redwinekayaks

Several days ago in a very measured and serious tone Marty uttered these words, ” Dean, you know I think dishes really do get cleaner when you put dish washing liquid in the water”. After several minutes of gut wrenching laughter on my part I respond by letting him know that he will be never be too old to learn new tricks! I of course then promised to blog about it. He he he. DT

Crossed the bay, not a breath of wind
Gliding on glass, not a sound around

Black masses merge from the bluish green

We’re graced with Aquine beauty
Slow gracefully enjoying the bay

Loving unison with her young at her side

They disappeared as quick as the came

We sat and waited for their next breath
Out of the silence rose this sound

Calls of the deep resonating from below

Loving sounds that touched our hearts

Private witness to a mothers song

I wrote this poem to celebrate something that we really did not expect… To be I such a silent environment and to hear the calls of the whales coming so loudly from the sea below us was truely breath taking… A true union with world below us… We were awe struck with moment… Another special Occassion we will never forget. MS

What greeted us this morning was in complete contrast to what we had in the afternoon the day before. The ocean was hypnotically calm and so peaceful you would have been forgiven for quietly rolling out of your kayak into a blissful slumber. Zero wind, no swell, heaven. 

Two Pied Oyster catchers were standing to attention happily seeing us off from their nesting beach at Stewart Peninsula. Our target 20 kilometres away was South Repulse Island sitting in the middle of an enormous bay.
The island is an absolutely gorgeous place with white sand and crystal clear water. Marty caught three fish in quick succession, the one in the photo was too big to keep so was returned to the ocean. Yep another fresh fish dinner.
This place is another that I would happily be marooned on for several weeks. It is beautiful. The bird life is incredible with nesting Beach Stone Curlews, Pied Oyster Catchers and Kingfishers happily picking of little fish from the schools crowded into the shallows. I counted five different Sting Rays in the shallows this afternoon.

Life is very good when you can spend time in places like these, how lucky we are to be doing this trip. DT

Fresh campers came and graced our park
But we held back not quick to to greet

We waited patiently till after dark

Then lined them up to taste the meat
They sprayed themselves, thought it’d resist

With Aeroguard front and back

But we know every part they have missed

Especially the part above their crack
Then they wanted to dance and waved their hands

So we circled around and joined the fun

When they stopped it was time to land

And we landed they would jump and run
They thought they’d be safer in their tents

Smug behind mesh nets so fine

But we’re persistent, we don’t relent

This Is when we have our greatest time
As they dive in we sneak inside

We drive them nuts as we buzz around

In the dark we know where to hide

When lights go on we don’t make a sound
And when they’re up and feeling sore

We hang around and watch them scratch

We tally up their lumps and check our score

Cos this camp site is now our patch.   MS

I write this two days paddle north of Mackay. We are sitting on a farmers paddock at Stewart Peninsula after the wind jumped up to 18 plus knots. We have had the most incredible paddle north – why Cape Hillsborough was not used in a Lord of the Rings Movie is a mystery to me. Few places have stopped us dead on the water to try and comprehend the landscape in front of us on this trip north, this place was one of them. Dancing Sea Snakes, Dolphins, Blue face booby birds, and schools of Mackerel accompanied us in our paddle around the headland into the cliff face ringed sandy bay. There is a wonderful wildlife and family friendly campground in the bay – we landed, and without expectation of success secured a camp site near the water. The camp ground owner Ben, Renee and their manager Rebeena were so welcoming to two scruffy paddlers we quickly added the site to the places we must come back to list! If you are looking for an incredible camping experience this is the place. Every morning the Wallabies and Kangaroos gather on the beach to watch to sun come up, I have never seen anything like this. Blue Tounge lizards, Spangled Drongos, Friarbirds and every rainforest plant/tree you can think of are here for you to commune with and enjoy. 

We met an awesome young man Jay and his sister Jordie,  Mum and Dad – Norton and Kylie helped us load all of our equipment down to the beach for this mornings departure. They were just wonderful, we look forward to meeting Jay and perhaps Jordie out paddling some day. 

Not long after leaving the beach the ever romantic that Marty is spotted an amazing heart shaped cave, we had to explore, what that Hoop Pine is thinking growing there is beyond me, but grow it does. The cliff faces covered in trees down to the water makes you wonder if you have somehow just paddled into a portal to Canada, a unique and wonderful place. It’s a bucket list paddle place guys and girls, if you love paddling you cannot miss it.

