Kayaking through Shoalhaven Gorge

What a wonderful weekend with lovely people including Elna, Srini, Zante, Samira, Howard and Rob. 

Chris very kindly lent me his kayak and I spent the money instead on a roof rack that will hold me in very good stead for paddle skiing and future kayaking trips.  

We did a 15 km paddle deep into the gorge with some stops along the way.  There, we found a camp site and overnighted.  The next day, we did an epic paddle back out of the gorge, without any stops.  A very good workout!

Highlights of the weekend included:

• The beautiful scenery, with the sculptured walls of the gorge and lush greenery, including trees tenaciously hanging onto cliffs.
• The first day, overcast and cool, perfect for kayaking.  It started to rain at one point which was a wonderful excuse for a swim.  There's nothing like that alive feeling of swimming in the rain!
• The camp site where we stayed, plenty of space and nice and secluded back from the river.
• A smorgasbord of delicious shared eats on Saturday night.
• Samira bringing a huge tarp and the fun all the guys had in erecting it from the trees.  It came in very handy, as the rain fell pretty hard on Saturday evening but we were perfectly sheltered.
• The blue skies and sunny weather on Sunday.
• Discovering how meditative paddling is.  On Sunday, we kayaked back without a stop and there were several long spans when my mind closed right down and all I was aware of was each paddle stroke.  It was extremely calming.
• Delicious pies in Kangaroo Valley and a drink at the pub.

A great weekend.  I can definitely get into kayaking.  A big thank you to Chris!

Me on my kayak, lent to me by Chris.  It may not have been the Ferrari of the kayaks there, but I was able to keep up fine and got quite attached to it.

Samira, who did an fantastic job of organising the weekend.  

Rudy kayaking with a fishing rod attached to the back of his kayak. He caught a fish but it wasn't big enough to feed more than a kitten!

Samira, Elna and Howard.  Sharing a kayak is always a brave thing to do for a friendship.  But Elna and Howard were still great mates at the end of the weekend!!  

Paddling into a little enclose for lunch.

I loved the dead trees.  Always so photogenic.

It started to rain and we used this as an excuse for a  swim. The water was lovely and fresh.  Or so we thought, until a kilometer or so up the river we found two bloated kangaroos rotting in the river.  A good lesson.  Never swallow the water!

A wonderful smorgasbord of food to share. Thanks especially to Samira and Elna.

Samira brought a large tarp and we all managed to erect it using the surrounding trees.  So great we had it, because the rain came down hard in the evening.

My beloved tent.  Might not be big, but its compact and lightweight, perfect for this kind of weekend.

The next day dawned nice and sunny. Here is everyone preparing to embark on the paddle back to Kangaroo valley.

The 15 km paddle back was pretty gruelling as we didn't stop once but I managed to take some snaps of the reflections in the water.  Beautiful.

This is my favourite photo of the weekend. Beautiful gorge on both sides, lush trees, blue skies and a lone fluffy cloud.  What more could you ask for?

Just me and the river.

Once we got back to Kangaroo Valley, we stopped for a delicious lamb pie, followed by an even more delicious cherry pie.  Yum!  Then a drink at the pub before the drive home.

Another wonderful video production from Srini.  He's making such fantastic use of his GoPro! 

Weekend at The Breede River

I had such a super time at the Breede River with Russell and the Herd clan.

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Highlights included ...

• Driving there with Russell and his two married friends, Corrine and Dana.  They are both screams, and it was a lot of fun.
• A fun and adventurous paddle up the river with Brandon and Russell, pulling the canoe up some rapids, then enjoying going down them.  Brandon took his dog in the canoe and he loved every minute of it.
• Sleeping up in the loft (quite hard to get to!)
• Paddling by myself in the evening, enjoying the solitude and the breathtaking reflections on the river.
• The amazing sunset.
• Hilarious games in the evening. The most fun game involved writing a saucy sentence at the top of a page Then passing it to the person on the right who drew a picture reflecting the sentence.  Then folding it over so only the drawing showed and passing it on again to someone who had to write a sentence based on what the picture showed. And so on, until it passed the whole group.  Then we all compared the original sentence with the last one, with great hilarity.
• Getting the most electric kiss of my life.  I bent forward over a fence to breathe into a horse's nose (as one does!) and my lips glanced the fence which turned out to be electric.  My lips got the shock of their lives!
• Sword fighting with the paddles with Brandon's gorgeous little daughter.
• Dana tricking us into eating a raw olive at the Olive farm.  Probably the most bitter thing I've ever eaten.
• Visiting a cheese farm that didn't provide the greatest variety.  Gouda, Gouda or Gouda.

Anzac day paddle (and trying out Honu!)

I went for a wonderful, soul restoring kayak this morning on the harbour.  Keeping up with Dani and co in their lighter, more streamlined outriggers was hard work (well impossible actually), but it was an amazingly clear, crisp, still morning and everyone was very patient with my slow progress across the bay from Clontarf  to Manly and back.  I then got to try out Honu (Dani's outrigger) myself - what a beauty she is and how effortlessly she glides across the water.  Not quite as stable as a kayak though, as I discovered the hard way when Honu (meaning Turtle in Hawaiian) cheekily dumped me.  Oh well, getting wet is what it's all about!

Orange River Odyssey

A fun 4 day paddle down the Orange River with Jo, Antony, Sam and Matt through gorgeous desert scenery.

The highlights were:

• Bonding with the family. I even shared a canoe with Matt for several sections of the way.
• The big rapids on the 3rd day.  None of us capsized!
• The great food our guide made us.  We ate like kings.
• The stunning Witches Mountain where we stayed on the final night and the stupendous view of the stars from there.
• Lovely people including Frazer and Piet and Ronnel and their two girls.
• Some nice swims in the river.
• Staying at a nice B&B in Springbok on the way home and making Matt laugh like I've never made him laugh before, playing silly devils with a heavy cushion.

The lowlight was undoubtedly getting a bad cold and fever on the second day and feeling like death but still needing to paddle in the heat.  Jo was my engine for the day and saved my life!

Paddling through beautiful scenery

Out on the water

Colourful crocs

Camping along the way

Wonderful company

Witches Mountain

This is the gorgeous vista we had from the beach where we camped on the third night.  The stars here in the night sky were absolutely amazing - I saw three shooting stars in the space of just 10 minutes.