Okay, that's a bit unfair to those that had to go to work today, especially since I had to go to work this evening anyway. But, while a lot of people were at work this morning, Donna and I were 'yaking it up.
Those of you that are regular readers, especially those that are smart enough to subscribe to this blog so they don't have to keep checking back, will remember that we bought a kayak a couple of months ago.
Well, while I was at work on Saturday night, Donna checked the tides and the weather, and decided we were going kayaking this morning. I'm not going to argue with that, especially since I've been itching to go for a paddle for a couple of weeks. I haven't been out on the water since the 17th of last month, that's four weeks ago.
Our intention was to get up nice and early, ahead of the high tide at 8am, drive out to Wellington Point, shown here on Google maps, paddle out to King Island, which is the sandy bit to the north of Wello on the map, and cook up a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs on a portable gas cooker on the beach. Well, it was a bit bumpy when we got to Wellington Point, plus the fact that we didn't get up as early as we'd planned, so didn't have the gas cooker, eggs or bacon with us. So we headed to Tingalpa Creek instead. Tingy is where Donna and I had our first experience of kayaking together, and it's also where we tend to paddle if it's too windy elsewhere, since it's pretty well sheltered. Actually, it's the only place Donna has paddled so far, we need to get out more.
As you can see from the picture below, it was a really nice day for a paddle. That pic was taken as we headed east toward Moreton Bay. We turned right before we got to that channel marker you can see. You probably can't see in the pic, but there's another kayaker way off in the distance. Those clouds were starting to look quite spectacular, from where we were, but didn't amount to much, I thought we might have got some rain from them this afternoon, but we didn't. For those of you that know the area, you could see Manly Boat Harbour off to my left from there.
After we turned right and headed back up the creek, we noticed a few birds soaring around looking for a feed, mostly Brahminy Kites, but we were lucky enough to see an Osprey (see below) up close, plus a couple of kingfishers. Not to mention the odd fish that jumped out of the water nearby every now and then, and the ever present herons and cormorants (also known as shags).
Now if you think I'm having a bit of a dig at the poor buggers that were at work this morning while we were out being at one with nature, you're partly right. But while those poor buggers were on their way home from work, I was on my way to work (for a three and a half hour shift). I did however take every opportunity to mention to my colleagues that I had a lovely morning on the water.
And here's the been there, done that piccies, just before we had a nice cuppa, put the 'yak up on the roof rack and went home. If you're wondering, it's a Q-Kayaks Sprite II, made in New Zealand.
By the way, I took a GPS with us and our top speed was 8.1 kmh, that's not bad for something that's arm powered.
And now for a shameless plug.
If you live in Brisbane, or the Redlands, or you're coming here for a holiday and you'd like to have a similar experience, then check out Redlands Kayak Tours. I'm biased, since my niece Katrina and her husband Tony own the business, but they'll give you an experience you won't forget in a hurry. Hey, they got Donna and I into kayaking, so they must be doing something right. In fact, we bought the kayak off them.
