Friday 25 Mar 05

   It was an early start, a final pack of all the gear into the cruiser and off to pick up my paddling partner Ron.

    We left Ron's place in Brisbane at about 830 am and began the long drive north with everyone else trying to get out of the city for Easter.

   After about 6 hours driving we finally reached the turn off to Tannum Sands and Boyne Island. All I could see were about half a dozen kite surfers at the mouth of the river and all I could think was that this was going to be a wet crossing to Facing Island as the wind was strong enough for the kite surfers to be out in force.

   The boat ramp was busy with locals coming back from their fishing trips and we were getting some weird looks as we unloaded the cruiser and started getting our gear down to the waters edge. The local boys in blue were checking boat and trailer rego but didn't even give us a second glance as we put into an incoming tide at the mouth of the Boyne River.

    After threading a path through the beacons marking the boat channel we were out into the main Gladstone shipping channel into a 10 knot wind coupled with a 3 knot incoming tidal current that was heading towards Gladstone Harbour.

   Gatcombe Head beckoned as we set of on a northerly bearing, the waves were about half a metre and wind had settled down to a steady South Easterly blowing straight up the channel. The tide was at its peak flow so there was quite a bit of aiming off involved.

    After 90 minutes of paddling in the late afternoon we arrived at Gatcombe Head and started looking for a camp site as the sun was low in the sky. There were some guys on the beach trying to get an anchor buoy out to an anchorage with a tinny (which was really struggling) and they directed us a bit further north to a Gladstone City Council camping area 5 minutes paddle north.

Sunset over Gladstone Queensland

Saturday 26 Mar 05

   After a leisurely breakfast we set off at the top of the tide to go south and around the outside of Facing Island towards North Point. The ocean side of Facing Island had a SE swell which was dumping a 1.5 metre surf onto the beach which also made seeing the shallow reefs very easy as the waves broke over them. We made our way north and after 3 hours we rounded North Point on Facing Island to a very crowded council campsite behind the beach protection area.

    We set up on the beach side of the fenced off area and had an early night sepated. at least by the fence, from the other compers.

Campsite at North Point

Sunday 27 Mar 05

   After a good night's sleep and a leisurely breakfast we left the beach at the top of the tide, the water was only a boat length from our tents so a very short carry. Our next stop was Black Head on Curtis Island and as we headed north the wind strengthened and more and more whitecaps appeared behind us.

    Time to launch the kite!! Up it flew and we cruised northwards for two hours before I reeled in the kite and started to paddle. We rounded Black Head and found ourselves in a sheltered north facing bay with a very flat beach and the tide on the way out.

Ron and his "Kayak with Wheels" at Black Head Beach

   The beach looked fantastic until the silence was shattered by moto cross bikes racing along the beach. The tide kept dropping and as the water retreated the crabs came out and started working over the sand, there were thousands of them and the colour of the sand darkened as all the little balls of sand appeared from the crabs feeding.

    We went for a wander in the afternoon up to a wind swept Black Head and looked at the proposed development site, lots of little housing blocks each with its own sign stating what type of house was going to be built (Hopefully Never).

    We listened to the evening weather forecast and found out that a southerly change would be upon us in 2 days, not welcome news as we would be heading into the wind on the final legs of our trip.

Monday 28 Mar 05

    The morning greeted us with a light North Easterly wind blowing and a few clouds gracing the sky. We had a 25 metre walk to the waters edge and a long day ahead so we aimed to be on the water at 730 am, the morning weather forecast was for 5 to 10 knot NE winds followed by a late southerly change and the prospect of a strong wind warning for the next day, YUK.

    As we headed north we could see the headland at Cape Capricorn and occasionally see the white of the roofs of the houses at the lighthouse. The coastline of Curtis Island was a mixture of rocky areas and long sandy beaches with high dunes. We finally rounded Cape Capricorn, which had a tidal race flowing out around it, and pulled into the sheltered bay where the lighthouse tenders used to unload and the railway up to the lighthouse was clearly visible. It is a private residence now that the lights are automated.

    After a lunch break we listened to the ABC Country hour and got the latest weather report, still forecasting the southerly change and strong wind warning.

    We headed west towards Cape Keppel and after another 3 hours of paddling we finally rounded the cape and kept going to Station Point.

    We found a very pleasant campsite except for the sandflies, millions of the little biters, as soon as you were out of the wind they attacked in droves, and as soon as the sun went down mozzies also joined the fray.

Sunset at Station Point

    The only place free of the little buggers was down at the waters edge. The night sky was brilliant before the moon rose and we tried to find some constellations with my star chart. I finally retreated to the tent to escape but they followed me in and I spent the first 10 minutes trying to get all of the ones that followed me in.

Tuesday 29 Mar 05

    Today was the big day as we tried to get through The Narrows in one go. We had the tide with us as we were leaving on the start of the flood and we hoped that we would get to where the tides met at slack water then ride the ebb tide out to Laird Point.

    First stop was Sea Hill and a quick look at the cemetery. This was a quarantine station in the 19th century and there were a few monuments to the people who died.

    There was even a pub here once, one side mangrove swamp the other side tidal flats. Location, Location, Location !!

Cemetary at Sea Hill

    The Lighthouse was too hard to get to as we had to negotiate a swamp to get there and those bl@@dy sandflies were as thick as ever.

Sea Hill Lighthouse

    We headed off into The Narrows with the tide into a 10 knot headwind. The waves were short and steep and we tried to hug the mangroves. We stopped for lunch at the place where the cattle are swum across the narrows, about 100m wide and the tide had already turned so we asked some locals who said the tides met just a couple of hundred metres further south.

    After an hour of paddling south against wind and tide we finally had the tide flowing our way (I hope that someday those guys have to row their tinnies “just a couple of hundred metres” against wind and tide. #$#@$# ).

     We finally got through The Narrows and could see Gladstone in front of us, our camp for the night was on top of a steep beach on a mangrove lined inlet and the sandflies were even worse than last night, aeroguard and rid seemed to be attracting the little b@$t@rds not keeping them at bay. I was in my tent by 6 0'clock and was scratching like a mongrel mutt.

Wednesday 30 Mar 05

    The weather report in the morning had downgraded the forecast and there was no strong wind warning, just 10 – 15 knot South Easterly winds. A very hard and tiring day slogging into a headwind lay ahead. We tried to shelter in the lee of islands where we could but overall it was a very tiring day. All of the small islands are privately owned and there are houses on all of them.

Having a rest from the tides !

    After slogging away for 6 hours we finally landed back at Gatcombe Head. We had the campsite to ourselves as the holiday hordes had gone home. We were finally free of the bloodsuckers and it was a pleasant evening watching the ships coming and going to Gladstone

Ships in the Gladstone Channel

Thursday 31 Mar 05

    Last day blues and the wind was still blowing as we launched and pointed into the wind and began a two hour ferry glide against wind and tide across the channel towards Boyne Island.

    The beach kept getting closer and we weren't even heading for it. We snuck over the sandbanks and small surf fringing the mouth of the Boyne River back to the boat ramp.

    We then unloaded the boats, hosed them down, loaded up the cruiser and headed off in search of a much needed hamburger and drove back to big smoke of Brisbane.

Stan Podobnik has lived all over the country in the last few years, but has kept migrating back to Queensland to paddle nearly every year. Except for one year where he had the mad idea to cycle across the US, has had the fortune over the years to paddle most of the best paddling locations on the Queensland coastline. A great paddling companion, Stan's easy going manner makes for fun paddle trip.