Tucked under our tarp we are listing to music and the howling wind passing over us. The forecast for tomorrow is looking good. As has been the case this whole trip local knowledge has made all the difference to our joirney, a huge thanks to Allen and Nat for the BBQ and advise on how to negotiate this leg of the trip. Paul, Wilb and Bianca you are hugely generous souls who made our time in Mackay an unforgettable part of the trip-thank you so much. Tomorrow northward, yay. DT

Some of the areas we have landed on over the past six weeks have not had a human stand foot on them in years, we know this because you cannot get to them by land ( cliff faces) and you cannot get to them by sea unless you are in a kayak ( some of the areas are so remote that kayakers are very rare) / you have to cross shallow reefs and rock lines to get to them so boats cannot get there either.

The human footprints in these areas take two forms, the first is litter, mostly plastics, and when you read the unfamiliar  labels the litter seems in the large part to originate from countries other than Australia. On some of the beaches you cannot walk a square metre without some man made object offending your eye.

The other form the footprint of man has taken is exotic (non native) plants and weeds. They are less obvious than the litter to most who look at the beach but present a significant problem as they displace and compete with native vegetation in what is a narrow and sensitive and very important plant community. Prickly pear is on every beach, cliff face and headland, Lantana is in the hind dune areas, invasive grasses make up the bulk of the invaders right down to the high tide line but almost every hardy weed I know is present up and down the coast to some degree. 

The litter and weeds need to be addressed but the scale of the problem is so huge I cannot think of just how  it can be done. I know of a lot of good work is being done near cities and populous regions, people demand it. Who is going to look after the areas that people don’t see? The wilderness areas rarely visited by people yet are so important to our wild animals and native plant communities? Maybe this could be a new and useful environmental focus for our Queensland government? Anyone want to join me on a remote places clean up mission?

Tomorrow we leave Mackay for a seven day tour of the Whitsunday island group, I am excited! We have carried out numerous repairs to the kayaks. Black magic has a new shiny rudder system and a new carry handle. Gracious Joy has had a day hatch seal replacement, cockpit bulk head repair and nose repair after a collision with a small rock. We have re stocked the food and have carried out a few minor medical repairs to the paddlers. Six weeks sitting in a kayak has taken its toll on our feet, skin, knees and shoulders – we are a little banged up and very wooley but eager to get back on the water.

We are still on a high from our whale encounters paddling up the coast, we are hoping for many more over the coming week. I am searching for that white sand, champagne beach so I can photograph it for you Mum, I have a feeling we are about to find it.

We expect to have some coverage over the coming days so should be able to post. Take care all. DT

Over the past two days we have lost count of the number of Mum and baby whales that have made us pause in our paddling, our speed of paddling has dropped off completely because of these amazing creatures. Within half an hour of leaving Cape Palmerston a young whale who I nicknamed “Cheeky Charlie” left mums side and lined up our kayaks, it is an exhilerating feeling looking down through gin clear water and looking eye to eye with a two tonne playful toddler two metres under your immediately very small kayak. It is another feeling all together when a protective Mum follows her toddlers lead and the blue ocean turns black, holding our breath she popped up no more than ten metres in front of us and rested completely unconcerned about us being there. It was one of the moments of this trip that I will be reliving for the rest of my life.
I was right about Taffy island looking amazing from a distance, up close it was a place you could imagine being happily marooned on for a week or two. The fish life around this small island was prolific – not twenty minutes after making the comment ” I am surprised we haven’t seen any sharks, there is so much life here” yep our first three metre shark of the day popped up and had a look at us – Shark Shields successfully deployed he left us. Later in the day we had another Bull shark track my boat and again the Shark Shields did their job. The sharks are just curious to see what we are and pose no real threat – they are magnificent to watch so sleek and powerful yet almost graceful and calm in their movement through the water.

Our campsite in an unnamed bay below Mt Hayden eight kilometres south of the coal port of Hay Point had everything two seasoned campers needed. A flat piece of grass well above the high tide line and a beautiful view. The Hay Point coal facility is absolutely immense, an incredible accomplishment in human design and construction and in such contrast to the remote natural world south of it, we were silent in our water level tour between the pylons. I was captivated and confused in  how to feel about the whirring conveyor belts loaded with coal headed to ships moored at least three kilometres away from the shore. Brutally efficient, the three lines of conveyors were symmetrically artistic, not being an engineer I found it impossible to conceive just how it was built, but built it most certainly was.
Flat top island was our our next target on our paddle to Mackay, the historic lighthouse on the hill gave the island a special feel. Paddling toward the island we came within a few hundred metres of a mother whale teaching her young one how to tail and fin slap the water. Mum would slap the water with her tail and then the very enthusiastic youngster went to town slapping it time after time. When he tired his mum would demonstrate a new technique which again was replicated with great splashing and gusto by the youngster. We watched at a distance of a few hundred metres for at least twenty minutes watching this lesson giving. We assume this must be a self defence method, it certainly kept us at a distance. It was awesome to watch.
We landed in front of the Mackay surf club just south of the Mackay Mariner having paddled a comfortable 30 kilometres for the day. Great friends picked us up from the beach. We are now clean and rested and will spend the next two days carrying out repairs on both kayaks ( yes more repairs ) and reprovisioning for our paddle through the Whitsunday islands. A great week that was full of wonderful moments in a nature lovers playground. DT

