Extended Peel Island Loop

Jono R. and myself put in at Cleveland Point at first light and were greeted by a great sunrise on the water.  The 15-20 knot headwind didn't eventuate, though we had around 10 knots by the time we hit the Dialba Passage entrance, around 10 kms from Cleveland Point.

We skirted around the reef on the top end of Peel Island, searching for the elusive Dialba Passage which I had marked up on my GPS.  There is a go slow sign that marks the entrance to the passage now which makes it a bit easier to find.

The incoming spring tides got going a bit as we meandered our way through the passage, before cutting across the shallow banks and turning into the Rainbow Channel for an express ride down to Dunwich.  We walked up to a great Vegetarian Cafe which is on the main road out of Dunwich before the turnoff to the Little Ships Club for second breakfast.

After some "island time" the breeze picked up and turned to the SE for a surf home.  We paddled against the wind down to Goat Island before turning towards Cleveland with a 10-15 knot tailwind, outgoing tide and up to a meter of swell to push us along.

Jono has recently purchased a Taran 16 and I have a new Pace 17 Tour.  We are both enjoying our respective boats and had an exciting trip back in these conditions, hitting up to 18 km/hr on the bay runners.

34.4 km paddle, some island time, and a tail wind home - a great day out!

Kayaking from Fernvale to Kholo Road Bridge

So what do you do when you want to get a 40 km training paddle in and the weather has a strong wind warning current blowing directly off shore?  Our plan was to grab our sea kayaks and head inland to the upper reaches of the Brisbane River and paddle from the Twin Bridges at Fernvale down to Kholo Road Bridge.

I haven't done this paddle since the January 2011 floods which destroyed a lot of property and changed the layout of the Brisbane River.  The damage is still evident today with debris being wrapped around trees over 25 metres above the current level of the river, as well as some massive changes to the layout of the river.

We had a 2 km/hr flow assisting us through the broader reaches of the river, compressing to form some minor rapids. The plot below marks (pins 012 - 018) the places where we had to walk our boats around shallow rapids or log jams.  There were a number of other rapids where we probably should have walked our kayaks rather than leaving rub marks/scratches on our gelcoat (and I was trying to be careful with my new boat!).

 The paddle took us around 6 hours including breaks and the numerous stops we had to walk our kayaks, not to mention the amazing wildlife viewing opportunities that presented themselves. An inventory of wildlife goes like this:

• Azure Kingfishers;
• Forest Kingfishers;
• Kookaburras;
• Galahs;
• Cookatoos;
• Wedgetail Eagles;
• Sea Eagles;
• Brahminy Kites;
• Various other Kites and Eagles;
• Around 5 different types of Cormorants;
• Grey and White Herons;
• Pelicans;
• Turtles (lots!);
• Water Dragons;
• Fish;
• etc....

The floods have fixed the Hyacinth weed problem and there is no longer a need to do the longer portage between the Twin Bridges and Savages Crossing.  I did notice a few bits of floating Hyacinth so no doubt over time it will start to build up again at the log jams.

This is a beautiful part of the river system and an interesting paddle apart from the the last two long stretches before the pumping station (near Kholo Road Bridge).  An old kayak or a plastic might be a better option as you will bounce over a few rocks and logs through the narrow sections.

Some images and footage from the paddle.