EASTERN HORIZON

Back from the south coast

2012-01-28T19:28:00.000+11:00

http://easternhorizonkayak.blogspot.com/

Further east

2012-01-14T21:10:00.030+11:00

The sun has been rising a little further to the east for me lately ...

Elementals Group / Sculpture in the Gardens 2011-2012 / Auckland

On a recent trip to the Auckland Botanic Gardens I saw this small and inriguing sculpture.
It possibly resonates with additional meaning for many kayakers.

Also while in Auckland I visited the Maritime Museum with the intention of seeing their collection of traditional South-west Pacific canoes and outriggers.

But while wandering along I was surprised and pleased to see a very remarkable person's tired looking kayak suspended from a stair landing. It deserves a much better display ...

The real purpose of this museum visit was to observe some of the elegant paddling craft created in Niue ...

Niuean outrigger canoe hull.

"Vaka heke tahi" - Niuean outrigger paddling canoe for one person.

"The dugout hull is of light construction and is covered over with a whaleback at each end and a washstrake on each side to keep the seawater out".

"Mataginefale oneonepata" - Niuean outrigger paddling canoe for one person.

(Above and below.)

I really like the structural directness of the paired and splayed struts used to support the outrigger. They still look like the branches that they once were.

East coast architecture

2011-12-14T08:12:00.003+11:00

I was recently asked to write a small article for an architectural publication on a very modest form of building - a cubby house - located within a coastal Sydney backyard. The approach described in the use of local materials is equally relevant for the design and construction of kayaks.

The architecture of holidays.

The much-anticipated summer holidays in our household begin with three sleeping boys being carefully carried into the family car before dawn and then driven along the twisting Pacific Highway to a favourite beach house on the mid-north coast of NSW.
If we’re fortunate, we’ll get a clear run out of Sydney and be well past the twisted angophoras of the Hawkesbury River before any other limbs are stirring in the back seat.

Before long the Manning River appears and with it tall forests begin to press in on the highway and present us with a landscape that was once commonplace along the mid-north coast of NSW - mature stands of blackbutt, flooded gum, tallow wood and spotted gum towering into optimistic morning skies.

The Northern Rivers drain the eastern flanks of the Great Dividing Range into the Pacific and have, over many hundreds of millennia, formed valleys and steeply inclined habitats into which have evolved some of this continent’s most magnificent trees.

Local places with names such as Cedar Creek, Bloodwood and Millers Road describe the industries that grew up like mistletoe in these east coast forests and hungrily devoured vast areas of their hosts within generations of the timber- cutter’s arrival.

It was into one of the remaining timber mills near Nambucca - with a sustainably harvested queue of mature trees being fed into its terrifying blades - that I coasted at the end of our last summer holiday to purchase half-a-dozen blackbutt 4 by 2s in six metre lengths.

Rough sawn out of their dismembered parent trunk and dripping wet with clear sap these golden yellow beams were fastened onto the car’s roof for the long journey south over the Northern Rivers to Sydney.

Stowed within the rafters of a boatshed by the harbour for 6 hope-filled months the timber steadily reached moisture equilibrium with its new atmosphere.

Originally intended for use in the construction of a veranda the now beautifully seasoned timber was suddenly re-directed by the urgent claims of a six-year old and his two younger co-conspirators for a cubby house in the backyard.

With a simple unscaled sketch to serve as construction documentation the cubby house was built over a couple of enjoyable Sydney winter days.

The drop saw and power drill releasing the bound up aromas of east coast forest with every deep slice and penetration of the wood’s tight grain.

Accompanying this phase of construction was the running thread of commentary from my enthusiastic young clients eager to occupy their special space with its key internal dimensions sized directly from their own bodies.

Mercifully, this project was unencumbered by development applications, value management sessions and building information models.

Arm-lengths of spotted gum sourced from the same region as the blackbutt - and salvaged many years previously as off-cuts from a large-scale project - were arranged into a balustrade of battens. A sheet of marine grade plywood formed cantilevered seating brackets – sized for little legs.

