That's got to be the best thing on the water!!

I'm not kidding! This is the first and only Tahe Marine Greenland in Australia and I do wish there was one more for me. Brian who has also been feeling a little flat since our return from Bass Strait has found a new kayak to rekindle his love for kayaking and quite frankly, I'm envious.

Now this looks every bit like a typical traditional skin on frame but it's not, this one is a composite version and it's very well made indeed. This was Brian's first time in it and I dare say that he didn't know exactly what to expect but while it may appear a little challenging, it wasn't long before he was right at home. After playing around Wavebreak Island for a while we paddled out through the Seaway and surfed some gentle waves on South Straddie where it's surf ability soon became obvious.

I couldn't wait to have a paddle and when I did, I instantly felt comfortable. The ocean cockpit and general tight fit was a bit of an initial challenge but soon forgotten as I settled in and tried a few rolls, needless to say that it rolls like a dream. One of the first things you notice is how low the freeboard is and how well it sits in the water engaging it's hard chines, you also feel 'closer' to the water (and I'm a Nordkapp paddler!). I'm looking forward to paddling with you more often Brian ;)

Now What??

Well it's been five months since completing our Bass Strait Crossing and one of the most commonly asked questions I get is, where will your next paddle be? Well it's not that simple! I've since been on the water only a handful of times and it was on one of those occasions that I found this guy pictured here- I spotted him on the beach as I was carrying my kayak to the water and noticed that he looked as confused as I felt. I stopped to talk to him to see if I could learn anything but sadly he revealed nothing, although he was kind enough to let me take his picture. Seriously, it has been very hard to get excited about doing any paddling at all since Bass Strait and trying to understand why has been a challenge in itself.


The first reason is an obvious one- Bass Strait is simply magnificent! The Islands, the crossings, the rock pools, the views and the energy that you feel the moment you put your kayak in the water is something that I may be looking long and hard to find again. The other reason however, took me a little longer to work out. For about a year and a half prior to the trip, every time I put my kayak in the water was with a purpose in mind. I was either trying a new boat or paddle, some cold weather gear or new camping kit with Bass Strait in mind or I might have been trying new tricks and developing new skills, trying to paddle further each time or see what size surf I could handle before cracking. It actually goes back even further, I remember when I got my very first kayak, I knew that one day I would do a serious expedition. That's right, now I don't have any more reasons to paddle!

Well that's not right. There are a thousand and one reasons to go for a paddle and unfortunately there aren't as many days available, but having discovered the problem has definitely helped in overcoming it. I simply need a new goal! A new expedition to work towards and quite simply, I can't think of anywhere else other than going back. No, not Bass Strait as I couldn't handle the logistical side of things again but I definitely think that Tasmania is on the cards for me. There are so many places to see by kayak around Tassie that I could be planning a trip every two years until I'm simply too old to paddle.

Now it hasn't been all that bad to spend some time off the water, it's given me a chance to re-discover my family. Not having to disappear every Saturday and/or Sunday, sometimes even before Skubi or Saskia were even awake, has been a welcomed change. And now we are planning an expedition of our own, we will spend almost two months driving around Europe catching up with family and visiting new places without a kayak on the roof.

As for kayaking, the Bass Strait trip is not officially complete. We are are currently working on a presentation that will be shown for the first time at Queensland Canoeing's 2nd National Sea kayak Symposium on the Gold Coast. What good is an expedition if you don't bring back heaps of photos and share them with other paddlers? http://www.qld.canoe.org.au/default.asp?Page=17376

Anyhow, that all for now as I have to go and wash the dust off my kayak.

We Made It!

