Author: Mrs A
Location: Kenilworth, Queensland
Friday morning dawned bright and sunny, so Mr A, Phil, Greg and I drove up into Kenilworth to find somewhere upstream to drop our kayaks and Packrafts in. After a little hunting around plus Googling someone else’s kayaking blog we found a park beside the show ground with water access and off we went.
Greg had only paddled a Canadian canoe in the past, so the sit on top kayak was a new experience for him, but he did really well. We took our time, enjoying the scenery and birds, mostly letting the current guide us down the gravel races (we prefer to call them rapids!)
Rainbow bee eaters, cormorants, black kites, red backed wrens…the list of birdlife was endless and made the paddle even more interesting.
The Mary River and its surrounding valley was saved from being flooded for a reservoir by the discovery of an extremely rare fish. The Australian Lungfish is only naturally present in this river and one other in Australia. Lungfish fossils were found in New South Wales which date back 100 million years, virtually unchanged, making this creature a living fossil and really important ecologically.
The river is also the only known home of a turtle which breathes through its tail – one of the top 25 most endangered turtles in the world! A very special place indeed.
We had a great hour or so paddling downstream 4.5km, finishing up at our camp for showers. Greg then dropped us back at our car and Mr A and I drove to the Kenilworth Hotel (pub). As we walked in we discovered the Sunshine Coast Ukulele Festival was on in town with the pub hosting some of the performances. It’s funny how you can spot a ukulele player – rainbow coloured tie died outfits and funny crocheted hats! Some performances were better than others, but we avoided the stage and found a table inside.
It wasn’t long before Andrew Pitcher, one of Mr A’s old work colleagues (his boss from SAP) arrived to meet us. The first thing he said to me was ‘You’re much shorter than I remember!’. Hah! Must be that last time we met I was in heels after work – that feels like a lifetime ago. We had a lovely catch up, learning all about his life as a developer around these parts.
After a great feed, Mr A and I farewelled Andrew and headed back to camp to catch up with the next batch of Zoners who had arrived.
The fire was lit and out came the wine of course for an evening of getting to know one another and learning about the adventures people had enjoyed.
We headed out for a paddle this morning, unfortunately just as the wind picked up so it was a pretty short one. We headed across the Wooli Wooli river (so good they named it twice?) right from our caravan, then headed along the opposite shore towards the ocean. Beautiful paperbarks and mangroves lined the edge, twisted into incredible shapes.
Massive sand dunes towered over us, framing a beautiful contrast with the blue water. Love these little packrafts to enable us to get out here on the water.
The afternoon saw us out on the bikes for a quick spin along some of the same trails as yesterday, and they were equally gorgeous.
We attempted to ride back along the beach but the incoming tide and soft sand defeated that plan. So it was a quick rest stop at the Wooli Hotel for cold one before retuning to the Zone, just 11km under our belts.
A happy hour was spent trying to get our plumbing sorted, with limited success, so we have a pretty measly dribble of water unfortunately. Hoping this will get sorted at Zone when we go for the service in a couple of weeks.
The creek is fairly shallow most of the way up, but Dusty preferred to ride on the front of Darryl’s boat rather than swim or bound alongside, while we were entertained with stories of Darryl’s adventures paddling around Cape York, in the far north of Queensland. Tales of large crocodiles, hammerhead sharks and three hour hikes before dawn to find fresh water reassured us we will probably not be paddling in our inflatable boats up in that part of Australia!
We returned for a BBQ brunch and a chat with our fellow Zoners, learning more about the individual tips and hints they had to share.
From the rocks at the mouth of the estuary you can see right up the coast along Moonee Reserve, the salt spray making the air look misty and atmospheric.
This is such a special part of the coast. We wished our family in the UK could be magically transported here – the children would love playing in the sandy shallows, and there is so much to do and see. Some people staying on the site were feeding the lorikeets with honey and bread [below: Scaly-breasted Lorikeets]
Off to pastures new tomorrow, Wooli Beach (as recommended by our good friends Rosemary and Richard in Sydney)…looking forward to finally getting our oysters there!
The river is an ever changing environment with flood and drought adjusting the river’s path all the time. The tree roots from the towering red gums were like incredible sculptures along the rivers edge, their solid ground long gone.
We returned to camp and cleaned up our things, dried the boats and took Princess Tassie out for another walk. She feels very adventurous here and is absolutely fascinated by the river.
A home cooked meal completed the day, eaten outside in the warm evening – it stays light until way past 9pm these days. We had a chat with some friends, making plans for Christmas. As much as we are enjoying our travels, we are quite excited about catching up with our Sydney ‘family’ again. Being apart has made us appreciate them all the more.
Tomorrow we hit the road again, heading off to adventures new. I wonder what the next camp will bring…?
