Kayaking the mighty Hawkesbury River!
By Barbara
Beep, beep, beep… Its 5 am and time for another adventure! This time its an adventure with a difference….4 days and 3 nights with a combination of kayaking, camping and hiking with Dan from River Adventures.
Can we do it?...Yes we can! Carole D, Christine G, Fiona M, Vee Kee, Debbie C, Assunta, Michele, Sue G, Karen B and myself (Barbara) met our guide Dan at Crosslands Reserve near Hornsby at 8am. Upon delivery of garbage bags and dry bags to load up the brand new double kayaks with all our camping gear we donned paddling vests, wet weather gear and took up our paddles and set off in the pouring rain down Berowra Creek.
Day 1 has begun! After a short while we turned into Sams Creek and secured our kayaks to pick up the Benowie Walking Track (Great North Walk) and made our way up a steep climb to Naa Badu Lookout for a quick cuppa and then back to the kayaks. We paddled down Berowra Creek past many holiday homes and residences as well as the marina, restaurants of Berowra Waters. By now the sun began peering through the clouds as they parted and bid farewell and we could dry off on a small beach stop for lunch ( amazing roasted vegetable wraps plus an enormous Pink lady apple) which Dan now named “Diamond Beach”. Twin Beaches in Marramarra National Park (no facilities) was the next and final stop of the day to make camp. A sumptuous dinner of Chick pea risotto was quickly polished off, with a sneaky drop of Red, and soon it was time to sit for a while by the fire and discuss the plan for the next day!
Day 2….8.30 am departure for a challenging 25km paddle to The Basin in Pittwater. We woke to a morning mist and flat water that resembled glass which gave us a head start as we paddled to Milsons Passage to hike to an amazing lookout and to pick up supplies of Milo. We paddled under the Mooney Mooney bridge at Brooklyn, then past Dangar Island to Little Patonga Beach (Broken Bay) for lunch of sushi wraps! Yum yum! Now we were fuelled for a very challenging open water section with white tips on the waves and this required team work and communication to battle the head wind to reach the calmer waters closer to the shore.
Once we rounded West Head and saw Barrenjoey Headland we knew we had arrived into Pittwater and only a few more kilometres of power paddling to reach The Basin Campground….our base for the next 2 nights (luxury…toilets and cold showers included- plus Swamp Wallabies, goannas, bush turkeys and kookaburras). With impeccable timing of the rain our camp set up was dry followed by a yummy dinner of pasta with mushrooms and sheep’s feta and there was time after to rest our aching bodies as we watched an amazing full moon light up the water. The Channel billed Cuckoo and the Flying foxes were in full moonlight swing and serenaded us all night…….so much for a quiet night’s sleep…another reason for earplugs! Sue also had a nocturnal visit from a wallaby in her tent vestibule which was not welcomed at all!
Day 3...a slower paced day with a late start just after 9am to paddle to Great Mackeral Beach for a 5km return hike past Resolute Beach, West Head Beach to an amazing vista at West Head Lookout. Lunch was back at camp and then followed by a bit of downtime with thunderstorms, chips, tea and chatting as we recovered from the epic paddle the day before. Dinner was had trying to escape the rain huddled under the BBQ shelter, helped with a drop of celebratory red for Assunta’s birthday…and a wee piece of birthday cake.
Day 4…Heavy rain during the night kept the melodious creatures of the night quiet for a short while and we awoke to a dry morning with very little wind which was perfect as we needed to leave by 8.30am for a final challenge across Pittwater to Station Beach (opp Palm Beach). Turned out it only took us about half an hour to get across with a tailwind just in time for torrential rain to escort us up the steep path to Barrenjoey Lighthouse. Dan had hot chocolate waiting for us as he told us about the area followed by a short walk out further and then back down the Smugglers
Track to The Boathouse (Home and Away set) for a final brunch and toasted the trip with a glass of bubbles. By 1 pm the van arrived, and we were transported back to the start at Crosslands Reserve to make our way home.
This was an amazing adventure and the first one of this kind for DITRA and one that required being comfortable with being uncomfortable. This means happy to be wet, salty, sandy, sticky, cold showers or none at all, bush toileting, being in a tent for a few nights, dealing with rain and listening to animals all night. Our team was a group of women who were happy to undertake all of this and more to make this trip extremely successful. We can survive without our comforts and still have fun at the same time. A bearded gent in the carpark back at Crosslands asked me what we had been doing and I told him of our paddling distance. He noticed my grey hair and said that I did well for my age! Really…grey hair or not, age is not a barrier for getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing something great. Big thanks to Michele for organising the trip and to Dan our guide.