Dowels of Tasmanian oak were driven in as tree-nails to bond beams to posts. Joists recovered from a demolished building nearby were commandeered to form a floor structure. White cedar plywood provided a soffit to one of the roof planes. The roof was sheathed in a combination of clear and opaque profiled sheet to provide shade from the north and reveal views into an adjacent tree canopy to the south.

The completed structure is open to coastal breezes and picks up sunlight in ways that appeal to an architect’s eye.

Materials are more than just screens to environmental conditions and barriers for security.

Naturally sourced materials speak of the environments from which they were once formed – the soil profiles, rainfall and climates of their origin.

Materials are the words through which architecture can be read as a composition in harmony with the story of its landscape.

Now adorned with a collection of items found along the east coast – abalone and oyster shells, crayfish carapaces, native orchids, sea sponges and sections of humpback whale bone – this most modest of buildings is a place of retreat and play for our children and a sentimental recollection of east coast holidays past.

Belonging

2011-11-09T21:55:00.005+11:00

'Design With Landscape'

http://brucemackenzie.com.au/

Airscape / Seascape / Landscape

2011-08-27T18:30:00.003+10:00

This morning the sky came down to touch the harbour.

Shark Island (Boambilly) appearing like a moody Japanese temple garden.

To the west, the city was hidden behind its saturated cloak of cloud.

Whisps of cloud tumbling over and around the shoulders of North Head.

Shelly Beach ...

Paddling home via the airscape / seascape / landscape

Nawi – Exploring Australia’s indigenous watercraft

2011-08-04T17:37:00.001+10:00

In May 2012, the Australian National Maritime Museum will host a two-day national conference on Australian indigenous watercraft, entitled Nawi - Exploring Australia's indigenous watercraft.

In the shadows of cliffs

2011-07-31T22:20:00.002+10:00

The Tasman Sea is momentarily calm this mid-winter morning.

The shaded cliffs seem to sway as high altitude winds drive icey clouds in crescent arcs across the sky - seemingly echoing the spray of the migrating whales travelling out along the horizon.

Preparing to dive beneath the surface.

And returning with a bag of winter crays.

Observations on harbourscape

2011-07-10T22:14:00.010+10:00

This harbour city is fortunate to retain significant remnant landscape.

(Nielsen Park on the southern shore. Bradleys Head on the northern shore.)

However, like this incongrous statue at Point Piper, much of our built environment is displaced, dislocated, looking outwards but not seeing inwards, and unable to converse in the "language" of its landscape.

In those precious places where the Sydney harbourscape retains continuity with its long evolution it is characterised by an inter-relationship of salt water, filtered and reflected light, endemic flora and sandstone geology.

(Clifton Gardens)

Sydney's sandstone weathers into dramatic organic / fluid-like forms that challenge and contrast with our cartesian origins. Wind currents sculpt curved surfaces, honey-comb pockets and arches.

(Taylors Bay)

Aeolian weathering.

(Nielsen Park)

Some examples of positive intervention within the harbourscape:

Defence structure.

(Bradleys Head)

Public place.

Craig Burton Associates

(Bradleys Head)

Natural shelter for first inhabitants.

(Bradley's Head)

Contemporary shelter at the harbour's edge.

Open to harbour.

Stefan Lesiuk - Architect

(Camp Cove)

Screened elevation to street.

Elegant materials well organised.

Yet native hardwoods (instead of WRC), local sandstone (instead of limestone) and endemic flora (instead of exotics) would have been more meaningful to context.

Still, this house generates a positive dialogue with the scattered sunlight and breezes of the harbour's edge.

Filtered internal sunlight.

A summary of this morning's themes - salt water, filtered and reflected light, endemic flora and sandstone geology.
(Steele Point, Nielsen Park)

Turning away from the harbour, shadows cast by a Port Jackson fig fall across a sandstone ledge.
(Steele Point, Nielsen Park)

Contemplating this morning's wandering around the harbourscape.
Our brightly coloured kayaks incongruous components of the transitory built environment. Or are they?

Naturally occuring red and yellow ochres.

(Bradleys Head)

Manta Ray Bay and Humpback Whales

2011-06-26T13:14:00.005+10:00

This day began where the land and sea met in unusually calm conditions.

