The Stellar SR surfski - a mighty vehicle even for a fat man

With next year’s challenge looming in the background, it’s been time to switch my paddling from playing in the rocks to surfski training. This flavour of paddling is almost completely different from the yakking I’m used to, and time in a ski is critical. Fortunately the good folks at Slipstream Surf and Stellar Kayaks came to the party and lent me a Stellar SR surfski to train on, so over the past few days I’ve put in around 20km on the gentle inland waters of Berowra and Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park.

Of course it’s been a little shakey, as my body tries to adapt to the stability needs of a ski. I also don’t have the paddle of choice for skis (wing paddle) and have been using a traditional Aleut paddle instead. But over time I’ve already started to feel my stability increasing and as I do so, the true joy of paddling a ski has already become apparent. Despite the fact I’ve not taken the surfski out in anything lumpy yet, I can see why my pal Nat from SydneySurfSki.com loves skis so much.

With that, here’s a little video of my first sessions on the Stellar SR. Nothing spectacular, just a gentle orientation on the ski through some of the spectacular waterways of Sydney’s Hawkesbury River river district. With some kicking Aussie beats of course! Cheers, FP

Tags: Berowra Waters, ocean ski, Slipstream Surf, Stellar Kayaks, Stellar SR, Stellar surkski, surf ski, surfski

Keith enjoying the early morning peace on Berowra Waters

Paddle mate Grumm has had his outlaws visiting from the UK over the past few weeks, and we promised to take Keith, his 6’5″ ex-rugby player father in law, out on the water for an early morning paddle. Keith has a few old niggly injuries, not to mention a new stainless steel knee, so I decided the canoe would be the easiest boat for him to get in and out of.

Early morning waterfalls in the Berowra Gorge - mesmerising

Putting in at the Berowra Waters boat ramp, we paddled up into the gorge through the early morning mist, finally arriving at our first “checkpoint”, the secret rockpool. This amazing place is hidden at the back of a mangrove zone, and contains a deep rockpool covered on three sides by steep walls and moss, with an entrance guarded by big slippery rocks. At high tide you can just squeeze your boat in between the rocks, and Grumm and I had come here before to shower under the waterfalls fed by run-off from the surrounding hills.

Grumm himself was feeling the pain from one or two wines the night before and was keen to get under the waterfall to clear his head.  As he drifted away to wipe the water from his face, he uttered a couple of rich expletives as we heard a “kaplonk” sound next to his kayak. As fate would have it, I was taking photos at that exact moment!

The face of a man who has just dropped something expensive overboard!

When we asked what was wrong, he muttered that he’d just dropped his sunglasses into the pool. My immediate laughter died away however when he told us they were worth over $300 – not an amount you can ignore and paddle away from.  There was no way for him to safely exit and re-enter his sea kayak in the rockpool area however, so I offered the only option that seemed available – I’d go in after them for him and then climb back into the canoe.

Of course, despite his promise that the sunglasses were in only 3 feet of water, the water between where the sunnies were and where I was standing was more like 15 feet deep, and I realised I’d was going to have to swim across to him to help. Resigned to my fate, I stripped off and slid into the frigid waters.

Scouting out the water depth. Oh, bugger....

I can't believe I'm bloody doing this. I'm going to have to take it all off, aren't I?

Ok, in I go. Oh sh_t this is COLD!!

Ok, where are they? Just here? Ok, prepare to dive!

Sunglasses recovered! Now I'm going to take a second to reflect on how COLD it is!!

With the sunglasses now successfully saved, I climbed back up the rocks and slipped back into my shirt and PFD before climbing back aboard the canoe. Grumm took one last pass under the waterfalls, then we all manouvered our boats back out through the rocks and into the channel away from the pool.

Grumm prepares to leave, now with sunglasses firmly attached.

I was feeling pretty chilly so I paddled us over to another little creek where I knew there was access to a clearing. Pulling our boats in, I helped Keith out of the canoe before taking out the Trangia and a few folding chairs and preparing cups of tea for us all.

