All the Fat Paddler tribe in one kayak
Bless my wife, she organised a weekend away for Fathers’ Day at Avoca Beach, a sensational spot on the NSW Central Coast. Apart from an amazing beach, it also has a great set of paddling lakes known, funnily enough, as Avoca Lakes. And there is a kayak hire place on the lake that does a range of boats, including stable bath-tubs for the most unsteady paddler. Perfect also for taking out my little girls for their first ever paddle.
A bath-tub full of girls (and one fat bloke)
My eldest daughter (Grace, 3 years old) sat with me and marvelled at the pelicans, and jelly-fish, and anything else we saw in the lake system. My youngest daughter (Ella, 1.5 years old) was enjoying dipping her hands in the lake until my wife demanded urgently she remove them, which set Ella to tears for the next 15 minutes.
You see, I had failed to point out to my somewhat paranoid wife that this lake is land-locked and free from noahs, so in her mind Ella was tempting the sharks to rise up and bite her hands off. My wife was so worried in fact that she asked me to let her and Ella out early, leaving Grace and I to paddle for a while longer. It wasn’t until she was out and chatting to the kayak hire man that she realised there weren’t any sharks at all!
Grace and Daddy, now paddling solo
Needless to say we all had a good laugh a bit later. Importantly however, Grace hasn’t stopped talking about how she went paddling with daddy and saw jelly-fish and pelicans, so I’m guessing she can see why I love it. Unlike her mum, she may even go paddling with me again. 😉
The Engine Room
Hi Sean
Sure is nice to see photos of your family. When will you be buying your girls their first kayaks?
Chris
Well, my eldest daughter (Grace, 3) is very keen to come paddling with me, but I’ve told her she has to learn to swim first. So she is currently doing swimming lessons, and once I think she can swim properly then I may look to get a double kayak like this one for our Daddy-Daughter paddling. But if she really wants her own after a little bit of paddling with me then I will certainly look into it! My youngest (Ella, 1.5) didn’t quite like it so much, but that might be an age thing. We’ll just have to watch and see. 🙂
I took my girls down to narrabeen lakes this weekend hired 2 of those little plastic daggers and towed them round one at a time, they both loved it but my oldest (6) was paddling round on her own after 10 minutes to get used to it. If you stay close to the shop the waters pretty shallow so nice and safe for them.
Thanks Steve, that’s great to know! I’ll definitely take them up there for more paddles. 🙂