Back on the Water

I still don't really know anyone here in Brisbane, as my work can be pretty isolating and spare time is mostly taken up with uni work. Recently however I have been getting the chance to work collaboratively with someone else, Suanne Lowery from Fitness Forever. After meeting and chatting with her a few times, I plucked up the courage to invite her out kayaking with me sometime. Suanne was enthusiastic - she had never been kayaking, but was very keen to give it try!

We found a date where we both had the day off, and Suanne met me at mine to help load the kayaks on the car before setting off to Enoggera Reservoir. Getting the kayaks down the track to the water's edge went smoothly, and I gave Suanne a bit of a dry-land lesson on what to do if she capsized, and how to paddle, before hitting the water.

Suanne was in Adam's sit-on-top kayak, as getting out in the event of a capsize is super easy - you just fall off! That didn't really matter in the end though, as Suanne was a real natural and only had a couple of 'nearly' moments, no capsizing at all!

We paddled around the sheltered area of the lake, taking in the views of the wildlife and exchanging friendly chats with other paddlers we passed.

My silly hat gets another outing

Getting to a more open area where the wind was whipping up choppy waves, Suanne fancied carrying on. She had picked up the paddling so easily that I thought this would be fine, so we picked a far off spot to aim for.

It was good for me to practice paddling further and with more resistance, my little arms aren't what they once were and need all the workouts they can get! We made it though to a little sheltered bit of water on the far side, where we paused a while to watch the beautiful, elegant sulphur crested cockatoos up in the trees - and listen to their hideous, ear-splitting screeches!

We couldn't stop for too long as the wind was still pushing us around a bit, so we turned around and paddled back the way we had come. Back at the more sheltered area, we were treated to the sight of some river turtles basking on a log. Shy and timid creatures that they are though, we couldn't get very close before they plopped back into the water.

When we finished up paddling for the day and were taking the kayaks back up to the car, we were treated to more wildlife - there was a goanna up a tree, and another couple down nearer the water. What a great day!

 

Hitting the Water

Having discovered Enoggera Dam and its kayaking opportunities, I was keen to make time to get out there for a paddle as soon as possible. In a brilliant spot of luck, Adam found himself a reasonably-priced sit-on-top kayak from Gumtree one evening while I was finishing up an assignment, and he collected it the following morning. Then we just had to wait for an appropriate weekend...

That part of the plan took a while, as a few times in a row either one of us was too busy, or the weather was too bad. Finally we got our chance though, and loaded up the kayaks on the roof of my car to head to the dam.

Adam's bargain kayak had come with all the accessories (although we did replace the seat with a Father's Day bargain from Anaconda. Gotta love a sale!) and the extra goodies included a little trolley. This was excellent, as there is a bit of a walk down a little trail to get to the water's edge and the kayak launch area.

I helped Adam launch (he is still a beginner kayaker) and then joined him for a paddle around the lake. We stuck to the sheltered parts, as Adam's kayak is a bit less tubby and stable than the kayaks he has tried before. This was deliberate, as it will make his kayak faster and more maneuverable as he improves his kayak skills, allowing us to take on more demanding kayak trips when he is ready.

After an hour or so on the water we decided it was time for a coffee back at the cafe, where we chatted about making kayak practice a regular thing so that future trips can be planned... 

Brisbane River Paddling

I have been in Brisbane a week now, and this weekend was my first full weekend here. Since Tuesday when I collected it, I have been itching to try out my new (second-hand) kayak, so finally having another set of hands around to help me get it on and off the car meant that I could finally get on the water!

I don’t have an Owen or a Bec to kayak with in Brisbane, and Adam is a novice paddler, so nothing as ambitious as paddling out to an island just yet… Instead, we made do with the Brisbane River. I arranged to hire a kayak for Adam from Riverlife, a sort of urban adventure centre at Kangaroo Point, opposite Brisbane’s CBD. Launching my own kayak from James Warner Park, just along the river from Riverlife but much nearer to where I could park the car, I paddled along to meet up with Adam, who was getting his safety brief before being let loose with a sit-on-top kayak.

