Day 178, Tuesday, 14.07.2009

This morning I felt confident when I saw the water in the not too far distance at 7am I could wheel out directly fully without wheeling along the shore first…this is what I tried…

I noticed after about 30% of the distance the full load on the trolley was too much for the softer getting ground, and I took one gear bag out and left it on a dryish part of a sandbank. I managed to wheel about 90% of the distance to the water, but I knew the water would still be going out for another hour…no chance to “catch” it! I walked back to pick the left behind gear bag, loaded my boat and sat again in the cockpit, having braekfast in stormy offshore winds and typed some sat-phone messages.

I got afloat at around 10.45, and was flying along for the remaining 30km to the campsite in the incoming tide and in the again just about pushing wind! Estimated arrival time perfectly at high tide at 2.15pm.

Some cars with guys surf casting marked the upcoming civilisation spot, but the fishermen got more and more and standing closer and closer, until around the campsite track I had a hard time to find a landing spot without getting hooked!!! I surfed in in style, and timed it just right to meet Hanyn and Pope from the Wallal Downs station for a convenient pick up service!

Greg had previously made contact with both the Wallal Downs station and the 80 miles beach campsite, but as the campsite was extremely busy that time of the year, and the 2 km away cattle station had on the phone a very friendly lady, Kate Schubert, who was happy to welcome me fo a shower and a bed, it was not hard to decide where to stay!

The plan was to get the gear I need for the night out, and then to leave the kayak at the ranger station, but towing it behind the 4-wheel motorbike driven by Hanyn was working that well that we decided to tow it behind the bike all the way to the station – about 2 km. I knew the trolley wheels had a print on the side:”Not for higway use!”, but the inner tubes were brand new, the framework rock solid, and Hanyn was driving slowly and it was “only” 2 km…but I luckily noticed early enough for deeper damage that one wheel got too hot in the plastic inner piece and started to melt a bit of plastic, probably from chafing the pin along!

So the solution was to load the kayak on top of the 4-wheel motorbike, padded on the gear bags! I was sitting on the back, holding the boat, and Hanyn was driving, squatted down to the side, reaching under the kayak to the right side of the bar…a really “Aussie outback” artistic driving style! The boat, bike and us arrived ok at the station! Thanks, Hanyn!

I was welcome by Kate Schubert, who is running the station with her partner Garry for the owneres living in Melbourne. I got a hot shower, a lovely private room and a nice dinner served by always smiling Hanyn, who is also the chef on the station. He just finished building a beautiful moroccan style pizza oven, as he is moroccan-french origin. Thanks to all of them hosting me!

4 comments on “Day 178, Tuesday, 14.07.2009

greg

good one Freya, the aussie/moroccan’s just keep extending the hand of friendship. Looks a bit more interesting than the Gove BBQ. All the best

Chuck H.

After days of following along with the short text messages and Google Earth, your full posts really make your experiences come alive! The descriptions of the shark bites and liquid mud are just breathtaking. It is also great to “meet” all the really nice people you have encountered along the way. Good paddling, and best of luck!

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