Last night we dined on fresh caught Flathead, as all people who fish regularly know, differences in the ocean floor and coastline act like a beacon for fish to congregate, little fish mean bigger fish, and bigger fish mean full tummies for hungry paddlers. When we paddled into our piece of paradise last night through schools of silver darting fish I was quietly confident. This morning, well fed and content and after surviving waves of mozzie bombardments and the relentless attack of a cavalry of green ants that somehow found there way into my tent we are contemplating our short paddle from Cape Palmerston to a small unnamed beach 30 kilometres short of Mackay. On the way we will paddle through the inside of Glendower point and Taffy Island, from here they look like they will be stunning. For those of you who have been following our tracker you will have seen that at times we have done a lot of point to point crossings without entering bays, we do this so we get further up the coast quickly ( “cutting the corner”/ or “threading the needle”when paddling through rocky reefs we call it), when we do it we are always left with a sense of loss at having paddled past yet another beautiful place without calling in to see it – you could spend a lifetime exploring this section of coast without ever stopping in the same place twice, it has an infinant potential for adventurers, explorers and lovers of the natural world. Guess what, the people here are awesome too! DT

Sunday morning saw us on the water at Stanage at sunrise, after two days of reprovisioning the boats and making a solid contribution to the economic prosperity of the local shop and pub (thanks Maree, great Pork Roast Saturday night). We set off heading west through Thirtsy Passage with a plan to make a very big day of it. The tide was near the top and we had some assistance down the channel with a small current. Thanks to the advise Tony a local commercial fisherman we headed for Cut Through Creek, there is no way we would have found it ourselves, this took almost 7kilometres off what was to turn out to be an enormous day. 

Both Marty and I were stunned by the channel, it was unlike anything we had seen over the previous five weeks. The complete absence of freshwater means the water is crystal clear and the mangroves just love it. The almost complete absence of fresh water means the crocodile numbers are very low, apparently crocs need to drink fresh water quite regularly.

Cut Through Creek had steep mud banks and mangroves down to the water. No crocs seen and we had a racing outgoing tide pulling us through.
Our second major crossing of the trip followed our 9am exist of Cut Through Creek. These of course are crossings where you cannot see your destination. The photo below shows our view which was what we saw for two hours of paddling to our north west compass beering. This of course is where you want to have confidence in your equipment and the weather forecast – thankfully we had great conditions. Ten hours and 56 kilometres after leaving Stanage we arrived stiff and sore on Flock Pigeon island… It is a stunning little island.

Flock Pigeon Island was a haven for Rainbow Beeaters, Sea Eagles and Brahminy kites, the Black Capped Terns must have been nesting as they kept dive bombing the birds of prey, they must have been exhausted as they did not stop the whole time we were on the island.

Yesterday we set off early from Flock Pigeon, we were a little sad to leave it. We had an outgoing tide and light following winds, we raced up the coast cutting bays by running point to point and at the end of seven hours paddling had covered another 50 kilometres of coast. We were captivated by West Hill Island which for hours on our way north looked like a volcano erupting, the warm air off the ocean kept hitting the island and forming clouds.

The beach at the top of the island gave us an opportunity to stretch our legs, we were there at low tide, at high tide our kayaks would be five metres underwater.

We finished our day on an unnamed beach 2 kilometres north of Notch Point. We are pretty sure we were on another farmers land but did not see anyone. We slept very well. 

Today I type this sitting on a white sand beach on the top of Cape Palmerston. We could not paddle past it, it is another Pancake Creek type beach. We are about to throw out the fishing rods as the bay is teaming with fish. This place is going to be very hard to leave…DT

Tomorrow we leave Stanage at 5am in the morning coinciding our start with a strong incoming tide though Thirsty Sound (named by Captain Cook due to the complete lack of freshwater) and subsequent outgoing tide once we hit the large bay at the top of the Herbert river. We expect to spend the night either at Clairview campground or on Flock Pigeon island. The weather and tide forecast is looking very good and we expect to be in Mackay by Wednesday or Thursday where we have good friends who we will be spending two nights with to prepare for the Whitsundays. We think we will have coverage in Clairview but may be in a communications black spot again for up to three days. We will post when we can. DT