As this is not a blog about wooden boats, except for the Tammie Norrie of course, I shall leave description of the boat show to someone else :)
Sunday dawned sunny and hot with the forecast of a stiff breeze so the options for long paddles were vetoed by all and a circular cruise taking in the canal was agreed upon.
We set off from the boat ramp in MacMillan Strait and headed toward Fort King Island at the mouth of the Strait.
Having watched the seemingly chaotic antics the day before, featuring many a close shave, we kept close to the jetties as the last of the boats in today's sail past went by. 'Britannia II' a Sydney 18' skiff.
J&J in the Queen Mary passing the rest of us as J figures out the controls of their new electric propeller.
Nearing the end of the strait
A crested turn giving me the eyeball
thinking do I fly or freeze
About to round Fort King Island into the lake
Heron on the lakeside shore of Fort King Island
Once past Fort King Island we turned back into the canal and shortly after pulled out onto the island for a leg stretch. Back into the boats again and it was long before we were paddling through a "Money, Money, Money" waterway, many of the boats costing as much as the architect designed houses.
Having reached the junction, left would take us back out into MacMillan Strait, thereby completing a circumnavigation of Fort King Island OR straight on would take us past our accommodation, a confab was called and it was decided that a) because it was getting uncomfortably warm and b) it was lunch time we should continue straight on back to Captains Cove and a leisurely lunch in the cool of our unit.
I should mention at this point that KT had declared that after facing the anxiety of bushfire threat for 6 weeks L&I were to have a complete R&R and were allowed no part in the catering (this could, of course, have been motivated by the desire to avoid having to eat anything cooked by me:) ). Accordingly KT and J did all the catering - am not sure what J thought about this and I purposely did not enquire!. Getting to the point of this explanation - lunch was another superb repast and greatly appreciated by L and me.
As it was still hot, after lunch we lazed around, talked, read or snoozed as each of the party saw fit and it wasn't until just after 5pm that we took to the boats once more for a 1 km paddle back to our launch site.
Going under the road bridge
was a bit of a squeeze for the Queen Mary
We returned to our launch site, avoiding the boat ramp where a bit argey bargy was going on, a boat trailer having just backed into a car already using the boat ramp. J&J had the Queen Mary loaded in a flash and disappeared in a cloud of dust. L&I were the last to get loaded and got back to the unit to find J in a flurry of activity preparing yet another delicious meal for us to feast upon.
Not having had any great expectations of our chosen paddle, it was surprisingly enjoyable (the company helps), but poddling along checking out how some people choose to spend their spare cash was quite interesting.
A big thank you to KT for organising the getaway and an even bigger thank you to KT and J for looking after us so well.
5.2kms
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