A very civilized way to take a break. Gotta love the stowage capacity of the canoe!

Keith gets the honour of using the Fairy Princess cup. He is English after all...

With bellies full of hot tea we realised there was only one thing missing. Egg and bacon rolls. So we packed up the boats and pushed off heading back to the Berowra Marina and its water-side café.

With Keith having some pretty significant injuries to deal with, exploring such a beautiful outdoors area would not have been possible without the right equipment and craft. But he was able to use the canoe and get outdoors for a stunning morning amongst some lush Aussie bushland – a wonderful experience for any visitor to our shores. Add in a little swimming adventure and you’ve got a heap of fun to boot! Cheers – FP

Tags: Berowra, Berowra Gorge, Berowra Waters

Ella (aged 2.5) and the family canoe

My wife and eldest daughter Gracie flew up to Brisbane to see family, leaving me with my youngest princess, Ella. When I asked her what she wanted to do, she picked out paddling from the long list of options I’d given her.  Admittedly I was a little surprised, as she had shown far less interest in the water than my other daughter, but when I pressed her she was adamant. So after packing up the family canoe and kiddie essentials, we drove up into the hills to Berowra Waters.

Ella pointing out the Berowra Ferry on the water

After making sure Ella’s PFD was closely fitting and done up, we pushed off into the waters and commenced the paddle up into the gorge. Ella’s immediate interest was more in the muesli bars and fruit juice I had in my cooler bag, but as she munched through some food she started to take in the surroundings around her, pointing out boats and waving to other people out on the water.

There's something special about enjoying the great outdoors

As we paddled out of sight of other boaters, she started to ask important questions. What do fish eat? Where are the jellyfish? What do bunny rabbits eat? Where are the stingrays? Why is it windy? And so on.  As we drifted further up the gorge we both started to laugh and enjoy this special time together on the water.

Eventully I turned into the mangroves and followed a secret stream into an area I’ve visited before – the secret pool. This lovely area has a beautiful rocky pool surrounded by cliffs and lush undergrowth and very often has running waterfalls. When we finally got up there, we jumped out of the boat so Ella could play in the sand and splash about in the cool fresh water.

Ooooh! This place is pretty Daddy!

Time to jump out and run around

After a few sandcastles and chasing baby fish in the shallows, we decided to call it a day and head back to where we started. Paddling back we found the tide rushing out over shallows and the boat flew across the water, which was great until I somehow dropped my paddle overboard! Fortunately I had a couple of spares on board and was able to circle back around to pick it up, to the delighted giggles of Ella.

Don't worry Daddy, I'll save us with MY paddle!

We finished up some 3 hours after we’d started, with Ella exhausted but happy. It was a brilliant way to spend some quality time with my daughter, I can’t recommend it enough. Cheers – FP

Tags: Berowra Waters, Ella, Mad River Canoe

Grumm pondering his existence

With Grumm having a hard curfew of 11am for his paddling due to kiddie bday party commitments, we decided to go for a very early paddle in the nearby gorge of Berowra Waters. Fortunately we live on the same street, so met out the front of my place just before 5am with the Fatmobile already packed and ready to go.

FP's Fatmobile, packed and ready to set off in the darkness

After a short drive through the hills and into the gorge, we unloaded in the darkness at the Berowra Marina boatramp and pushed off into the early morning darkness, heading upstream away from civilisation and into the narrowing Berowra gorge. As the earliest light started to permeate  the night sky, we found ourselves paddling into a thick low fog in complete silence, devoid of the noises of man.

Grumm sets off from the marina in darkness

First light. Glassy water, layers of fog, and complete silence.

The first sound of the morning was the long gutteral laughter of a newly-awakened kookaburra, obviously telling us off for disturbing the deserted gorge. We continued on however through the meandering waterway, with the only other signs of life being schools of fish erupting in front of our kayaks, skittering across the surface in front of our bows.

