Kayaking at last
Finally got to start kayaking this week!! A year of dreaming finally came to fruition in Norman Creek !
Tuesday morning 6.00 arrived at the canoe launching pontoon in the mangrove lined, muddy creek at Heath Park . The pontoon is good because it has a canoe launching slit in it which is great for beginners like me…I can’t fall out when I’m getting in…
So, off down the creek against the almost non-existent current, zigzagging from side to side straining to stop the craft going left, left, left … must be a bend in it somewhere… nope, now it’s going right, right, right, bloody hell, this is harder than I thought….
I’ve been thinking about this for ages – seeing the river every morning when I cycle, it looked great from the top of the Kangaroo Pt cliffs, calm and inviting – just begging to be kayaked. Not that I have a lot of experience kayaking, in fact apart from a 15 min trial in a friend’s kayak two weeks ago, none at all… I suppose it’s a bit like looking at a snow-covered mountain and thinking how great it would be to ski down it, when you’ve never touched a snow ski in your life! And it always looks so easy….
Norman Creek is not Brisbane river - although it leads into it, as I discovered rounding a corner 10 minutes later and seeing the vast open stretch of water ahead. A City Cat ferry shot past and I watched the wake approach with some trepidation, wobbling in my suddenly tiny, frail support.
Turning (carefully) I crept back into the safety of the creek and zigzagged my way back past the pontoon and further upriver passing houseboats and back gardens, moored pleasure craft and private pontoons. The river is about 50 meters wide and mangroves line the bank on the right – Heath Park , then Anglican Boys Grammar school - and on the left between the private frontages.
I disturbed a couple of SACRED KINGFISHERS and a pair of WHITE-FACED HERONS – the latter swooped around above the river before heading off for less disturbed surroundings. A movement on the low-tide exposed bank and a STRIATED HERON fluttered a few feet over the mangrove roots into cover eyeing me suspiciously; further on and another took to the low branches of a tree to avoid my erratic passage – they were quite safe as I was far too busy concentrating on staying upright and out of the mud!
I came to a corner and decided I had gone far enough for my first day, so turning, carefully again, I headed back down river determined to keep the kayak as straight as possible. I was ploughing along head down, bum up, as they say, when around the corner ahead came three other kayakers. Two girls half my age and an older male all stroking perfectly, focused, driven, powering along, the boats barely disturbing the water’s surface. The lead girl smiled and said “Good Morning” as they steamed past leaving me bobbing anxiously in their wake - and back-watering frantically to avoid the mangroves. I struggled manfully back to the pontoon and scrambled out as the three kayak gods flew past back down river, leaving me a little embarrassed and very ‘beginner-like’.
Ahh but what a way to start the day. Cool Autumn morning, the creek flat and languid, no one else around to see me struggle, the sun rising, the birds calling. The drips running down my arms from the paddle, sometimes splashing on my head… the local ducks paddling out of my way, quacking with laughter…..With a bit of practice I’ll be out on the Brisbane river, surfing the City Cat’s wake, stroking perfectly, balanced, confident, smooth…… until then I’ll wobble along, going left, left, left, LEFT, right, right, RIGHT, RIGHT…..
Tuesday morning 6.00 arrived at the canoe launching pontoon in the mangrove lined, muddy creek at Heath Park . The pontoon is good because it has a canoe launching slit in it which is great for beginners like me…I can’t fall out when I’m getting in…
So, off down the creek against the almost non-existent current, zigzagging from side to side straining to stop the craft going left, left, left … must be a bend in it somewhere… nope, now it’s going right, right, right, bloody hell, this is harder than I thought….
I’ve been thinking about this for ages – seeing the river every morning when I cycle, it looked great from the top of the Kangaroo Pt cliffs, calm and inviting – just begging to be kayaked. Not that I have a lot of experience kayaking, in fact apart from a 15 min trial in a friend’s kayak two weeks ago, none at all… I suppose it’s a bit like looking at a snow-covered mountain and thinking how great it would be to ski down it, when you’ve never touched a snow ski in your life! And it always looks so easy….
Norman Creek is not Brisbane river - although it leads into it, as I discovered rounding a corner 10 minutes later and seeing the vast open stretch of water ahead. A City Cat ferry shot past and I watched the wake approach with some trepidation, wobbling in my suddenly tiny, frail support.
Turning (carefully) I crept back into the safety of the creek and zigzagged my way back past the pontoon and further upriver passing houseboats and back gardens, moored pleasure craft and private pontoons. The river is about 50 meters wide and mangroves line the bank on the right – Heath Park , then Anglican Boys Grammar school - and on the left between the private frontages.
I disturbed a couple of SACRED KINGFISHERS and a pair of WHITE-FACED HERONS – the latter swooped around above the river before heading off for less disturbed surroundings. A movement on the low-tide exposed bank and a STRIATED HERON fluttered a few feet over the mangrove roots into cover eyeing me suspiciously; further on and another took to the low branches of a tree to avoid my erratic passage – they were quite safe as I was far too busy concentrating on staying upright and out of the mud!
I came to a corner and decided I had gone far enough for my first day, so turning, carefully again, I headed back down river determined to keep the kayak as straight as possible. I was ploughing along head down, bum up, as they say, when around the corner ahead came three other kayakers. Two girls half my age and an older male all stroking perfectly, focused, driven, powering along, the boats barely disturbing the water’s surface. The lead girl smiled and said “Good Morning” as they steamed past leaving me bobbing anxiously in their wake - and back-watering frantically to avoid the mangroves. I struggled manfully back to the pontoon and scrambled out as the three kayak gods flew past back down river, leaving me a little embarrassed and very ‘beginner-like’.
Ahh but what a way to start the day. Cool Autumn morning, the creek flat and languid, no one else around to see me struggle, the sun rising, the birds calling. The drips running down my arms from the paddle, sometimes splashing on my head… the local ducks paddling out of my way, quacking with laughter…..With a bit of practice I’ll be out on the Brisbane river, surfing the City Cat’s wake, stroking perfectly, balanced, confident, smooth…… until then I’ll wobble along, going left, left, left, LEFT, right, right, RIGHT, RIGHT…..
