A little, let's be truthful, a rather large cock up on my part this morning. I told R we would collect her an hour later than we needed too. Much consternation all round when we arrived to pick her up. But so organised is R and such are her powers of expedition we managed to get to the Beauty Point Boat Ramp before the scheduled meet time and ahead of S&V!
The aim today was to paddle across Wallaga Lake and up Dignam's Creek. We took to the water at 8.25am
and headed across the lake toward Mt Gulaga.
The mountain slowly grew closer. We're heading for the shady bay on the left.
As we near the bay leading to Dignam's Creek, a gulp of cormorants take wing from within the bay,
closely followed by a squadron of Pelicans, an entrancing sight.
Leaving the Sea Eagles behind we continued up the Creek on the left hand side of Snake Island.
L pulled in for morning tea, the rest of us having no choice but to follow, at 9.45am, having paddled approx 4.20kms in 1 hour 20mins. The last time we did this section, the girls in their slappers, D'd & I in Big Reg (an Hobie Odyssey) and L in Bluey (Wilderness Tarpon 120) it took just over 2 hours.
While the spot had good views, in every other respect the site left much to be desired. Scrambling back into our boats, however we could, we took to the water at 10.35am (each of us relieved that we had not gone A over T),
to continue our journey upstream.
The water was glassy,
and the reflections were mesmerising
The hills in the background, burnt in the January/February bushfires.
It was surprising to find jellyfish, especially large ones this far up the Creek.
You can see smaller/young jellyfish in the water around the large one.
taking in the scenery.
And then there was this whopper!
With our boats gliding easily over the silky surface,
we were soon passing the limit of our last Dignam's Creek paddle, the bush on the left hand side of the Creek having suffered in the fires.
We paddled on for about another km. Waiting for the laggards to reach our turnaround point.
At 11.40 we pulled in for lunch on a sunny grassy patch with easy egress from the boats, chosen by R.
Getting ready to chow down
Toward the end of our lunch break the sky clouded over and a light breeze sprang up. At 12.30 we returned to the water, thinking we might get rained upon and paddled back down past the section where the fire had come right down to the creek.
Sacred Ibis
Pelicans
Well before we exited the Creek the breeze had died away. We paddled round the other side of Snake Island
at the end of which S called for a leg stretch. S chose a perfect site - easy egress from the boats and flat clear area on which to stand. While we compared our break spots today and who chose them, we remembered the Betka River where the rest of the CKC vowed we would never let L choose our break spots again! After 15 minutes we took up our paddles once more.
Passing the shell midden which marks
the return to the main part of Wallaga Lake
At the mouth of the bay we set out for the slog across the Lake
Upon our return to the boat ramp at 2.35pm we were greeted by a Great Egret - a lovely end to a lovely day out on the water.
Trip notes:
Put In /Take Out: Beauty Point Boat Ramp
Wallaga Lake: Closed
15.5kms
6 hours 10 mins (includes 1hr.55mins of breaks)
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