Today we crossed Banks Strait and landed on the shores of Tasmania. The conditions were just right; rough enough to feel like we earned our passage but not too rough so it would make us regret it, but let me say, you wouldn't want to be out there at the wrong time. The energy was just amazing, the 5 hour crossing was like a non stop surf session. Both the wind and seas were on our beam for the most of the time and you had to remain alert all of the time constantly trying to work with the water's energy. This is one paddle we will never forget.When we approached Little Musselroe Bay, we saw John and Damian standing on a rock waving at us, so we knew we were in the right place and were relieved that we weren't faced with a huge surf landing. When we got out of our kayaks, we barely had enough energy to unload our kayaks and carry everything up the hill. Fortunately for us, this time we had two extra helpers. Actually, I barely have enough energy to write this report, so on this note, I thank you for sharing our trip with us and look forward to showing you some of the many photos taken on the journey. Good night.

Breakfast at Judy's

We had a great send off from Cape Barren Island with fresh coffee, muesli, warm toast and a lift with all our gear down to our kayaks. We were on the water at 9.30, very civilized indeed. It was high tide and the water was glassy and so clear that we could see the bottom, not unusual around these parts. The sky was overcast but it was still a beautiful day. We stopped at Preservation Island for lunch, this is where we had planned to camp the previous night before meeting Judy. Then we started making our way to Clarke Island for the night when the wind picked up, before we knew it, we were punching into a 20 knot headwind coming from the south. Thankfully there wasn't much fetch as we were fairly close to the islands but this still made hard work for us for the next couple of hours and by this time, we had a serious chop to deal with. The wind was relentless.
The rock formations around here are really something else. It's as if some fancy landscape artist has carefully placed all of these massive granite boulders throughout Bass Strait and then went crazy with orange and a yellowy green paint. Then a gardener came along and planted all sorts of weird and wonderful plants amongst these rocks followed by a sculptor who started carving animal figures but never completed any. We saw one rock, the size of a two story house that looked like an unfinished rhinoceros. As you can see, I've been quite moved by this landscape. Tonight's camp on Rebecca Bay is our last camp on Bass Strait before crossing Banks Strait in the morning and we are all feeling mixed emotions. We are all looking forward to getting home to our families but we will definitely miss paddling around these magnificent islands.

Wow! What a Trip!!

This is way more than just another paddling trip. This morning was business as usual... pack our wet tents, get on the water soon after sunrise and paddle a few hours across Franklin Sound, the wind against tide made it quite an enjoyable ride. When we arrived at Cape Barren Island we started looking around for a shop or somewhere to top up our water bladders, Brian and Craig walked ahead as I lingered behind taking photos, they were soon out of sight. Moments later I hear a vehicle and voices approaching, it was the guys sitting in the back of a ute..."Come on! Jump in" one of them yelled. I sat in the front and introduced myself to the driver, "Hi, I'm Judy, I'm the high school teacher on the island" she said & went on to tell me that most of the people were out of town "birding". This apparently, is an age old tradition where the local Aborigines go to the Island's rookeries and hunt for Mutton Bird.
Before we knew it, we were having chip and dip with Judy and some of her friends in her back yard. "You can set up your tents here, I've got plenty of flat areas and you can have dinner too, I'm cooking a lamb roast for some of the elders". We didn't take long to accept such an offer, so it was back in the ute to fetch our gear and secure the kayaks for the night.
During our short stay we were given a guided tour of the high school and the surrounding community. We were impressed with Cape Barren's rich Aboriginal history and to learn that the people living here are the ancestors of the Tasmanian Aborigines who were brought here because their skills as expert sealers. It's these types of experiences that is making our trip so special.

Farewell Flinders

The last two days have been quite leisurely as we paddled down the West coast of Flinders Island. The first half of yesterday was very cruisey with both wind and current pushing us along, it was a bit like being on a travelator that was taking us past this magnificent display of granite boulders and awesome rock gardens with the breathtaking views of the Strzelecki Peaks in the background. Today we had a ball playing in amongst the surges created within the rock pools as we reached the most southern tip of the island to set up camp. This campsite is nothing to write home about, unlike the one we found last night which was just a short walk from the Whitemark Interstate Hotel for a good old fashion counter meal and a few local ales. It was also nice this morning to be able to walk into town for cooked breakfast. Whitemark and it's residents have most definitely left a lasting impression on all of us, I don't think that we passed anyone in the street who didn't greet us.
Early rise tomorrow as we cross Franklin Sound to Cape Barren Island to camp and then on to Clark Island for the following night. We seem to be running on track to cross Banks Straits on the 23rd, in time to meet my brother John and his son Damian who are taking my car across on the ferry. Hopefully the weather will hold out for our last crossing as I have heard that it can get pretty wild at times.