I was really pleased with my new (to me) Ysak RTM Touring Kayak – it was fairly fast to paddle, it didn’t feel heavy to fight against the current on the river. It was a lot more manoeuvrable than the kayak I had borrowed to paddle to Magnetic Island, more responsive to my paddle strokes and easier to turn. The only downside was that the high front and rear ends would catch the wind, and the wind found the kayak as easy to turn as my paddle did.  Maybe if I learn to paddle with the rudder this will be better?

Adam needed a few tips to help his paddling technique, and a few reminders to keep an eye on where he was heading – you have to concentrate so hard when you try something new, so you always lose track of something – but he did pretty well for a beginner. 

The sit-on-top kayaks for hire are stable, wide, and buoyant, and there is less to worry about with regard to capsizes than in a normal sit-inside kayak, so while Adam is happy to do more kayaking (and perhaps get his own, so we are more free to explore) he is pretty keen to stick to this type of craft.

To start with, we battled the wind and current to paddle up the river – always better to do the hard work first, then you don’t get carried away, end up going too far, and struggle to get back. Apart from a few frustrations involving the wind trying to turn my kayak, I was still really pleased with it and really enjoyed being able to turn and manoeuvre more easily. It was good that I was enjoying the kayak, as the paddling was a little less enjoyable than what I’ve been spoiled with in Townsville – the river was busy with traffic: jet skis roaring past, city transport boats to avoid, a party boat blaring out loud music. The business meant that there was also far less wildlife to enjoy.

I tried to enjoy the urban sights – some of it was pretty cool, although I’m much more at home with a bit more nature around.

I even managed a half decent selfie this time!

My crazy hat gets another outing...

I did enjoy this cute sculpture of a pair of pelicans, made from scrap metal. It was a little difficult to photograph from my vantage point on the water, but it was really great to see that little bit of unexpected art.

We paddled past the maritime museum, I might have a look at that from the land at some point.

Getting up the river as far as South Bank, we decided this was about as far as we would get on this occasion and still be on time to return the hire kayak.

Taking it easy as we were now paddling with the current, we paused to chat about possible future kayak plans. I glanced down, and noticed a bit of wildlife I hadn’t seen in Townsville before: a little puffer fish chilling out next to my kayak! It was very sweet – I’ve had a soft spot for puffer fish ever since I first saw them in an aquarium at Bristol Zoo when I was little. 

Not so easy to see in the photo,  but it was super-cute in real life

Yet more wildlife that I hadn’t seen in Townsville, a water dragon. 

These lizards seem to be all over the place in Brisbane, some of them can get fairly bold and even hang around in coffee shops. I think they are brilliant, they might be my new favourite lizard…

A water dragon in a coffee shop…

Soon we are back at the Riverlife pontoon. I moor up to go in and ask for any tips about where else to kayak in Brisbane, forgetting how I am dressed. The guy on the desk takes one look at me and says “Wow! That is a … unique hat” he is fascinated by it and can’t take his eyes off it! I am equal parts chuffed about the attention my hat is getting, and embarrassed about the attention I am getting…

Hire gear returned, I climb back down the ladder to the pontoon and back into my kayak. I have never gotten into a kayak from a pontoon before, but I surprise myself by managing a pretty good job of it. You can learn something new every day, and I will be less worried about doing that in the future now :)

I have a peaceful paddle back down to my earlier launch site, where I wait for Adam to catch up so that he can help me carry my boat back up to the car.

An iced coffee in the café overlooking the river from the cliffs above rounds off a good afternoon, and I look forward to more adventurous kayak trips in the future!

In The Pipeline...

This post is mostly to remind me to / oblige me to get out and do stuff, even though I don’t yet have adventurous friends here in Brisvegas!

Since arriving a few days ago, I have:

1. Signed up to Warm Showers, if you haven't heard of it, it's like couchsurfing but for cycle tourists. A few of my Townsville friends are involved, and it seems a great way to meet interesting cycle tourists and be a part of their adventure, as well as helping you out with your own cycle tours!

http://www.warmshowers.org/

2. Visited Bunyaville Conservation Park, an area not too far away that has mountain biking trails (as well as walking and horse riding) that I can check out. I got chatting to a few mtbers while I was there, and they all seemed friendly, so hopefully I can go alone to start with but still get help if I get into trouble!