With a light breath of wind out of the west, a tide approaching its lowest point, an almost non-existent swell lapping at the base of the cliffs, crystal clear water and full sunshine - this beautiful day was, perhaps, a one-in-two-hundred-day event.

Perfect conditions for approaching an indent at the base of the tallest section of cliffs along this southern shore of Sydney. A place that we have paddled past on many occassions without the remotest possibility of landing - until today.

We snorkelled through this rarely visited bay, amongst its submerged boulders, along the fissure lines of its fractured base and into its beautiful and sun-light deprived sea cave.

Lunch was procurred from its underwater walls.

Mature Eastern Blue Gropers, octopus, abalone, coral structures, evidence of crayfish and one very large Manta Ray (hence the name) were seen.

After an hour's underwater exploration we emerged to see the distinctive spray of Humpback whales making their northerly passage.

We threw our kayaks back into the Tasman and set off after them. There appeared to be a few pods travelling with about 6 to 8 whales in total.

As one pair wandered towards North Head they put on a performance that escaped our cameras but will remain vivid for a long time in our memories ...

The source

2011-06-19T11:12:00.004+10:00

Some journeys are measurable and documented in terms of distance or duration.

Other journeys are immeasurable - their special qualities elusive and unrecordable ...

Entering the cool and dark upper tributaries of Middle Harbour.

Occassionally the trail of water disappears into the surrounding darkness and it is only the path of sky that describes the way ahead.

Landscape and paddler in reflection.

Portage ...

... into freshwater.

Ice cube toes.

Ripples of light

The morning's journey concludes amongst a woven and flooded forest.

The passing of La Nina

2011-05-21T11:05:00.000+10:00

The sea surface temperatures along our coastline are returning to more typical ranges for late autumn. The skies are clearing and conditions for kayaking are once again superb.

Peter in his backyard.

Paddling into shore at Salmon Cove, we lit a fire amongst the driftwood and cooked a breakfast in celebration of Peter's birthday. A very large New Zealand fur seal was hunting along the shore, occassionally waving its glossy black flippers at us as we soaked up the sunshine and the extraordinary view towards the horizon.

The specifics of place

2011-05-04T22:17:00.004+10:00

http://ideas.unimelb.edu.au/

Indigenous Australian "canoe tree"

(Photo Margaret Zommers)

Paddle culture

2011-03-20T16:10:00.077+11:00

The group of islands (1 very large, 1 moderate and lots of small) that constitute this place known as Australia have a total length of coastline of approximately 59,736 km.

( Mainland = 35,877 km + Islands = 23,859 km )
Source: Australian Geoscience.

So it's not surprising to find that the groups of indigenous people who lived along these extensive and varied coastal environments for tens of thousands of years developed a culture with a great variety of marine craft for travelling, hunting and gathering.

The elegant drawing by David Payne (reproduced with permission above) represents just some of the documented types of indigenous paddle (and sail) craft known to have existed at the time of British colonisation and shortly thereafter. No doubt there would have been still more designs that escape our knowledge. They have not survived the limited timespan available to organic materials and have disappeared back into the soil from which their constituent elements were derived, along with their original paddlers.

According to Historian Keith Vincent Smith, the indigenous people of Sydney Harbour - the Eora - were a canoeing culture. Indeed during the earliest days of British settlement there are reports of observing more than 90 indigenous paddle craft on the harbour in a single day.
Paddling was a central aspect to indigenous coastal culture.

The blue field

2011-03-15T08:07:00.005+11:00

South along the cliffs to Botany Bay ...

"I'm on!"

"Me too!"

Sea way

2011-02-20T21:36:00.008+11:00

It is interesting to think about how the land-based circulation pattern of our street systems frames our understanding of the city's topography / landscape and in turn this shapes our understanding about how we move through the landscape. For example, to travel from Manly to Watsons Bay one doesn't think twice about driving 25+kms via Kirribilli.
.
Of course it was not always like this. The Eora were a canoeing culture and their use of the harbour as a broad field for moving across meant that a trip from one side of the harbour to the other was unlimited - except by the constraints of weather.

The obvious opportunity for better connecting many otherwise seemingly dis-connected places strung out along the harbour is via the branching network of our water ways. Ferry-catchers know this well.

