Ryan's visit was wonderful. All too short, for sure, but we managed to have lots of small adventures, fulfilling many of my dreams of things to show, things to do, places to visit.
Ryan and I managed to get in a sweet little kayak adventure late Saturday afternoon, before he left on that Sunday morning. We went to a favorite place, a rarely visited section of the North Maroochy River, outside the town of Yandina. We put in where Ninderry Road crosses the river, and headed upstream.
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| Ryan, ready to head out |
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| Leading the way |
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| The afternoon sun was bright at first, showing the mirror stillness of the dark, tea-coloured water. |
With so little time to fit this little journey in, planning was not exactly what it should have been, but it worked out anyway:
it was almost low tide when we set out, and while we were paddling, the
river went down over a foot. Since it is an estuarine river, it rises
and falls twice a day with the tides. We were heading upstream, past
where the local Maroochy River Trail ends, into the shallow upper
reaches. At several points we had to step out of the kayaks into the
water and walk, pulling the kayaks along behind us to where the water
returned to a passable depth.
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| A 'portage': Uff would have been proud, he did this hundreds of times canoing in Canada. |
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| Happy Kayaker, in Australia! |
We saw a few Water Dragons, a lizard that is similar to
an iguana. We saw a large snake, its body floating in the river, its
head and tail missing. The remains were about seven feet long and six
inches thick, a 'Carpet snake', a local kind of benevolent boa
constrictor. We heard fish jumping, and maybe frogs leaping into the
water. Birds overhead sang and sang.
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| We find Brown's Creek, to the left and impassable shallows ahead. |
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| Up Brown's Creek we go |
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| Ryan in the lead |
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| The setting sun makes for magical lighting |
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| It is darkening now, down on the creek |
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| In some places, the Golden light shines through |
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| Even an old guy with frizzy gray hair looks good in this light! |
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| Heading down the creek, golden light so fine |
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| Paddling in synch, we head down stream, back to our lives. Ryan heads home to Oregon in 12 hours... |
It was so good to have an adventure, to work out the challenges together, to share the precious moments of discovery and beauty.
The quiet of evening was coming, the light grew soft and golden, and we pulled the kayaks out just as dark arrived. A perfect evening paddle, with Ryan.
