G'day guys,
Robin and I just got back from a paddle up our Mary river with the local canoe & kayak club. I should have known something was up when so few members nominated for this one.
We have never paddled this stretch of river before and we are allways up for a chance to paddle a new place. Planned put in was at a place called Beaver Rock, 24 klms down stream from Maryborough and to paddle to Maryborough with the rising tide - easy.
We all met up at the take out in Maryborough (all 5 of us) where we transferred our boats to the club trailer and parked our cars.
and off we went.
When we arrived at the put in, the tide was still falling strongly. Nevermind, we assumed that the Mary, being in the same area, and passing through the same sort of country as our beloved Burrum would have similar numbers of exposed sand bars where we could pull out and rest - Wrong. There was nowhere we could pull out. The banks are steep too allmost all the way and where they aren't the mud is deep and soft and I have no doubt one would sink to the armpits in it.
Robin and I are basically recreational paddlers. We paddle because we like to take in the scenery, take photographs and stop frequently for a swim etc. The lower Mary River sucks for what we like to do.
We punched into a very strong falling tide for about 2 hours before it changed. We were both very hot and tired by this time and paddling a tandem kayak in these conditions is a recepie for divorce. I would not recommend it to anyone. We are the best of friends however, and only came close to exchanging paddle strikes a couple of times. :lol:
As the tide turned, we could relax a bit and take a few piccies. This is the trip leader, Keith in his very slippery TK1 racing yak.
Perry in his lovely sea kayak. Funny little Englishman and a real nice bloke. The heat hurt him in his PFD and spray skirt. He had taken the spray skirt off when this one was taken
Both these fellers are geezers.
Here is John, some FNG who soon got fed up with our geezerly pace and took off and left us behind.
For the most part, this section is pretty featureless, the water is dirty brown in colour and it has not impressed either Robin or me. I don't think we will be doing this trip again any time soon.
As we approached Maryborough, there were some gracious old colonial homes along the banks,
Some ugly new ones,
and the just plain absurd.
We travelled 24 klms today - in 4 hours, I think that was a pretty good pace for geezers. Even though the river was pretty ordinary for what we like to do, it was still a very good work out and that makes it one less place we need to go.
Robin and I just got back from a paddle up our Mary river with the local canoe & kayak club. I should have known something was up when so few members nominated for this one.
We have never paddled this stretch of river before and we are allways up for a chance to paddle a new place. Planned put in was at a place called Beaver Rock, 24 klms down stream from Maryborough and to paddle to Maryborough with the rising tide - easy.
We all met up at the take out in Maryborough (all 5 of us) where we transferred our boats to the club trailer and parked our cars.
and off we went.
When we arrived at the put in, the tide was still falling strongly. Nevermind, we assumed that the Mary, being in the same area, and passing through the same sort of country as our beloved Burrum would have similar numbers of exposed sand bars where we could pull out and rest - Wrong. There was nowhere we could pull out. The banks are steep too allmost all the way and where they aren't the mud is deep and soft and I have no doubt one would sink to the armpits in it.
Robin and I are basically recreational paddlers. We paddle because we like to take in the scenery, take photographs and stop frequently for a swim etc. The lower Mary River sucks for what we like to do.
We punched into a very strong falling tide for about 2 hours before it changed. We were both very hot and tired by this time and paddling a tandem kayak in these conditions is a recepie for divorce. I would not recommend it to anyone. We are the best of friends however, and only came close to exchanging paddle strikes a couple of times. :lol:
As the tide turned, we could relax a bit and take a few piccies. This is the trip leader, Keith in his very slippery TK1 racing yak.
Perry in his lovely sea kayak. Funny little Englishman and a real nice bloke. The heat hurt him in his PFD and spray skirt. He had taken the spray skirt off when this one was taken
Both these fellers are geezers.
Here is John, some FNG who soon got fed up with our geezerly pace and took off and left us behind.
For the most part, this section is pretty featureless, the water is dirty brown in colour and it has not impressed either Robin or me. I don't think we will be doing this trip again any time soon.
As we approached Maryborough, there were some gracious old colonial homes along the banks,
Some ugly new ones,
and the just plain absurd.
We travelled 24 klms today - in 4 hours, I think that was a pretty good pace for geezers. Even though the river was pretty ordinary for what we like to do, it was still a very good work out and that makes it one less place we need to go.
We were workin the eddies along the bank to try to keep up with the fleet.