This morning I paddled from Clovelly (on the coast) to a function at Balmoral (on lower-middle harbour) with my kayak. My family travelled by car using the road system.

Paddling along the coast, the sea way was free of all other traffic.

Four bonito were caught on the lure that I usually troll on trips such as this. I was hoping for the brilliant yellow flash of a kingfish - but no such luck today.

This was the view for the four bonito (before I threw them back).

It took about 2 hours to paddle the sea way from Clovelly to Balmoral (inclusive of down-time for pulling in the fish). The road way took about 1/4 of that time. I know which way I prefer.

Despite their apparent dis-connection, Clovelly and Balmoral are actually linked.

La Niña

2011-01-26T15:04:00.004+11:00

This morning the harbour and its outside coast line were obscurred by clouds of very moist air.

The typically golden sandstone of North Head was unfamiliar in this dark atmospheric cloak.

And the short journey around to Shelly Beach was accompanied by the feeling that we were paddling along a foreign coastline.

The large-scale physical condition that seems to be driving this localised humid atmosphere (and the significant rainfall experienced recently along much of the east coast of Australia) is the embodied heat energy of the sea water in the western Pacific. As the diagram below from the CSIRO describes, we have a La Niña event in full-blown occurence ...

At least the Bonito seem to like the warmer water.

On the return journey to the harbour the clouds of moisture continued to tumble over the face of North Head like a slow-motion waterfall. (Peter's sail just visible on the left)

Click on the Sea Surface Temperature chart (to the right) to see the cell of hot water that is circulating east of Sydney at the moment.

NOTE - if you're reading this posting many days after 26th January 2011then the cell of hot water will have evolved along its merry way to be replaced by some other body of cooler or warmer water.

J-Bay

2010-10-20T14:00:00.005+11:00

The tribe has just returned from 3 days of kayaking at Jervis Bay.

A full trip report is available at:

http://big-seas-little-flowers.blogspot.com/

King cray

2010-09-12T11:56:00.000+10:00

Tony does it again with another Sunday dinner pulled from Sydney's coastline ...

More local tucker

2010-08-22T21:57:00.000+10:00

Kingfisher just back on shore with his winter lunch sourced from the Sydney coastline.

Look and you shall find.

Harbour tucker

2010-08-16T20:01:00.004+10:00

To the impressive list of recent finds that Tony has hunted and gathered in Sydney Harbour is this live scallop.

Abalone, bonito, crays, kingfish, octopus, oysters, mussels, prawns, (Australian) salmon, sea urchins, tailor and now a plump Port Jackson scallop.

Self-sufficiency based on an affinity with the harbour's natural habitats is a fine characteristic that once under-pinned the indigenous clans of this harbour.

The north passage

2010-07-25T18:22:00.036+10:00

An early departure.

Time that is moved by little fidget wheels

Between the double and the single bell

Is not my time, the flood that does not flow.

A setting moon.

Deep and dissolving verticals of light

Ferry the falls of moonshine down.

Channel marker.

In the moon's drench, that straight enormous glaze,

And ships far off asleep, and Harbour-buoys

Tossing their fireballs wearily each to each

(Excerpts from Five Bells. Kenneth Slessor.)

This morning's passage from Felix Bay on the lower harbour to the upper-most capillaries of Middle Harbour was done mostly in complete and beautiful darkness.

The timing of the passage coinciding with the peak of this morning's flood tide.

The images above and below are taken at East Killara and North Forestville where the salty Pacific Ocean of the harbour blurs into increasingly brackish channels and finally a fresh water creek.

The three narrow channels branching off into the valleys of Killara and Forestville are tightly enclosed by the trunks and canopies of tall trees crowding down to the water's edge.

The sky traces the creek's path through the tree canopies.

At Carrol Creek, in the Garigal National Park, the watery track is interrupted by a rock staircase, small waterfalls and rills. A kayak portage is required to get up to the creek that lies wholly above the high-tide level. It is completely fresh.

Quietly paddling into this extraordinary tributary of Sydney Harbour.

Drifting into the last navigable metres of Middle Harbour accompanied by birdsong and the overhanging parasols of tree ferns. The air temperature was low - my finger tips an alarming blue.