You can check out the weather for Cape Barren Island here.

Greetings from Flinders Island !

Sorry, no report today...we found the pub!

(Editor's note: Silvio said he'd ordered Italian Tomato soup, a Caesar Salad with Salmon and would definitely be heading for dessert. Oh yes; and beer. I reckon they've earned it!)

Dash to Royden Island

'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!)

Time to get these Kayaks out of the Bushes!!

It's been fantastic being here and getting to spend time with Wes and Ethel, today they even had us doing some odd jobs to earn our keep and tonight, we have been invited to a barbecue with them to try some Wallaby sausages. Not the local Wallabies, we were assured but the ones from the butcher on Flinders. Apparently that's what we had the other night when we thought we were having beef stew, I must say that we have been looking at these cute little critters in a different light ever since. Sadly our stay here is coming to an end as we prepare our kayaks for the sixty odd kilometre paddle to Royden Island, just off the coast of Flinders. The forecast is favourable for tomorrow and on Bass Strait, you need to take the opportunities to paddle whenever the weather permits, unfortunately this time it means that we have to get out of bed at half past three in the morning to do this but hopefully we will land in time to put our tents up in daylight.

Are We Fit Enough to Paddle Across Bass Strait?

...well if not, we sure will be by the time we walk all the tracks on Deal Island; and let me say, some of them are pretty steep.

This morning before our walk, we saw Ethel from our window as she was walking towards us with another pot of stew, 'this ones not for you' she said, 'you have visitors'. She had noticed that the Paddledogs had walked up to the house from Winter Cove. Rather than stay around to watch them eat a delicious home cooked meal, we opted to walk up to the old lighthouse on Southern point. On the way we stopped in at the weather station and saw the needle on the wind meter hit 50 knots, that's definitely too strong for paddling.

(Editors note: The Deal Island lighthouse is the Southern Hemisphere's highest. At an elevation of 305m that's some pretty big hill !)

Gale Force Winds on Bass Strait

The rising tides and worsening seas made it impossible for us to camp another night on the beach at East Cove. Last night we all had broken sleep, we were unable to sleep for more than a few hours at a time due to the winds shaking our tents, wondering with every gust whether the sand pegs would hold or not. This morning I found seaweed in my tent vestibule, left behind from the high tide and later found out that Brian actually had to move his tent because he had waves crashing over his feet. While considering our limited options, the Deal Island Caretakers; Wes and Ethel, graciously offered us the use of the old caretaker's house. This was an offer we couldn't refuse. Even with this delay, we still hope to catch up with our friends from the Queensland Sea Kayak Club, at the annual Rock and Roll event hosted by the New South Wales Sea Kayak Club.

(Editors note: These kind people even gave them a home-made beef stew, and together with hot showers and beds makes it a pretty nice holiday boys!)

Cold and Wet but not Miserable.

Last night we were faced with a tough decision, whether to set off for Royden Island just after midnight or stay on Deal Island for possibly five nights. If we chose to go, it would have meant paddling 60kms in 30 knot winds and a 4 metre following sea, only to end up on Royden unable to top up on water while waiting for the low to pass. This morning our campsite was hit by that very same front and to say that we were happy to have stayed would be an understatement. Meanwhile we will be keeping a close watch on the weather forecast.

(Editors note: I'm sure a little medicinal Caramel Baileys will be administered about now! )

Deal or no Deal ?

