It was a beautiful summer's day and Evelyn couldn't wait to get out the car. Amazingly she did not split asunder when her considerable mass tumbled out and smashed onto the ground. To this day Diamond Head remains a ramp for true boaties. Maybe it is a lack of opportunity to flash around, the muddy mangrove
lined channels, or, as we found out later, people simply don't know where it is.
Already it was warm so we decided swimming beaches were preferable to the mud banks of the Coomera River. Five boats headed north near the top of the tide and took the chance to explore a creek on the western side of Woogoompah Island. You could hear the Polar Bears negotiating the windy passage which meandered for 1.5Km. We turned around when the water level thinned amongst a sparse copse of mangroves to avoid a soft mud stranding.
Cheryl and Bruce went to Jacobs Well while Tom, Mark, Evelyn and I continued on towards Tipplers. Morning tea was in the welcome but meagre shade of an information sign about the little tern and other wading birds resident on the island. As we were readying to leave, Andrew (Queensland Sea Kayakers) and a group of friends pulled in at the next beach on their way to the The Bedroom. It looked like a welcome break for some as the tide was running out strongly.
Evelyn was restless and started rolling around in the back hatch on
the chop stirred up by the launches and wind against tide. We slipped in on the beach next to some hire kayaks and got told to get lost by 20m, which we promptly did sharing some sand with jet skis instead. Weighing in at 6Kg, Evelyn was not a melon you could discretely place on the table and think no one would notice. So
we settled for a comfortable log in the shade just outside the food importation quarantine zone.
Evelyn was delicious, albeit fractured internally and exceedingly juicy necessitating a postprandial swim. The water was tainted by two stroke. It coated Mark's moustache making sure that the distinctive flavour hung around for a couple of hours. With just three consumers it was time to offer some of Evelyn to the chap who had been sitting on the beach and watched over the boats. His eighth share went down well. There was the usual 'where have you come from ?' Despite living in the area 'Diamond Head' was met by
a blank stare. It was equally meaningless to the jet skier whose
verbatim response cracked the boat watcher up completely.
After lunch we headed south with a favourable tide run and a firm NE breeze filling the sails to the mouth of the Pimpama River. Tipplers and The Bedroom were wall to wall boats with many more cruising. The sheer numbers of powered craft raised the question as to how many the Broadwater and Moreton Bay can take. Maybe there is merit in a permit system for powered boats as for 4WD access to beaches. Two boats had a potentially expensive weekend as the VMR towed them back to port. A sandbank sported an Australian flag in a fishing rod holder and a set of stumps - Tom mused whether it was a part of an ABC photo competition for the picture which embraced the spirit of cricket.
At Diamond Head there was enough water to continue up McCoy's Creek. This protected fish habitat is very shallow at the entrance where the signs says 'end of navigable water'. The creek soon narrows into a muddy mangrove lined channel. There was no variation for 2Km and not wanting to have to get out and squish through the mud for the last 100m we returned with a couple of inches to clear.
When we pulled the boats up there had been a complete changing of the guard. All the cars that had been parked up the top had gone and a new set of 4WD and cars with trailers were near the ramp. A foray into Coomera Waters for a coffee and icecream revealed a master planned community with gated enclaves and attractive street landscaping. While it was pretty, there were no kids hairing around, no unkempt lawns, and there was not a patch of pink or yellow. I prefer the unregulated space of Diamond Head where you can take your heeler collie cross and chuck a stick into a muddy creek. With the amount of houses being built along Coleman Road it maybe hoping against hope that it will stay as it is.
There are no pictures from today's paddle - for some reason the camera did not save any of the intended photos.
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