2010-07-25T18:20:00.019+10:00

Turning around, and with the sky now illuminated, the landscape that I had paddled through for almost three hours in the dark was revealed in all its transcendant beauty.

Of the hundreds of buildings that lined this morning's kayak route only one came even near responding successfully to its landscape context in a harmonious way. This house tucked into the western face of Seaforth shows a sensible hand at work in fracturing the building's form into two volumes and cladding the exterior in vertical boards of clear-treated hardwood. It's a low-key and sensitive solution to inserting a building into a distinctive landscape.

Sailing back into familiar territory ...

... and arriving home 6 hours and 45 minutes since leaving.

~~~

Sails

2010-06-27T20:24:00.001+10:00

The only thing better than a sail is ...

... two sails.

See ya!

Abalone pearl

2010-06-25T20:00:00.001+10:00

At a location somewhere along the east Australian coastline (only accessible by nimble kayak) Tony spots an abalone with a rather nice surprise inside ...

How about that?!.

Mid-winter

2010-06-20T19:49:00.002+10:00

The almost winter-solstice sun rising at the base of North Head.

The Pacific Ocean being true to name on this sunny morning.

Peter sailing towards the ledge of North Head.

Branches

2010-06-14T19:14:00.003+10:00

Sydney from 20,000 feet. Copyright David Moore

In recent times we've been paddling beneath the sheer cliffs along the coastline outside the Sydney Heads. This morning's journey, by contrast, turned inwards to travel up one limb of Sydney's branching waterways.

Sailing towards Middle Head.

The distinctive conveyor belt of offshore clouds still forming over the remains of the East Australian Current.

Turning westward to paddle up Middle Harbour and into the clear blue winter skies of the interior ...

2010-06-14T19:01:00.003+10:00

Sydney Red Gum (Angophora costata) thriving on the thin soils of the sandstone peninsulas.

A flooded forest west of Roseville Bridge.

2010-06-14T18:59:00.002+10:00

Cloud wisps forming on the river's surface.

2010-06-14T18:54:00.003+10:00

As Sydney as it gets ...

In a world that is widely corrupted by insensitive and misplaced human endeavour it is fortunate to have this land and waterscape at our paddling fingertips.

Farewell to Autumn

2010-05-30T18:43:00.006+10:00

The low and high pressure air cells presently rotating over the Tasman Sea are operating like a pair of giant cog wheels to channel a stream of moist air on to the east coast.
As well as lifting moisture into the atmosphere this onshore wind is pumping up the sea swell.

Dawn at the Heads.

South Reef.

Derek casually sailing over the shoulder of an emerald tube peeling out of the Tasman Sea.

When the eroded section of cliff at "The Gap" finally breaks through between the sea and the harbour (in about 66,000 years by rough guess-timation), South Head will be an island not unlike Bowen Island at the south head of Jervis Bay.

Back in the harbour and exploring the shoreline for crays.

(One seen but left for another day)

A week of solid late-autumn rain, sucked off the warm sea and deposited in-shore, finds its saturated way back into the harbour.

Water in motion

2010-05-24T22:30:00.005+10:00

The CSIRO has published the following commentary on Sydney's sea surface temperature and currents:

May 18, 2010 - update on Sydney:

Beach water temperatures are still extremely high but the East Australian Current has now started to flow mostly away from the continental shelf at the latitude of Sydney, rather than towards the coast (as it has since late April), triggering the beginning of the end of the high temperatures.

The explanation is faily complex:

Between Sydney and Newcastle a clockwise-rotating, cold-core eddy has now become well established inshore of the EAC. Until the last few days, the EAC was flowing south around this cold-core eddy, feeding into a large pool of EAC water that is warmer than is normally seen off southern NSW at this time of year. The cold-core eddy has now grown so large that very little of the EAC is continuing south: most appears to be flowing offshore at the critical junction point at 34.5S, 152.5E. To complete this eddy-shedding process, the cold-core eddy off Newcastle is likely to merge with the larger cold-core eddy to the SE, thereby completely separating the two masses of warm EAC water: the parent body to the NE, and the newly-shed body to the south.

May 19, 2010 Update:

The eddy shedding is now complete.

Image from CSIRO

Paddling out through the Heads and into the last of the warm sea water for this season.

A Bonito tuna leaps aboard while, in the background, the saturated clouds of moisture forming over the "hot" sea current release some of their water back into the sea ...

