Poona trip with maryborough Canoe Club.

[hairymick]

G'day guys,

I finally joined our local canoe club. I have been on a couple of trips with them before but at the time, they seemed like a fairly elitist mob so I couldn't be bothered to join.

After several invitations to come for a paddle with them, I relented today and boy am I glad I did! What a difference a couple of years make.

Early this morning, I suffered the coldest morning I can remember here to load the car and head off. the outside thermomenter was reading 0C or 32F. There was a heavy (for here) frost and ice had settled all over my car :shock: Lovely The sky was clear and the forecast was good - light winds if any.

The plan was for all to meet at Maryborough at 0800 and then travel in convoy to Poona, a small fishing villiage about an hour south of here.

We arrived at the put in at about 0830 and were all on the water by 0900

What a cosmopolitan group they were. there was a couple from Belgium here on vacation and have now decided to migrate here

Plenty from New Zealand

A kid on a small surf ski :shock:

And even some geezers oldest was 70 something

Long story - short, I had a ball. Even though the boats were as varied as were the paddlers and their skill levels, the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, scenery was very nice and the pace was that of the slowest boat. A real easy day on the creek. We paddled upstream about 5 miles with the incoming tide and when it turned, so did we and came back. My type of paddling. All the geezers had very flash expedition sea kayaks including a Mirage 580 and all seemed genuinly impressed with my Southwind.

What an ego boost at the put in!, everybody who came to check out the boats walked straight past all the factory jobs and wanted to know about my wooden one as well as the swampgirl I sold to one of the members. she is delighted with it BTW

Here is the motley crew.

 

[seedtick]

beautiful shots............but, 32 degrees and you have folks on the water barefoot, in shorts and tee shirts. Ya'll got to be a lot tougher than me.

 

[oldsparkey]

Mick is going to have all of them making wood boats before they know it. I can see a new shop starting up , The Down Under Wood Boat Shop.

Chuck.

 

[a Bald Cypress]

m

Most excellent report Senior Mick


Thanks

 

[hairymick]

Thanks guys,

Where I live is about 10 miles inland. It was much warmer than 32 on the coast and the shots were taken after about 0830.

Oh yeah, the blokes and girls in shorts & T's were the Belgians and mad bloody New Zealanders. :lol:

The group piccie was taken about midday when it had warmed up to about 65f

even bloody colder here this morning - 29f - WTH??? :shock: :shock:

 

[hairymick]

Couple more piccies.

One of the Belgians just sent them to me.

 

[dawallace45]

Was down in Childers last Thursday and Friday and that is only about 36 km north of Micks place and it was bloody cold down there too , much colder than up here , Thursday turned out to be a very nice day and I went and checked out some of the notable places in Micks area , [ Friday turned out bloody cold and windy ] Burrum Heads is a very nice place but one place that caught my eye was a place called Buxton , it's just up from where the Isis River and Cherwell River meet the Burrum River , they tell me that about 220 people live there which probably makes it a little bigger than Miriam Vale where I live [ Miriam Vale's population doubles when ever a tourist bus stops for fuel , as far as I know it's only reason to come into existence was as a coach stop in the days of Cobb and Co ] but Buxton was a nice place and I wouldn't mind going back some time for a better look ,

Micks area is a bit more populated than mine which can be a good thing and bad , I do really like the fact that with many of the areas I can paddle the chance of ever seeing another person is slim but of course with that is the fact access is often rough as well , Poona where Mick went with his club is a very nice quite little area , a good mate of mine has lived there for over 20 years

David

 

[hairymick]

Sorry I missed you Dave. Had to work Thursday and Friday.

Buxton is a true little gem.

Robin and I often do a day paddle to there from Burrum Heads if the tide is rising at the time or from Wall's Camp put in near Howard if the tide is falling. We paddle to Buxton, do morning tea in the park near the boat ramp, swim in summer - shiver in winter then paddle back when the tide turns. about 5 or 6 miles each way.

Dave's fist piccie is looking sort of North and down stream towards the mouth of the Gredory River. There are piles of ballast rocks all over the place where the coal ships used to drop it on their way up stream for more coal. They are serious navigation hazards but have covered nicely in oysters.

Second piccie is panned right a little and is looking North-East and downstream towards the Gregory Islands and Burrum Heads. More ballast rocks and a very interesting paddle at low tide. Great little gutters to pick through where no stink boats can go. (Very good fishing here)

Third piccie is panned a little further right and is looking East and is pretty much, straight across the river.

Fourth shot is looking allmost due South and looking up stream. The house in the distance, past the moored boats is a real flash mansion that is owned by a prick. He thinks he owns the river. There are very good oyster rocks right infront of his place against the bank. I just love to call in there and start eating them. :twisted: Torments the hell out of him and when he comes down and starts yelling and stuff, I just tell him to piss off and grin at him like the villiage idiot. - drives him nuts.

 

[dawallace45]

Mick

No problem , I had the books on bow making out for you as well , will catch up another time

David

 

[Kayak Jack]

Right purty waters. I'm betting that your South Wind was the speediest boat out there.

 

[dawallace45]

Mick

Did you go up through all those mangrove islands , the area the locals call the everglades ? nice area that , lots of crabs and mangrove jacks , I've lost a few lures up through there

David

 

[catfish]

Hey seedtick man you thinking what I was . Those aussies must be tougher than me too. I would be done got frostbite.

Nice pics Mick thanks for sharing.

 

[hairymick]

Here is a piccie from the other side of the river, looking back towards Buxton where Dave took his shots.

This one is looking up stream from the same spot.

Took em today.

Pulled a couple on the flats near there.

Yellow fin bream.

Dusky flathead (Lizard)

 

[bearridge]

Had ta take anuther vacation? :mrgreen: :roll: :mrgreen:

 

[oldsparkey]

Mick keeps this up and I swear he will force me to take a much needed vacation.
This retirement stuff is hard on a body ( trying to find something to do ) :roll:

Chuck.

 

[hairymick]

Had ta take anuther vacation?

LOL,

Nah mate. The rostering system where I put in time for my employer is that I do 12 hour shifts. We are required to spend, on average, 38 hour per week there.

The roster cycle is spread over 18 weeks and is averaged over that time to 38 hours per week. Some weeks, I spend 60 hours there and others, as little as 24. I get lots of 3 day breaks and a few longer ones. I am on a 7 day break now. The last one for a while.

It works out really well for me.

Chucky mate, any time you feel so inclined, come on down.