GPSs and two compasses)
I went for the
far right hand one while Bob went for the middle one. At least we both agreed that the left hand
one was Wilson’s Prom. A bit further on
and I had changed my mind to the middle island while Bob changed his to the far
right hand one. It turned out that it
was the far right hand one. About 8
hours after we left Garden Cove we paddled into the small camping spot. We were expecting to see tents and people
but no one was there. The others had
gone.
We weren’t
totally surprised as they needed to do what was best for them.
We realised that
we needed to do a better job of navigating as our next leg was back to Refuge
Cove. This wasn’t a large island but a
small cove so we needed to make sure that we paddled directly to it. Bob pulled out the map and started drawing
lines. We worked out the impact of the
tide, how far off we would need to head and how to check if we were on
track.
Saturday 1 May
Another early
start to get across to Refuge in daylight.We got up to find the island covered in fog.We could hardly see the beach.The tide was right out so the small bay was
a mine field of rocks.Between the
rocks and the fog it was an interesting experience to make our way out of the
bay.
We were
confident that the fog would lift.
Because that is what fog does.
We decided that we would go right around the rocky outcrops off Hogan
Island so that we didn’t hit any rocks.
It was quite surreal paddling along with huge rocky islands suddenly
appearing out of the fog. Once we were
clear of Hogan Island we set course for Refuge Cove.
The only problem
was that the fog didn’t lift. We were
totally enveloped in fog. We hadn’t
anticipated this and now the thought of crossing two shipping lanes without
being able to see anything was a concern.
Our plan was that I would make the call, whether to sprint across the
bow or to turn parallel and also sprint.
Surely a ship should be going slowly and sounding a fog horn but who
knows. Fortunately we didn’t encounter
any ships but we did encounter some music.
In the middle of the fog someone was playing 80’s rock music. We didn’t see anyone and we don’t know how
far away they were but someone was out there.
About 7 hours
after we left Hogan Island the rocks at the entrance to Refuge Cove appeared
out of the fog. We had made it. It wasn’t until we got to the beach that we
realised it was a sea mist and that the land was in beautiful sunshine.
Sunday 2 May
A sleep in!What luxury.Just a short paddle to Johnny Souey in misty
light easterly wind.Johnny Souey
wasn’t marked as a waypoint on our GPSs and we weren’t quite sure where it
was.We tried three different spots and
searched Google maps before we realised that it had been the first place we
landed!
Monday 3 May
Another sleep in
but this time because of the tide.There was no point trying to paddle into Port Welshpool until we had the
tide with us.
We ended up
leaving at 11.20 a.m. There was still a
reasonable paddle to get to Port Welshpool and Grant was going to pick us up at
3 p.m. The light easterly wind had
given way to a fresh north westerly.
This wasn’t ideal but at least we could get some protection from the
land. We snuck along the shoreline for
as long as we could.
Finally we had
to brave the elements and strike out.
It was best to take the seas, about 0.8 to 1 metre high,
diagonally. The direction we actually
wanted to go would have the seas at right angles, which was good at all. We put out heads down and slogged it out
into the wind. After about 30 minutes we
could turn down wind and head towards the channel.
We hoisted the
front sail and were flying along. As we
neared the channel to Barry Beach Marine Terminal a big tug, which had been
anchored obviously decided that the tide was high enough, started moving and heading
towards us. After all the paddling we’d
done it would have been a shame to get cleaned up at this late stage. We opted to cross in front of it. We had to sprint a fair way before we were
safe.
We hoisted the
rear sail and with the full impact of the flood tide we roared up the channel
to Port Welshpool. As we flew past the
main wharf Grant called out to us. It
was ten past three. We done very well
to be on time. Our top speed was over
13 kph! The big trip was over. We hadn’t made it to Tasmania but we’d
paddled further than if we had. More
importantly we’d had a great adventure.
A big big thank
you to all the Adelaide crew who’d organised the trip and let us join
them. More thanks to Grant for his
support and encouragement. But the
biggest thanks to Bob, for doing a fantastic job getting the kayak ready (Go
Team Buzzin!) with lots of help from Alex and for being a great paddling
partner.
We also did two safaris with Kombi Tours, a 3 day trip to Murchison Falls National Park and a 6 day trip to Queen Elizabeth National Park and the Biwindi Impenetrable National Park, before flying out of Entebbe Airport.