... and onto the land.

At its edges the sea's motion is visible in crashing waves along the coastline. But it's the larger "un-seen" drama of massive tumbling vortexes of water moving around offshore that affects our local conditions so profoundly. With the conveyor belt of hot energy that is the EAC now declining in its capacity to push southward at the end of this year's annual cycle we will soon feel cold water on our paddling finger tips and soon see the stream of migrating whales, soaring albatross and curious seals of winter.

Sydney cray

2010-05-16T13:17:00.005+10:00

Previously we have observed that kayaking and snorkelling are complimentary arts of the sea.

This morning Derek and Tony find a spot accessible by nimble kayak where a dive beneath the surface reveals an exceptional Sunday lunch ...

Tony earns bonus domestic-leave-kayaking-rights from his happy wife with this excellent result.

Offshore wind

2010-05-09T20:20:00.069+10:00

At this time of year a range of subtle factors lead to the regular occurence of offshore winds in Sydney during the small hours of the night / early day. This can be graphically observed in the BOM wind rose (above) which describes the average wind speeds and directions recorded for Sydney during the month of May at 9am

One of the factors generating this offshore morning wind is that the sea surface temperature is significantly warmer than the land surface temperature. Warm and moist air rising in columns over the "hot" sea cells is replaced by cooler air rushing off the land to fill the vacancy.

In the CSIRO image above the southward flow of the East Australian Current is clearly visible, delivering sea surface temperatures of up to 25 degrees C to Sydney's eastern flank.

With clear skies at night the air temperature above the Sydney land basin is falling to between 5 and 10 degrees C. This air temperature differential between land and sea sets up the condition for Sydney's autumn offshore winds.

For kayakers this condition opens the door for many great mornings to be spent paddling in the lee of the sandstone cliffs and in the warming rays of an autumnal sun ...

A sail on a kayak makes logical sense at this time of year to catch the morning westerly down the harbour.

South Head - where the westerly is driven temporarily upwards forming a wind shadow on the eastern face of the cliffs.

2010-05-09T20:17:00.004+10:00

Out along the continental shelf, where the sea current is at its warmest, columns of moist air rise to form a chain of cloud cells.

Here's an interesting fact:

wind flowing over land which ends as a cliff will form a separation bubble of increased turbulence on the lee-side of the cliff, with wind direction reversal forming for a distance beyond the cliff of approximately 4 x the cliff height.

Returning to the harbour in autumn sunshine.

Local tucker

2010-04-26T19:05:00.001+10:00

Tony (aka Kingfisher) comes up with the goods on the east Australian coastline ...

Yep - that's a cray.

North Head

2010-04-18T18:23:00.006+10:00

Approaching the silhouette of South Head (Burra-wara) with the bold profile of this morning's destination - North Head (Boree) - beyond.

Salmon Cove - where we scrambled ashore in our nimble kayaks and then walked up and over the rock fall at the base of the cove's northern cliff.

A compelling view of the rock platform with its stunning pool.

Note the distinctive NNE-aligned fractures associated with the Watsons Bay fault line.

2010-04-18T18:22:00.002+10:00

Hey Peter - you might want to stand on this side of the fault.

The climb down the cliff's face to ...

... the olympian rock pool.

No underwater photos today ... sorry, forgot the waterproof camera.

Climbing out with flippers stashed in back of wet-suit.

2010-04-18T18:21:00.001+10:00

Composition of rocks and figures.

2010-04-18T18:18:00.002+10:00

The stunning landscape of North Head.

As we paddled southwards a lone vessel drifted along the eastern horizon ...

The Eora people of Sydney had a description for the British colonisers who sailed into Sydney with the First Fleet:

"Bèerewalgal" - people from the clouds.

Booderee

2010-03-20T11:16:00.006+11:00

We've recently explored the Booderee Peninsula over 3 days.

A full account of this trip to follow soon ...

Paddle back in time

2010-03-14T22:17:00.004+11:00

Today's little adventure began at the mouth of the Minnamurra River, about 100 kilometres south of Sydney.

With a flood tide to catch there was brilliantly clear sea water running uphill into the river's swollen mouth.

Further upstream, in the brackish water of the Minnamurra River, the Illawarra escarpment looms as a continuous backdrop along the western horizon.

