'It's four o'clock!' Brian yelled out, 'the alarm didn't go off'. That was my fault, I must have gotten mixed up with the daylight savings down here. For the next half hour, little was said by any of us as we rushed around frantically getting ready for the long paddle to Royden Island. We managed to scoff down some breakfast, roll our sleeping bags and get into our paddling clothes in record time, fortunately we didn't have to pack our tents but we did have to walk the remainder of our gear down the long, steep track to our kayaks. We still managed to get into our kayaks by 5 am, just on high tide. Negotiating the tide is critical to get out of Murray Pass. There was still another two hours to go before first light and while we could see the conditions in the Pass, we weren't certain what was waiting for us around the corner. The day's forecast was for seas up to two metres and winds to twenty knots, both on the beam, this proved to be correct although the first hour was quite sloppy due to the rebound from the cliffs and some of rollers coming in were more like three metres in height. We paddled on, mostly by feel until the sun began to pierce through the heavy overcast sky, these conditions remain consistent throughout most of the day. Slowly the hours pass one by one and after eleven and a half hours and sixty nine kilometres later, we land on the beach at Royden overlooking Flinders feeling quite pleased with ourselves.
(Editors note: Once again fortune has smiled on our boys and they have secured this little cabin for the night. Silvio said he's looking forward to reaching the pub on Flinders tomorrow!)
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