Archive for July, 2009

I was launching at 7.30am as usual, getting to the beach fully loaded with water and food. Aland helped me again with the wheel barrow!

I was passing this working platform, actually quite a reasonable idea! Four poles, the platform attached from a shipoader as high as the poles go in the water and the tide is coming up, and then you can drill a whole in the sea ground searching for oil or whatever.

I got a text message from Alan Melville, he would be waiting form me at Onslow and had even booked a campsite for both of us! Nice, thannks, Alan!

So a half day’s paddle, and a hot shower, laundry, shopping, company and some good food is waiting! Not too bad for a lonely, exhausted traveller!

Another island day, Pup Island, Great Sandy Island, East Island, Middle Mary Island, Large Island, West Island, False Island, Little Rocky Island, North Mangrove Island, all passing them closer or just seeing them from the distance.

All of them were quite flat, so I could barely make them out on approaching only about 12 km away. All of them would be worth a landing and exploring, but I had to keep on going…

Island after island were passing by in the closer or further distance.

Fortescue Island, Mardie Island, Sholl Island, Round Island, Long Island, Middle Passage Island, Angle Island, Passage Island, but it was actually simple open water paddling with some strong to nice following winds.

I noticed on almost every island passing by closer a sweet smell – later I found out that came from those quite common yellow flower bushes. It smelled like the Rapsblüte in a German spring!

The forecast fort the next days was quite strong south-easterlies! I got up, and felt they were more easterly than southerly, so quite pushing!! No way having some days off…I felt refreshed from the short day yesterday, and was looking forward to the nice challenging paddle.

Alan was not surprised I rather felt like keep on pushing on, although he probably would have enjoyed a bit more of my company! Well, maybe some other time…

I noticed the previous night in last light, the Searipple Passage is dry on low tide, even for my kayak.

As I was much worn out from that last day’s crossing, I was happy to start late and to take a slow, easy paddle for the last 15 km Dampier.

There, I would meet Alan Melville, an experienced outdoorsman and kayaker who already gave me plenty of useful advice on blog comments regarding crocs, snakes and other nasty things.

Cape Lambert Industrial Art – loading pier for huge ships for iron ore

I was wheeling out again early morning, hoping no one would be bothered by me camping down at the town beach.

The paddle around Cape Lambert showed quite some interesting “industrial art”, but I felt like I was inhaling the red dust from the iron ore piles until I made it around. Even the foam on the water was red…

Another piece of wreck I was passinng on launching from Depuch Island…

The paddle across Sherlock Bay was nothing special, just another (boring…) flatwater day, but after a long phone call to Greg with some not too exciting news I regained my energy to paddle hard the last leg and decided to rather make the 60 km to Point Samson where a light yellow beach was lurking from the distance rather than to one of the islands to the left.