Monday 27 April 2020 Bermagui River

It was a small little group that set off this morning, only R, L and me and what a beautiful day it was.

Firstly though, Sunday's sunrise for which I was up early enough to enjoy

Nearly ready to set off from the Bermi bridge boat ramp

At 10.30 we were underway and paddled upstream with the tide through crystal clear water

It was a beautiful sunny day and the forecast headbreeze didn't appear - what more could one want!

In stealth mode,

sneaking up on a couple of Pied Oystercatchers

It was lovely to have L join us today, the first time the Chinook has seen water since the end of Feb.

I so enjoy rounding the bend to this view

R, happy to be back in her own boat

 The water was silky

Just missed catching a big fish leap out of the water

Grey Faced Heron

A pair of Great Egrets

Onwards we paddled

Until we pulled in at our usual spot at 11.35am.  Sadly we found a mess left by, presumably, some campers, and another permanment looking camp set up a little further on from where we landed.

Getting back on the water after an hour for lunch - lots of politics discussed and speculation as to how many of Trump voters had imbibed disinfectant?

 We headed back downstream, now on an outgoing tide, passed a couple of Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos who completely ignored us.

Even up this high the water was clear

Although the mornings forecast breeze hadn't arrived, the afternoon's did and we paddled into a light  headwind on the way back.

The water gorgeous.

R signalling she was paddling over a large school of small fish

Trying to give you an idea of the clarity of the water

Nearly back, two Little Egrets

And Pelicans awaiting a feed.

We got back just after 1.30pm.  It had taken us an hour and six minutes to paddle upstream for 4.61km and 55minutes to paddle back down again.

Driving home, at the start of the descent to Cuttagee Bridge we could see smoke in the distance; by the time we got to Cuttagee Beach car park we could see smoke billowing out all along the roof line of the one of the Cuttagee Cottages (holiday rentals). We stopped and rang 000 and eventually got put through to an appropriate person who said they had already received a few reports of the fire and a team was on their way. It wasn't until we got home and were halfway through washing the boats down that we heard the sirens.

Trip Notes:
High Tide Bermagui Bridge: 11.58am 1.00m
Put In/Take Out: Bermagui Bridge boat ram
9.22kms
3 hours