Today was another long paddle to get to the Kent Group of Islands and let me tell you, it was all worth it! The magnificent cliff faces on the Southern side of Dover Island blew us away and we had to work hard to resist paddling into every sea cave we saw. The landscape here is so different than South East Queensland. On arrival at the jetty on the Eastern side of Murray Pass we were greeted by the Deal Island caretakers, they were very welcoming and offered us to walk up to the house to fill up on water. I could see myself staying here for a few days but instead we are planning to leave before sunrise in the morning in order to stay ahead of the bad weather.

This Place is Magnificent!

We arrived at Hogan Island at around 7.30pm tonight which still gave us about an half an hour of light to set up camp; the beautiful rock formations in the late afternoon light were a sight to see. There is so much talk about Deal Island and so little about Hogan, that makes me think that the best is yet to come. The paddle was long and hard, we were on the water for five and a half hours before seeing any land. It's very hard to stay awake when all you have to focus on is a compass. We did have a pod of at least a dozen, very playful dolphins accompanying us twice and we even paddled up to some seals laying on their backs sunning themselves in the middle of nowhere. The wildlife on Hogan is not that exciting though. There are lots of very noisy Mutton Birds and extremely cheeky field rats. We are looking forward to adding our names to the guest book in the island's cabin, I hope that the Paddledogs who are camping next to us left us some room.... I just had one of those rats nibble on my leg as I'm writing this, the nerve!

(Editors Note: If anyone could doze off under those conditions; Silvio could!)

Greetings from Refuge Cove.

All is well in Refuge Cove. We got in last night at 8pm just on sundown and received a warm welcome from Paddle Dogs; 5 guys who are doing the same trip as us, no doubt we will bump into each other again along the way. The 46km paddle from Port Welshpool took us about 9 hours including stops at Corner Inlet and on Rabbit Island, we punched into strong headwinds all day with increasing beam seas. The wave rebound off the cliff face is definitely something to be experienced, I think we got a taste of Bass Strait. The bad weather forecast has forced a welcomed lay day upon us before we set off for Hogan Island tomorrow.

The Eleventh Hour.

Here we are packing the last few things in the kayaks before leaving Port Welshpool.

All set to go!!

Driving from Queensland to Wilson's Prom is an adventure in itself. The kayaks and all the gear packed very well and the drive to Port Welshpool went quicker than expected. You can imagine what we spoke about most of the way down, I suppose that helped pass the time. We noticed the temperature getting colder and colder the further South we drove, I hope we three Queenslanders can handle the cooler nights ahead.

It's time to go....Silvio

Our "man" at the BOM told Craig that we'll be looking at Westerly winds later in the week, I see on the website that this change is already happening but as I mentioned previously, we'll worry about the weather when we get there. I remember talking to Rob Mercer about a year ago when we were still in the planning stages, he spent more time telling me about the failed attempts that he knew of, rather than the successful crossings of Bass Strait. He felt that our success would depend greatly on our ability to pick the weather but I'm starting to think that there may also be a little bit of luck involved as well.

Well, I'm about to have a bit of breakky before leaving my comfortable home and fantastic wife and daughter for a couple weeks, that's probably going to be the hardest thing for me. I'll be picking the guys on my way down the coast in my "value added" car, how naive of me to think that it was probably a broken clutch cable. I was up for a total clutch and clutch plate, add to that a couple of new tyres and front end alignment and that just about blew my credit card. Fortunately for me I have another credit card, the one I used to buy a new hand held VHF after finding that my old one was no longer waterproof. Anyway, I hope that's all the bad luck out of the way!

Gear list for the gear freaks

Quite a few people have asked me to about the gear we are taking and others (mostly non kayakers) have asked me "where will you sleep"? Then when I reply, "on the islands" their response is either "I didn't know there were islands" or "well that's okay then". Now let me point out at this stage that yes, there are Islands but a few of them are about 70 kilometers apart so by paddling at about 7 KM/hour, that's a minimum of 10 hours on the water without breaks or hick ups. If you're not familiar with the geography take a look here-Bass Strait.

