Pambula river was today's destination. A high tide of 1.4m was due at the entrance at 1.36pm, reaching Tea Tree Point in the lake at 2.46pm. After noting the forecast change in wind speed and direction, calculation of paddling speed, when the troops would want a break etc etc and the ensuing straining of the brain, the plan was laid. Meet at the end of Coraki Drive at 11.30am, unload the boats, do a car shuffle round to the Pambula Lake Boat Ramp and get onto the water by 12.30pm - this would mean tidal assist up the river to the top of the lake and the breeze assist back down the lake to the boat ramp - perfecto!
But of course, as they say, the best laid plans.... Although we launched ahead of schedule onto the smallest of slops,
the water was so beautiful we floated instead of paddling. Upon reaching Severs Beach L declared a stop to fly the drone. The troops declared it was time for lunch and the plan went down the plug hole.
We threaded our way through the small oyster bommes to Severs Beach and exiting the boats was delayed by a bird none of us had seen before.
R suggest a Curlew and was poo pooed by the rest of us.
She was indeed partially right.
It is a Beach Thick-knee, formerly called a Beach Stone Curlew;
on the east coast, normally found north of Manning River, NSW!
After two drone flights and a leisurely lunch we continued on our way. Turning the corner at the Shark Hole we found the wind direction had changed (as forecast) and the breeze was now in our face. After another stop as R spotted a Sea Eagle catch a fish we paddled on into the lake.
We haven't paddled the lake in a long time and were disappointed to find the oyster beds have spread and there are very few places where you can paddle the shoreline so we truncated our circumnavigation and had some fun trying to surf the tiny swells as we headed back down the lake to our take out point at the boat ramp, reaching there sometime after 3.30pm.
Sunrise revealed a clear sky, heralding a lovely day for our outing.
Having set out from the Corunna Lake Picnic Area a little after 10.00am we headed up the lake and it wasn't long before we got our big 'oh wow' moment of the day. A Sea Eagle flew down the lake and opposite us circled, dropped down to the water and took a fish.
As you will see in the Video it was the first of many Sea Eagle sightings this day.
Heading up Olsons Creek we had our next encounter - this time an immature, presumably last year's offspring.
It took off when I pulled out the camera,
but didn't go far and this time stayed put.
Returning back down the creek we saw it again. It seemed that whenever we changed direction we spotted a Sea Eagle.
Heading down the lake on the Western side we turned into the large bay leading to the Corunna Cemetery and stopped at a sundrenched bit of foreshore for morning tea. After a good natter and some refreshments we paddled on and turned up the arm leading to the Old Highway bridge. Having gone under the bridge the waterway passed through cleared farmland and the water became increasingly putrid looking and was starting to pong by the time we encountered a fallen tree blocking further progress, some 500metres beyond the bridge. There were plenty of ducks and herons along this section who obviously didn't share our distaste for the condition of the water.
Emerging back out into the large bay we discovered a breeze had sprung up and a confab was called to discuss options. The result - return to where we had morning tea and stop for lunch, it being largely sheltered from the breeze, after which we would paddle down to the entrance.
After lunch, back out in the main body of water we felt the full force of the breeze as we angled across the lake and the small swells blown up by the wind. Rounding the corner leading to the bridge we hit sheltered water - it was time to relax and enjoy the birdlife as we poddled our way over shallow water to the closed entrance.
Discovering the breeze had dropped enough to fly the drone, we stopped at the entrance and enjoyed the view for 20 minutes or so whilst L droned. The formation of the rocky headland was especially interesting and we wished Bruce was with us to provide an explanation.
Once back on the water we picked our way over the shallows to the bridge and paddled the 2kms or so (into, thankfully, only a slight headbreeze) back to our launch site. As we approached the picnic area the Sea Eagle obliged with one last fly by. And thus we ended another great day out on the water at 4.10pm.
It was another classic winter's day on the Far South Coast and perfect for a paddle.
With a late high tide, 2.32pm 1.6m, we set off at 12.10pm. We had barely got out of the little bay when a motor boat, driven by a silly old fart, swerved in front of us seemingly deliberately. God knows why. Other than that, we had the river to ourselves and had a delightful afternoon paddle.
We stopped for lunch at the campground and then continued up to the confluence. As we paddled back the late afternoon light gave our surrounds a beautiful golden glow. By paddles end, at 4.45pm, there was a decided nip in the air and we packed up quickly, needing to get home to feed assorted animals and put the chooks to bed before it got dark.
Another pearler of a day on which to have a lazy paddle. After getting ready,
we launched at 10.50am. As we did we got our first sighting of the day of the resident Sea Eagle as it flew down the eastern shore of Little Cuttagee.
It is Le Tour time again so inevitably cycling was the main topic of conversation as we headed down the lake.
Lots of birdlife today - swans, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants, grebe, pelicans, 2 more sightings of the resident Sea Eagle, and another bird of prey, a kite or falcon I think. And beside the usual small bird life we had a good sighting of a Golden Whistler.
At Woolybutts Bay we paused and watch a mob of cormorants and pelicans fishing. Some of the pelicans chose not to fish for themselves and instead would wait till a cormorant got one and then would give chase trying, and sometimes succeeding, to steal the cormorants catch.
Eventually we paddled on and headed across the lake and entered the creek mouth. Once round the shady corner we entered shallow water and were soon passing over large schools of small - the largest being about 20cm long and the smallest, further up the creek, only a few centimetres in length.
Along the way in a 60 metre stretch we spotted, lying on the bottom, 3 large eels. Other than being dead they looked quite healthy. Various hypotheses were put forward, which led to some research later that night. Eels have a very interesting life cycle which you can read about in this short article:
Close to running out of water at12.10pm we pulled in for lunch
and set off again at 1.15pm for a bit more fish spotting as we paddled back downstream.
Here is todays footage. Put together by me, with some help from L, it's not up to the usual standard but it does give a reasonable representation of the days outing.
As we paddled back up the lake the pelicans and cormorants, along with a couple of what looked like terns were now fishing the eastern end of Far End Bay. Suddenly one of the terns took off with a mouthful of fingerlings, closely followed by the other tern. Then down swooped a kite/falcon (was it the one we had seen earlier?) and gave chase. They swooped and banked, climbed and fell - just like the planes in all the WW2 battle of britain and red baron type movies (now I am showing my age!). They slowly disappeared across the lake until they were too far away for us to see the outcome. The other question we were left with was: was the other tern just following its pal or was it trying to steal its fish??
That little excitement over we paddled for home in the increasingly chilly air. Nearly there.
Full of vitamin D and wonder at all the wild life we'd seen we ended our paddle at 2.40pm and headed home; where once unpacked it was time to light the fire. That night it got down to 4oC which is very cold for us.
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