This landscape is an excellent morphological analogy for the ancient topography that existed along the Sydney coastline during the last ice age.

That is, a ribbon of vertical sandstone cliffs tumbling down into a wooded plain braided with creeks and rivers feeling their way towards the sea many kilometres further to the east.

When you are next paddling along the base of the Sydney cliffs you may easily imagine that 10,000 years ago, with the sea levels much lower than today, you would have been thrashing through the ancient branches of a cold climate forest.

The Illawarra Escarpment.

Further up the Minnamurra River the woodland and waterways merge into a flooded forest. An arcade of searching branches and interlocking canopies reflected in the water's calm surface.

Here scuttling beneath the kayak's hull like so many carapaced trilobites were dinner-plate-sized mud crabs. Sydney was once like this too.

Nor-easter

2010-03-07T22:02:00.000+11:00

Sydney summer's favourite wind still blowing in March.

Trial of a prototype daggerboard

2010-02-27T20:50:00.004+11:00

An addition to the kayaking kit - a carbon fibre blade.

Slot for blade retro-fitted to the Greenlander Pro.

View of the blade housing within the cockpit.

A crowded deck.

Sailing to windward.

The blade improves the kayak's ability to sail higher into the wind and transfer that wind energy into lift. However on this trial run I found that despite bringing the V-sail in as tight as she would go the sail and mast system still tended to collapse before the kayak was pointing as high as I would like.

Fltyng downwind under two sails.

Gullwing formation under a combined sail area of 2.5sqm in 12 to 15 knots of breeze.

The deep blade prevents the "yawl" effect that a large sail area generates when travelling directly downwind.

The blade.

Ancient topography

2010-02-21T19:15:00.000+11:00

Paddling seaward on a Port Jackson ebb tide.

And look who is paddling in the other direction ... Peter heading up-harbour and against the draining tide of the Port Jackson / Parramatta River valley.

A knot of tidal current gently sweeping around South Head and out to sea.

Mid-way between South and North Head a robust Bonito drags Tony's kayak backwards.

Today's destination : the rock platform at Salmon Cove.

2010-02-21T19:13:00.004+11:00

This small section of the rock platform serves as a good analogy for the ancient sub-surface topography of Sydney Harbour.

In simple terms the harbour is formed by the erosive path that the Parramatta River has carved on its journey out to sea through its base of Hawkesbury sandstone and into which has flown the rising sea since the last ice age.

The image below shows a bathometric chart describing the path that the Parramatta River created for itself in the last ice age, when the sea level was much lower and the coast was consequently much further eastward ~15 or more kms.

The Parramatta River turned to the south at the Heads, travelling down to meet the "Bondi River" and then reorienting itself towards the east and before emptying into the ancient sea.

In the last ice age the view towards the eastern horizon from a position standing on either of the Heads would have been not unlike the present view from Katoomba towards the Jamison Valley. That is, sheer sandstone cliffs falling vertically into a cool climate forest v-shaped valley at the bottom of which travelled a modest river.

Source : Cainozoic Morphology of the Inner Continental Shelf near Sydney, NSW.

A.D.Albani et al. 1988

The chart above describes the path of the "Bondi River"which has been interpreted as the original way in which the Parramatta River found its way eastward - through what is now the Rose Bay Golf Course - before silting itself up and precipitating the carving of the modern river's path out to sea via the Heads. (See an earlier post on this topic).

There are other intriguing geological phenomenon that are observable above the current sea level along this section of coastline.

When east Gondwana began to break up under techtonic forces brought about by under-plate felsic intrusions around 120 million years ago there occured a series of near vertical "strike-slip" movements in the techtonic plates. In Sydney these strike faults took place along a north-northeast direction. The strike faults belonging to the "Watsons Bay Fault Zone" are clearly visible on the surface of the lower rock platform on the left side of the image shown above.

The southerly extent of this fault zone is visible at South Era Beach in the Royal National Park (see coloured chart below). This fault swarm is also clearly visible at Bottle & Glass Island and Shark Island.

