redwinekayaks

Early morning on the Broadwater is a great place to start the day. I got to watch the resident pod of Dolphins chase small fish who were tail dancing to get away from them, a large Eagle Ray swam directly under my boat on the tip of the north wall of Wave Break Island. I got to say high to several paddle boarders and other kayakers who were out enjoying the water on the way. Three rowing eights were out training this morning, watching them carve through the water was impressive. This week we have 3 metre swells forecast for the coast with strong winds, I am gong to stay training inside South Straddy but will likely have a bit of fun inside the Seaway riding waves onto Wave Break island.  DT

A great day, but wow so very hot… a beautiful island to explore…. Marty is still ahead on the fish count, am not happy about that…! There is alway tomorrow. DT

Back on the water for a couple of days, Marty is one up on the fish catch tally,  something I plan to remedy tomorrow.  Nora Jones and Ray Charles are crooning in the background while we sit and watch distant electrical storms over the mainland. Hard to believe our campground is only 10 kilometres from Victoria Point on the mainland. South East Queensland is a beautiful place.

Black Magic and Gracious Joy are conspiring their next grand adventure, I suspect over the next couple of days they might just let us know the where and when of our next expedition. Some ground exploring in the morning, the forecast is for 38 degrees so we will be searching for water. Is great to be back on the water. DT

A short three hour training paddle this morning with Dugongs, Turtles, Pelicans and thousand opon thousand of Butterflies, something new as a paddling companion. The Butterflies must have had a mass hatching, it was very cool and slightly spooky, I imagine if you were into making omens out of natural phenomenon you could come up with something quite creative. Victoria Point, Coochimudlo island, Macleay Island, Redland bay and back to Victoria Point. A ten knot northerly gave me a great ride heading south and a good workout heading north. The tide was coming in and near its high for much of the time which meant I could slalom through the Mangroves, I love doing that, it is so good to be paddling through Mangroves without having to watch for Crocodiles.  

Coochimudlo is a beautiful little island, it is well worth the paddle if you have a kayak of any sort. It is safe and has Mangrove, Rock and Sandy beaches for you to explore. If you don’t have a kayak it cost $6 per person on the day ferry from Victoria Point to get there. 

More paddling to come. DT

18 knots of northerly wind was whistling through the trees at Airlie Beach. These two were sitting in the top of the tree with their wings feathering the wind while holding onto the branch. They did this for at least five minutes before separating and landing in another tree to repeat the game. I am not going to tell you their name – it is my hope that you might find them interesting enough to research what they are. 

Having spent seven weeks as a human weather vane I have become acutely aware of wind, it’s direction and variability. In kayaks we moved so slowly that an unexpected wind could in a moment change our day, turn the ocean into a washing machine and have us running for the nearest safe beach. Marty of course with his flying background would have liked to have grown wings like these guys when the wind interrupted our plans for the day. Perhaps http://www.redwineaviators.com next time? Marty? DT

$6.50 per adult and $4.50 per child will book you a Queensland Parks and Wildlife Campsite at Sandy Bay, South Molle Island. It is fifteen minutes boat ride from Shute Harbour / one hour in a kayak. Find a way to get yourselves and your tents to this incredible place. The Whitsundays does not need to be $1200’s a night on Hamilton island, it does not need to be expensive. I could have snorkled here for weeks without running out of new coral bommies to explore. A little known place that in my view is massively underrated, the whole island is beautiful with rainforest walks and jaw dropping scenery. The guys at salty dog kayaks at Shute harbour will drop you there and pick you up for a fee in their barge, if not a water taxi can be arranged, kayak there yourself – just watch the tides, drop me a line if you want help understanding the currents and tides.  There is a long drop toilet, no other facilities and great beach side camp sites. Just wonderful… DT

My grandfather would sit us down by the rivers in New Zealand when we were little boys and coach us to be still and quiet, he said when you sit quietly in nature the creatures will get curious and seek you out. He was dead right. When being immersed in the natural environment for weeks on end it is incredible what you start to notice. I swear all of your base senses increase in ability and function the longer you are away from civilisation. You just start seeing things you would never have noticed before. The pleasure this little stick insect gave us checking out our kayaks and equipment was better than a TV show. He was relentless in his exploration of the new invaders of his home, he was great fun. Similarly when you stood still in the shallow water sting rays would swim up to your feet to check out what you are. It is a little unnerving at first but when you realise they are just doing what you are doing it becomes fun.
This trip would have been an entomologists dream, sooooo many insects, yes a lot of them bit. Five days now out of the water at Airlie Beach, a beautiful place – lots of civilisation in a nature lovers playground. I am trying to picture what it was like in 1770 when Captain Cook first sailed through, I wish I could time travel. DT

Marty and I realised a couple of weeks ago that due to time lost to weather, repairs and rest days that we would not get all the way through to Cairns on this trip. We decided to slow down a bit and take in more of the surroundings and targeted Airlie as our finish point. We have loved checking out the Whitsundays and are both celebrating our fantastic journey. We will start leg two of the trip next year to paddle from Shute Harbour to Cairns.
We have so much more to share about the trip and will do so ove the coming weeks. We have thousands of photos that you have not seen of incredible places. Marty has several poems he is working on which he will upload when finished. We want to thank everyone of you who have made our trip so unique and special. 

The little fellow in the picture above was in my cockpit this morning, it took some time to get him out, I had no desire to take him with me. Take care all, talk soon. DT

All of the circle shells on the beach had us wondering how they happened, we have noticed them on several beaches up here. This place is just beautiful.

Cute little camp invaders…

We are having a ball guys, the paddling days have been shorter due to currents and tides and the fact that this place is so beautiful.  Again we are having trouble paddling past some bays. We were snorkelling and swimming this afternoon at South Molle Island did a rainforest bushwalk and explored the bones of a closed resort one kilometre frome the campsite. We have a great camp site that we are sharing with two other groups of campers who are fun and friendly. Paddling over stag horn and plate corals covered in colourful striped and glittering reef fish has been a great experience. We have lost count of the number of Black Tipped Reef Sharks we have seen over the past few days and have eaten fresh fish each night. Fresh caught calamari tonight.
Cape Conway was a fantastic experience, the paddling there was exciting as we were eddie hopping against a strong oncoming tide flow. Cutting between rocks and narrow gaps close to the cliff faces was a boys idea of great fun, it was and adrenalin hit for two now very seasoned paddlers. Dinner is ready to eat so will sign off – will post tomorrow from another amazing place. DT