Departure day today but S was keen for a paddle before we headed home. And it just so happened that yesterday afternoon, a bloke upon seeing our kayaks on the trailer introduced himself to L & I as we were parked outside IGA in Orbost. This chap goes by the facebook moniker of East Gippsland Outdoors and he told us about an interesting little paddle on Corringle Creek upstream of the bridge. As it was only about 10minutes drive from the Loft House it seemed like an ideal last paddle.
Accordingly we rose early, packed up and cleared out of the Loft House and arrived at the Corringle Creek bridge at 9.00am.
After unloading the boats and getting ready we took to the water one by one. With L and I already on the water, R with S's help was next
If we had gone under the bridge we would have ended up in Lake Corringle.
Next was V
And, as happens when you are the youngest and most nimble of the bunch, S was left to launch herself :( which she did most ably.
By 9.25am we were all safely on the water and heading upstream
to where L was waiting patiently
For the first bit we had cleared farmland on our right
Can anyone identify this bird? Where is S's camera when its needed????
And the left profile. All I can think of is one of the cormorants with a full crop
A very different outlook from the previous two paddles
The vegetation started to close in
and banjo music started to play softly in one's head
growing somewhat more insistent as the surrounds grew more swamplike. Occasional signs of hidden human habitation were creepy rather than welcoming
Just as the imagination started to really run away
there was one more narrow section to navigate
and then creek
opened up into a long skinny, moon shaped lake running along the sand dunes that bordered the ocean.
With all thoughts of duelling banjo's banished :) we enjoyed the sunshine, although the breeze was rather cold
The only thing marring this lovely bit of creek was the gas plant being built right on the shore of the creek!
Up past the gas refinery the creek narrowed once more
We paddled on till we hit this old bridge. V&S managed to slide through in their boats to continue on - which wasn't far around the next bend.
V sliding back over the bridge
And here comes S whose further progress was scuppered by fallen timber
We retraced our steps
down toward
and past the gas plant. It is going to 'refine'? the gas from 2 wells 63 kms out to sea!
Back on down the widest part of the creek
The sand dune barrier to the ocean
The trio rafting to see if their combined bulk will give them greater wind assistance
back down through the 'black bayou'
and out
into farmland once more
Back at the bridge, I was the last out of the water around 11.15am.
After packing up, loading the boats and changing, with three excellent paddles under our belts, we went our separate ways.
Notes:
Put In/Take Out: Bridge over Corringle Creek on Corringle Road (to beach)
5.35kms
No comments:
Post a Comment