PADDLING

Wow. Kayaking is fun. As you paddle along, it's hard to think of anything wrong in the world. You become one with the water and the rhythm of your stroke. The beautiful, peaceful Australian countryside surrounds you and the narrow saltwater bay you move through - just gliding. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Until your solitude and peace is ruined by those bloody, crazy Ozzie birds squalking and screaming!!!
(Just kidding.)

Saturday we bought two kayaks (Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 sit on tops), life vests (aka pfd's), paddles, and gloves. Yeah, gloves - my left thumb almost fell off from being rubbed against the paddle surface. We picked up the kayaks in the morning and spent the rest of the day trying to find some water that didn't have white caps on it. It was a windy day. Our search took us up the coast from Sydney (the Spit Bridge) to Narrabeen Lake which we thought would be adequately sheltered for a calm paddle. Bad idea for us, good idea for all of the windsurfers there.

We continued up the coast past Bayview (our beloved Doggie Heaven) and saw several lovely venues for future paddling - definitely not for our maiden voyage though - too windy! So we ventured farther north to the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and the Akuna Bay marina. Wind, wind and more wind. Although we were frustrated that we hadn't found the perfect calm paddling spot yet, we thoroughly enjoyed the drive through the park.

At this point we debated giving up our search and trying again the next morning, but we gave it one last try and went to Bobbin Head which is also part of the Ku-ring-gai National Park system. Ahhhhhh. A breeze but certainly no deal breaker. We unloaded the boats from the top of Tim's wagon and had to wade through some really sticky mud to launch them. If you stopped long enough, you could pretty much kiss your sandal goodbye.

The rest of the afternoon was perfect weather which made for a perfect maiden voyage. Tim had obviously found his equilibrium since I found him leaning back - feet in water - a contented look on his face - lazily floating along.

Our kayaks met all of our expectations. They were stable, maneuverable, tracked well and speedy enough for us. Love at first float.

Catching up.... Ben Cornwell, Tim's 23 year old nephew from the UK called first thing Saturday morning and after a long miserable flight and a night spent in the airport arrival lounge asked if he could stay with us. Tim picked him up from the train station an hour later and after exchanging a few pleasantries, crashed and wasn't heard from again until early evening. Sunday, I spent shopping for Tim's spiffy outfit (see below), so the "boys" went kayaking at the Berowra Waters. I'll leave that story for him to tell.

Ya'll be good now, ya heah?
Judi

Check out Flickr for a few new photos.