As for the gear, this is my personal gear list but Craig and Brian will carry similar equipment though maybe not quite as much.

Silvio’s gear list for Bass Strait:

Kayak; Valley Nordkapp (must not forget!)
PFD with whistle, strobe and knife attached
2x Lendal 4 piece paddles (Kinetic Wing and Nordkapp with modified cranks)
Spray deck (Reed combination deck/vest)
15 metre tow line and 5 metre tow line
Foot and electric bilge pumps with magnetic reed switch
Netting attached to deck for storage

PLB – 406 GPS
VHF
Flare kit
Sea dye
Paddle float
Next G phone
GPS (Garmin Oregon 400c with charts)
Wind meter (Silva ADC)
Deck and chart compass
Princeton teck head lamp for night paddling with guardian light attached to back
Leatherman tool kit
First Aid Kit
Laminated charts
Waterproof camera (Pentax W60plus my original Pentax w60 as spare)
Pen and paper in chart case Cheap reading glasses

Water:
3x 6 litre MSR dromary bags – 1 in bottom of cockpit with drink hose
1.5 litres on PFD with Endura sports drink
1 liter Platypus soft drink bottle
Water purification tablets
330 mls vacuum flask under deck

Clothing paddling:
Reed fleece: beanie, long sleeve top, shorts, socks
Long thermals under Aquatherm pants
Reed Aquatherm: Skull cap, long sleeve top, long pants (pre bent), booties
Short sleeve Cag – Immersion Research
Paddling hat – Sunlids
Sunglasses x2
Fingerless gloves and neoprene fingered gloves
Crocs
Water shoe suitable for hiking or as back up paddling shoe

Clothing Camping:
Merino long Johns and long sleeve top (sleep ware)
Synthetic long johns and 3x long sleeve top (two light, one medium)
Light weight rain jacket with hood and pants (double as wind breaker)
Tech pants – long
Tech shorts
Micro fiber zip up vest
Micro fiber long sleeve jacket
Tech jocks x 2 (merino)
Wool sock x 2 – light weight for sleeping
Fuzzy head wear with neck cowl

Camping Equipment:
Medium power head lamp for camping and as back up
Tent – Hilleburg Nalo GT
Exped 7 down filled mat with chair converter
Down filled sleeping bag – suitable weight for conditions
Thermal sleeping bag liner
Inflatable pillow
Trangia pots with Kovea Moonwalker stove
3x gas bottle
Ground tarp x 2 (varying sizes made of siliconized nylon)
Land camera (CanonG9)
Toiletries bag.....

Kayak repair kit:
Epoxy, FG mat and brush stored in sealed mixing container
Duct tape, length of wire, zip ties, small amount of epoxy putty, spectra, shock cord, stainless steel screws/bolts, spare skeg cable.

Power:
20 x lithium AAs for GPS. 12x rechargeable AAAs for head lamps.
Spare phone battery
Spare camera battery (G9& WP)
Dry bag with spare pump battery with 12v charger attached for phone charging
Small multimetre

Food:
Teas – 20 mixed herbal teas
14 zip lock bags of porridge/nuts/dried fruit/chai latte mix (just add water).
14 portions of mixed fruit and nut for on water and/or breakfast
14 satchels of instant Couscous meals (anytime of day)
14 serves of fish (salmon/tuna/sardines in small cans/foil satchels)
28 ‘Zone’ power bars (on water)
14 high protein bars
14 day packs of sweets (nut M&Ms/licorice/fruit slice etc)
14 recovery protein bars
14 dehydrated camping meals
14 pre portioned (heat shrunk) Endura powder (on water sports drink)
General daily supplements- Multi vitamins, Magnesium and energy tonics
12 small blocks of chocolate (the nice sort for deserts)

Now I know what you must be thinking... will the kayak float with all that gear in it? The answer is.. I think so! The Nordkapp is supposed to handle 130 kgs before being classed as overloaded and remember, I'm going to eat a lot in the first few days!

