WALKER
ISLAND
21/22 Sept ‘85
This was another of our two monthly
trips and I had gone to
some trouble to find out that the Mutton birds arrive at these islands
this
particular weekend. The idea was to be there to see the hordes blot out
the sky
as they arrive, and watch the activity in the rookery as they set about
clearing out collapsed burrows etc. I planned a 6.00am start Saturday
morning
to use the high tide to get through Robbins Passage, so we had to be at
Stony Point on
Friday night, where we completely packed
out boats before settling down for the night. Tony and Ian bivvied out,
Jeff
slept in the back of his vehicle, and Cec and I used a spare tent
we’d taken –
so it could be bundled straight in the back of the car first thing in
the
morning.
There’s
a lot to be said for these early morning starts;
it’s definitely the best part of the day. What a marvellous
feeling to be
paddling on a dead still morning watching the sun come up and groups of
black
swans flying away from our approach. It also means the day’s
paddle is over before
lunch time and leaves heaps of time for other activities. Even though
it was
just after high tide we all felt ‘bottom drag’ near
the narrowest part of the
passage, but it deepened again and we stopped for a requested breakfast
stop on
the first of the Wallaby Islands.
From
here on it was a case of heading due north to remain
near the channel (and the fastest current) till we got into deep water
11km
away, and then straight to the northern end of Walker Island.
Big Sandy
was
visited first, arriving just after 10.30am and more food was consumed
before
having a good look around. The whole island is basically one big sand
hill and
rookery, but there was no sign of mutton birds yet. The day was still a
ripper,
no wind and bright sunshine – possibly not your normal
weather for this part of
the world. Having made the most of Big Sandy we headed across the
narrow gap to
Walker,
across
about a 3knot ebb tide. Campsites were not great but this was where the
rookery
was so we pulled the kayaks up above the high water mark and changed
into dry
clothes. I wanted to walk to the southern end of the island to Mosquito
Inlet
about 6km away, and the others joined me. We followed a four wheel
drive track
all the way to the bush airstrip and then dropped down over the bank to
Phil’s
place, a beautiful little sheltered campsite that we have used on past
trips
and is always well worth the effort to get in there. The short grass
and
sheltered site was still there, but it was very disappointing to find
the seats
around the BBQ had been destroyed and the door ripped off the shack.
I’d never
even imagined that this place would ever change but would always be
there just
as it had been for years, and it was a rude shock to find it like this.
The
tide was right out and the western entrance to the inlet
was high and dry as far as you could see, and we walked along the beach
to the
eastern entrance. This always has water in it and usually large
breakers at
least 1km out over the numerous sandbars – but today it was
flat calm. With a
couple of rest stops we walked the full length of Rookery
Beach
and then across the island to the track back to the kayaks where we all
felt a
little pooped.
Tea
was cooked and the tents put up, all the while scanning
the horizon for the influx of birds, but they were notable by their
absence –
so we sat around the campfire and held our meeting. All club meetings
are held
on the Saturday night of all club trips, hence eliminating the
‘armchair
canoeist’ from influencing the club. The only major action
passed was that
Tasmanian canoeists will not be allowed to join in advanced trips
without first
having done two weekend trips with us. Advanced trips are generally the
thing
you build up to and plan each year, whether it be a trip to Fiji, to Flinders
Island,
or Port Davey, and we felt that we don’t want people coming
along at the last
minute saying “I’d like to do that trip”.
They may not be compatible with the
rest of the group, their skills may not be up to it, and basically the
feeling
is that if we’re not good enough to paddle with during the
year then we don’t
want them just at Christmas time. There has been quite a bit of this
sort of
thing over the years, people just using your experience and
organization for
their own selfish purposes. The word Tasmanian was used so as not to
exclude
known mainland paddlers from joining a trip if they happen to be in the
state,
although we would still have to be fairly sure of their compatibility
and
skills. However, the regular sea canoeing fraternity is fairly small
and interstate
gatherings are bringing them together.
Anyhow,
back on the Walker
Island
meeting, we also pulled out
some maps to look at some aspects of the trip to Maatsuyker
Island this
Christmas and we also had
some preliminary discussion on a trip for the following Christmas,
maybe Flinders
Island.
It was a mild night and Ian and
I sat around the fire till 1.00am chatting about the A.C.F. and other
aspects
of canoeing and eventually decided the birds weren’t coming
so went to bed.
Sunday
morning we had another 6.00am start, down the western
side of Walker
and through Mosquito Inlet. Just as we met the sea gain on the other
side we
pulled into the beach for a breakfast stop, watching the tide race out
through
the narrow entrance. The weekend remained calm and sunny as we
continued across
Ransonnet
Bay
to Guyton Point for a brief stop.
Arriving at Cape
Elie
the tide was still just flowing out of Robbins Passage so I decided on
a long
lunch stop to wait for it to turn and sweep us back up to Stony Point. This turned out to
be a poor decision but lying on the
short grass, with life jackets for pillows, soaking up the sun, it
didn’t
appear so at the time. Unfortunately just as the tide started coming in
again
so did the wind – a very stiff westerly which quickly pulls
up a good chop and
made our passage up the passage very slow indeed. Still, the weekend
had been
so perfect it didn’t hurt to have a bit of a challenge to
finish off with, and
I had one good run downwind under sail before clawing my way back
upwind again.
Apart
from the dratted birds not keeping their appointment
with us it was a glorious trip, and showed the others who
hadn’t paddled in
this area before the enormous potential for sea canoeing.
Paddlers were:
Cecily
Butorac
Greenlander
Ian
McDonald
Greenlander
Jeff
Jennings
North Sea Tourer
Toby
Clarke
North Sea Tourer
Laurie
Ford
Longboat
(Trip leader)
LAURIE
FORD
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