Monday 28 March 2022 Wallaga Lake, Long Bay

 A quick morning paddle was what we planned. What we ended up with was short on paddling and big on socialising.

Driving to our start point we encountered an old neighbour, famous for her baking skills, who during our quick chat asked us to call in for a cuppa after we finished the paddle. Lovely idea we thought as we proceeded on our way to our launch site at the end of Fairhaven Point Way.

S&V soon arrived also having stopped for a chat and similarly being asked to drop in.  As we unloaded the boats we discussed the merits of jam drops vs scones and wondered if we would be lucky enough to have run into J on a baking day.

Getting onto the water at 10.00am headed over to Meads Creek.  The water is still very murky after the rain and shallows and underwater hazards were felt and not seen making for quite a few uh oh moments,

Paddling past the entrance to Meads Bay.

Even with rain clouds looming, the creek looked very inviting however

with the tide now outgoing it was getting more shallow by the minute

so we only paddled up to the confluence and turned back down Narira Creek

so we could return to the lake before running out of water.

After scraping our way over the shallows at the mouth of the creek we headed down the lake hugging the shoreline.

Having stopped for morning tea in a little bay we continued round the point into Long Bay, L insisting we explore all of its nooks and crannies with an eye to a future Tammie Norrie overnighter.

Having circumnavigated Long Bay we paddled back across the bay to a convenient site at which to have lunch. It would have had the most splendid view of Mt Gulaga had the mount not been shrouded in cloud.

Having taken a ridiculously long time over lunch, mainly because it was such a nice place to be we headed straight back up the lake to our launch site making landfall at 1.25pm.

After loading the boats we headed to D&J's where we spent a a convivial hour or two sitting on their patio, looking across the lake as we caught up on each others news and yes we were spoilt, there were freshly cooked scones, homemade jam and cream.  Thank you J.  A delightful way to end the outing.

Trip notes:

High Tide at Merriman Island: 8.30am 1.7m

Put In/Take Out: end of Fairhaven Point Way

8.00kms