Bass Strait...not long now!!

Well, it's been years since we first started talking about crossing Bass Strait, even before we met, we all had this desire to one day paddle the Bass and now it's less than a week away. The nerves haven't set in yet or at least not for me as I've been far too busy running around getting ready to worry about the trip. Today I had my car serviced before setting off on the 4000 kilometer journey, but only a few hours after picking it up, the clutch cable broke or at least that's what I'm hoping. Meanwhile the Victorian bush fires have lead to the closure of the road to Tidal River so it now looks like we'll be leaving from Port Welshpool on the Eastern side of Wilson's Promontory. As for the weather, the wind is finally blowing in the right direction but it's been tipping 50 knots, we're not too worried about the weather yet as it may have changed three times by the time we get down there.

In case you're wondering what Brian is doing sitting 'side saddle' on a kayak, he's testing our makeshift sea wings made up of two paddle floats. We were originally going to do the trip with a fourth member making any emergency towing scenario more manageable. The theory behind an "assisted tow", is that one paddler assists an injured or sick paddler while the other two tow them. Unfortunately, our good friend Paul Lang sustained a wrist injury after a bike accident and had to pull out of the trip so we had to come up with an alternative (sorry Paul, you've been replaced by two inflatable bags).

Now you have to realize that Brian is sitting in my Nordkapp and you can't normally sit in a Nordkapp like that without tipping over so this system clearly passed the test. With the positioning of the bags so far in the rear it actually makes it possible to paddle without too much difficulty.

That's it for now but keep an eye on this blog as it will be constantly updated during the trip.

Look at what Santa brought us!

Christmas holidays are over and it's time to get back into training for our Bass Strait crossing in March. It's amazing how just a little time off the water can effect your performance when you are tying to achieve 40 and 60 kilometer days in sea conditions. This weekend was where we were to test our kayaks, myself in my my very new Nordkapp which I had only received the day before and wetting the hull for the first time, Brian in his Aquanaught which came in on the same shipment and Craig in his new improved Outersea. We were also testing new bits of gear and of course, ourselves.

This was a good weekend to pick as it was a king tide on the Saturday, the 44 kilometer return journey to Jumpinpin from the Gold Coast Seaway was what I would expect to paddle in on Bass Strait. We didn't stop at the Pin as it was way too rough that day, particularly with the outgoing tide against the 20-25 knot Southerlies. We just had a quick on water lunch and turned back against the wind which fortunately was easing off, the waves at the Seaway entrance on the other hand, had only gotten bigger, I had never seen this area like this before. I remember looking in the distance and seeing all these green hills and thinking, that's surely not the Gold Coast Hinterland that I'm seeing in the background, they look more like the green rolling hills of New Zealand. After removing my suncream smeared, salt caked sunglasses, I soon realized that I was looking at the water I had to negotiate to get to my camp spot for the night.

Fortunately for me I was with two Gold Coast locals who were able to pilot me in without any problems, although Brian did get a bit of a scare from one particular monster wave that would have certainly claimed him, had he not put in a few hard strokes to get over it's peak just in the nick of time.

The first day proved to us that we should be able to do the first day of Bass Strait and the second was to show us that we could follow it up with a 66kilometer paddle. So at 5.00 AM on Sunday morning when most people are still snug in their beds, we hit the water and headed for Point Danger on the QLD/NSW border and back. This day was nowhere as exciting as the first as the winds had eased off but we were soon realizing how much water and food, or what types of foods we needed to carry to keep up the energy required.

I personally learnt how much time I could keep my hands wet before losing the two fingernails on my pinkies and where my new paddling garments were to give me serious chafing, I also found that my paddling gloves weren't going to prevent me from getting blisters on every finger . As unpleasant as this sounds (trust me, it was very unpleasant!) I'm glad it happened now and not in the Middle of Bass Strait with another couple of hundred Ks ahead of me.