As the morning eventually welcomed daylight, we could have a better look at the hills around us. Being the midst of winter, the rain had created deep emerald shades of lush forest and moss-covered rocks along the shore, giving us an almost magical route through the steep hills of the gorge.

Such serenity, just 30 minutes drive from civilization

As we paddled the upper reaches of the gorge we spied the occassional hikers tent through the trees. We passed a Scouts campsite, and a community park, before finding ourselves in deeper waters punctuated by huge underwater boulders. This deep still pool gave rise to a rocky ending with a natural weir, with the stream bubbling through from the other side. We’d come to the end.

Moss-covered rocks mark the end of our paddle

The bubbling "rapids" that finally blocked out path

With that we paused for a muesli bar and some water, whilst taking in the beauty of the still pool and its rock-covered shore. Then we commenced the return paddle, taking in more of the gorge itself now that daylight had well and truly broken.

There are worse ways to spend the early morning

Suddenly, the trees above the water erupted and a  Pterodactyl swooped down to  scoop up Grumm, to carry him away to feed its chicks. Well, at least that’s what it looked like, as a huge eagle swooped in over Grumm’s boat before pulling up at the last minute to fly off down the gorge. The serenity of the paddle was briefly broken by the utterance of a couple of surprised expletives, before we both had a laugh and continued on our way.

Continuing down the glassy waters of Berowra Gorge.

With only a kilometre to go, we spied a large entrance within an area of mangroves, and debated going over to explore. I’d paddled here many times and figured there’d be nothing to see, but despite my scepticism I suggested we go and explore to round out our paddle. As we entered the mangrove, we found a channel threading its way through the trees, before opening up into a small rocky pool, surrounded by overhanging cliffs, mossy rocks and the steady running of water raining down the sides of the gorge into the pool. Studying the rocks closely, Grumm was able to thread his way into the deeper pool beyond the rocks, so I quickly followed suit. Once in there, there was only one thing for us to do. Paddle under the running water for an early morning shower!

Showering under the ice-cold rainwater stream

The way into the pool. Very Zen!

With us now both refreshed from the cold shower, we paddled the last kilometre back to the marina before rewarding ourselves with a well-earnt egg & bacon roll and coffee. Despite the paddle not involving surfing, rock gardening or chasing boat wake, the peaceful exploration of the gorge had been incredibly meditative for us both. Cheers – FP

Paddle finished by 10am. A stunning start to the day.

Tags: Berowra, Berowra Gorge, Berowra Waters, fog, Grumm

Kayaking past interesting rock formations, Berowra Waters

I’ve had the flu over the last week so had to keep the paddling to an easy cruise. After seeking suggestions, @NoReinsGirl suggested a leisurely cruise on Berowra Waters.

Now for those who have not been to Berowra Waters, this is a magnificent tributary to the Hawkesbury River that runs through the north west of Sydney. Steep hills have made development difficult so there are miles of meandering waterways through beautiful Australian bushland and interesting natural rock formations. It is a magnificent part of the world to paddle.

Paddling through Australian bushland

However, as I paddled up through the upper reaches of the Berowra Creek, I noticed a distinct change to the water. Floating litter (bottles, tennis balls, plastic bags, fishing line etc) started to become more frequent. The water itself had a floating slick of pollution that glimmered in the sunlight, and as I was to discover later, was staining the sides of my kayak. The water became so putrid that I could no longer stand to paddle it, so after a short 4-5 kms I turned around and paddled back out of the muck.

Paddling back out of the pollution slick

As a kayaker paddling our waters under my own power, I feel strongly about issues of pollution on our waterways. This is a raging generalisation, but Stink-boats (ie motor-boats) are in my paddling experience crewed by drinking/smoking cretins throwing rubbish overboard whilst fishing or cruising on our waters.  How they can pollute the home of the fish they are catching to eat is beyond me, let alone the damage that is being done to our bushland. It truly saddens me to see the damage being done to what little natural environment we have left.

Let's keep our bushland clean

Tags: Berowra Waters