At 7.30am on Friday, 3 May 2019, our group of Duke of Edinburgh Silver & Gold Practice Adventurous Journey Participants were all excitedly organising equipment and farewelling parents who had brought kayaks and equipment for the next few days. We met with our kayak instructor, Craig, who showed us how to paddle and pack our kayaks before teaching us how to read a maps and tide charts. We each had a turn of map reading and considering the tides we would face for the weekend ahead.
The day of kayaking was amazing, with beautifully calm water and very little wind, we were able to see all kinds of wildlife including stingrays, a dugong, and small schools of fish, as we paddled along.
When we arrived at Tipplers campsite we set up our tents next to a pier, which was great for jumping off into the water. Dinner was very welcome, as was the camp fire with the marshmallows (thanks Mr Henderson for providing the marshmallows!).
Saturday was spent doing more kayaking with different people leading the group and each one of us practising how to read the maps, charts and tide tables. When we made camp at South Currigee we just got our tents up before the rain came in, but thankfully it didn’t last long.
We had fun playing in the sand dunes and joining in some games before returning for a much-needed rest in preparation for Day 3.
We woke in the morning to a day of more kayaking, with some snorkelling and swimming at Wave Break Island, where we discovered lots of fish by the rock wall. This was a highlight for many members of the group. A short paddle across to Lands End boat ramp meant that we could meet with the parents of the Silver group who were heading home.
The Gold group had to say goodbye to the Silver and continue on their journey. At this point in the weekend, we were all tired and knew that we had another 5km to go to our camp site at North Currigee. Just as we were approaching the camp site, we caught up with the ice cream boat where we stopped for a few minutes and enjoyed an ice cream and regained some energy before heading to camp.
When the Gold group arrived, we set up camp and built a camp fire where we toasted marshmallows and played a few games of cards before heading to bed. We were all up early the next morning to watch the sun rise. After this we had breakfast and packed up the camp site before heading to the mangrove islands to see some more wildlife.
It was an amazing end to our weekend when two dolphins swam right beside our kayaks for about 5 minutes as we were approaching the Centenary Drive boat ramp.
Gold: Mackenzie Clark, Cassie Prior and Alice Kerr
Silver: Abbey Gibbs, Josh Bryant, Sam Schooley, Jack Johnson, Clare Heidemanns, Zac Gibbs and Logan Chapman
Thanks to Catherine Baddeley and Athol Henderson for leading this journey!
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