Gregory River
While the weather held and a high tide at 1pm we made a trip up the Gregory River with Ann, Heather and Alex. The boat ramp was equally popular and Heather, also local, had never seen so many vehicles and trailers parked at Walkers Point. For a moment there was even a jam of kayaks with people getting ready to launch in a pair of Hobies to go fishing.
Heading upstream I got to do some fishing myself, well first time
prawning as a shoal of prawns broke the water. I nabbed one that landed on the deck - good size too. Oh to have a small net, the blighters were everywhere. However they are also feisty with my captive flicking his way to freedom before being caught on
camera. We turned off into the tranquillity of individual oxbows,
their connection to the main channel heralded by the noise of outboards. There are few places to pull up on the bank of the Gregory River and a rapid fire morning tea was had on a
disappearing sand bar.
We headed upstream around another oxbow and then in search of a suitable place to land. The tide was not going to reach that of the night tides and left many of the muddy banks steep and difficult to access. The situation was no different at the
landing at Heidkes Road so we chose a place that was the best pick of what did not appear to be private property. Marked by a palm tree and a chorus of bird song this landing point had boot sucking slippery mud but was the entrance to a charming grassy grove where we had lunch and were entertained by Alex's card
trick. Ann was fair game to get in her boat and let Mark push her
back in the water down what was by now, a mud slippery dip.
Despite the outgoing tide the trip back became a bit of a slog into the wind. Mark gave Ann a tow for the last two Kms while Alex, to his credit, managed the entire trip with energy to burn. At the end Alex was there to help carry up the boats and unpack the gear. It was a real pleasure to have Alex on the trip and we look forward to catching up with both Alex and Heather the next
time we have the kayaks in Woodgate.
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Next Day
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Getting ready at Walkers Point
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Kayak jam
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Setting off for the Gregory River
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Alex
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Heading into an ox bow
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Ann
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Heather
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Back into the main channel of the Gregory
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Pulling up for AM tea
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Improvised table
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Time to go
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Further upstream
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Mark and Alex in another ox bow
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Possible landing place - too muddy
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Lunch spot
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Grassy grove
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Sollya heterophylla
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Ready steady . . .
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Go
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Last man muddy
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Alex - kept a good pace all day
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Heading back
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GPS Trackfile (OziExplorer .plt)
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Next Day
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