Author: Mrs A
Location: Tabourie Lake, NSW
The early cloud soon cleared to provide us with a lovely blue sky morning with little wind. We decided to take advantage of the good weather to launch our kayak and have an explore. The northern side of Tabourie Creek is just a few metres from our camp, so it was an easy wheel to the water’s edge.
There were not many people out on the water, the occasional person fishing along the shoreline. The creek is closed to the ocean, reaching a sandy beach at one end and stretching inland the other way. It is quite shallow – in many places less than half a metre deep, but fine for our kayak and preventing motorised craft from annoying us. The White-Spotted jellyfish we spotted yesterday were plentiful, like little aliens shooting around the waterway – they’re not poisonous to humans, but I still wouldn’t fancy swimming amongst them!
We explored Lemontree Creek, an offshoot from Tabourie Creek, spying on the quiet houses lining its banks, mostly holiday homes we are guessing. We were entertained by fish leaping and a pair of Azure Kingfishers which shot up and down the riverbanks, their orange chests and blue wings flashing through the green undergrowth. As we reached the end of the navigable creek we surprised a bush wallaby which stood frozen, almost gaping at our boat as we cruised along. 
We were reminded that kayaking is by far the most effective way of getting close to nature. Some of our past experiences are right out of a David Attenborough nature documentary including whales, dolphins, kestrels and eagles, and today was no different. As we rounded the corner out of Lemontree Creek I noticed a huge bird in the tree just metres from us. It took a few seconds to realise it was a massive White-bellied Sea-Eagle, finishing its fishy meal. I tried to capture it on the camera – a challenge on the little waterproof one – this is one moment when I wish I had my telephoto lens!
If you look carefully on the left of the image, you can see the great bird taking flight – just magnificent, with a wingspan of around 2 metres.
We clocked up just over 9km by the time we reached camp, and were ready for lunch.
Tonight, two of our friends from Sydney, Michelle and Dan have joined us for the weekend, following a slow drive south through Friday night traffic. A dinner of roast chicken, salad and sweet potato wedges plus several glasses of wine have helped them to wind down after their journey and we’re hoping the weather forecast is right for this weekend and we will indeed be blessed with blue skies and sunshine. We’ve ordered more Kingfishers and Sea-Eagles to entertain us tomorrow – let’s hope the booking is honoured!