3. Written to Wild Runners; they are a trail running club, and I decided that I fancy having a go at trail running. I have never done trail running before as I have always been worried about my injury-prone ankles, but I decided that I should give it a go as it has always appealed to me – plus it has to be more exciting than running along the road! They wrote back really quickly and seemed positive and friendly, so I’m looking forward to joining in with them very soon.

www.wildrunners.com.au

4. Got myself on Gumtree and picked up my own first kayak! I am pretty excited about this one, partly as I have never had my own kayak before, and partly because this one seems like it was a bit of a good buy. There were plenty of kayaks for sale on Gumtree down here, but I went for a sea/touring kayak. I like kayaking rivers and white water, but I would never do that alone, plus I don’t know where around here I would be able to do that. This kayak, a Ysak RTM Touring Kayak, will be great for continuing with the sort of thing I was doing up in Townsville, and I plan to graduate up to doing overnight (or perhaps even longer) trips along the coast or to nearby-ish islands. 

My Ysak RTM Touring Kayak :)

5. I would also like to get back into rock climbing, so I have been looking up the many climbing walls/gyms and rock climbing clubs in the area - more work still to do on that front.

I think that should be enough to keep me busy for a while! :)

Ross River Paddling

My good friend Owen and I made plans for one last trip out together before my move down south. He let me pick what to do, and as he had recently seen freshwater crocodiles on the river I wanted to do this too! I knew there wasn’t much chance of seeing them, so I was a bit torn between the idea of a flat river paddle or heading out to sea for more exciting paddling, but in the end I opted for the chance of croc spotting.

Meeting at his place, we loaded the kayaks up onto his trolley wheels and walked them down to the river. We had very heavy rain the night before, and there was fresh erosion and the river level was raised considerably. It is normally a bad idea to paddle in a flooded river, but the river here is managed by weirs that control the flow, so apart from being deeper and wider, it wasn’t really any different to normal.

The paddle itself was very simple, just up and down a section of the flat, swollen river. What we were really there for was the wildlife, and Owen tried really hard to spot a croc for me. The freshwater crocodiles (‘freshies’) are much smaller than their dangerous-to-humans salt water cousins. They live off a diet of mainly fish, which they catch with their smaller, narrower jaws, and they do not pose a threat to humans if you respect their personal space. Apparently it is even safe to swim with them.

We saw lots of jacanas on this trip, normally they are quick to fly off when they see you, but this time they seemed bolder than usual and we were able to watch them for longer. We even saw a few families of male jacanas with their chicks, scampering over the lily pads. Very cute!

I came across this jacana nest complete with two eggs, which we admired for a short time, neither of us having ever seen one before. They have a very distinctive design on the eggs, almost like paint has been drizzled all over them.

We paddled upriver as far as the next weir, below which it is a bit rocky. It was here that I had a possible croc sighting – an animal definitely moved into the water near my kayak. The sound of the water caught my attention, and I looked around just in time to see an animal’s back curving into the water. It was a flexible back, so definitely not a river turtle, but I just saw it curve into the water as the creature dived down, so I have no idea what it was. It could have been a little croc, or a large lizard, or possibly even a really big eel, though I don't know why an eel would have been out of the water basking in the sun.

Disappointed not to have been quick enough to get a good view, we headed back down the opposite riverbank. Here we had the huge good fortune to spot a nest of Australian darters, or snakebirds, with two large chicks. 

As we watched the chicks, the father returned to the nest and we got to watch him feeding them. It was a privilege to watch; you could not have seen them from the land, but we had a prime view from down on the water. The chicks pestered their father and rammed pretty much their whole heads down his beak to get to the food, it really did look uncomfortable! 

A sad thing about the river at the moment, possibly because of the heavy rain, was the amount of rubbish floating around in it. Mainly plastic and glass bottles, but also cans, polystyrene cups, rubber and plastic balls, chocolate wrappers, broken buckets etc.

Along the way we collected a lot to dispose of in the appropriate rubbish or recycling bins, but there was far more left out there. I hope there are more river users out there like Owen, who try to have a positive impact on this litter problem.