Subsequent to the faults breaking up east Gondwana, igneous dykes exploited the weaknesses of the north-northeast strikes about 50 million years ago. A number of these dykes, including the examples at Salmon Cove and North Bondi, travel at an opposing angle to the faults - in a north-west orientation.

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"Source : Timing of brittle faulting and thermal events, Sydney region: association with the early stages of extension of East Gondwana" D.J.Och et al (2009)

The strike faults passing through Sydney Harbour.

With the nor-easter filling in and the tide turning, we hoisted our sails and cruised back up the flooded ancient valley of Sydney Harbour.

February = Furneaux

2010-02-14T13:22:00.003+11:00

It's February and the kayak tribe had intended on spending much of this month exploring the 52 islands of the Furneaux Group, Eastern Bass Strait. However a combination of work, study and family responsibilities has seen us postpone this adventure until February 2011.
(Twelve months to hone our abalone, cray and scallop hunting techniques.)

Before dawn

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This mid-week morning we were lone travellers on the harbour.
While Sydney's residents restlessly slept through the final chapters of their mortgaged dreams we were paddling under a starry sky and beneath a crescent moon, across a velvety blue-black field with ribbons of phosphorescence peeling off our bows.

Past the rhythmic bell tolling of the channel marker.

Stretching legs at Obelisk Bay - mercifully free of its usual prowling creatures.

Heading for home: Peter paddling towards the ledge of North Head.

Tony and the harbour city.

Luke and Bo-am-billy.

Little Cove

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This morning we explored a small section of the east Australian coastline that is not frequently visited ...

King T caught a brace of sweet Bonito along the way.

The water conditions are fantastic.

One of the locals.

Harbour dawn

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January's humid atmosphere has generated interesting visual effects over Sydney Harbour. In this example the morning rain clouds are dramatically back-lit by a rising sun.

Eastern Horizon Kayak

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Click on link to view ...

http://easternhorizonkayak.blogspot.com/

Above and below

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This morning's paddle took us north along the Sphinxes.

Paddling before a sky of burnt umber to Shelly Beach where we snorkelled with eastern blue groper. Summer's warm sea currents having brought them back in to Sydney's coast.

To dive into the sea that the kayak glides over is to be enveloped by a parallel universe. Kayaking and diving are complimentary arts of the sea.

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With the sea conditions slight we were able to land at the base of North Head and explore its miriade of rock pools too.

Chromodoris splendida.

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Paddling back towards the harbour's entrance and into a freshening sou-easter.

Another fine morning concludes amongst the sandstone cliffs and sea gardens of Port Jackson.

Return to Orchid Bay

2009-11-22T20:06:00.004+11:00

Today the kayak tribe returned to Orchid Bay

on the Beecroft Peninsula.

http://return-to-orchid-bay.blogspot.com/

Change is the only constant.

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Paddling out into the Tasman Sea between the North and South headlands it is curious to imagine that about 10,000 years ago it was not possible to do this from the southern side of Port Jackson.

According to C.F Laseron (1954), in the last post-glacial period South Head was contiguous with Middle Head, forcing the Parramatta River to empty out via Bondi, over what is now the low-lieing sand flats of Rose Bay.

Water draining from Middle Harbour still escaped at this time via the Heads.
And there was a minor channel running straight out through what is now the Manly Corso.

It wasn't until the landbridge between Middle Head and South Head was eroded away, along with the closure of the Bondi passage by alluvial deposition, that the single harbour entrance that we know recognise as Port Jackson was formed.

Sow & Pigs reef is the submerged echo of the Mosman / Vaucluse landbridge.

Diagram sourced from C.F Laseron (1954).

North Head is predominantly composed of Hawkesbury sandstone, however it also contains lenses of shale and volcanic intrusions - as can be seen forming the leading edge to the rock platform on the lower left side of the image above.

Paddling into Salmon Cove, there are two very distinctive geological features.

Firstly there is the vertical chasm left by the erosion of an igneous intrusion. Secondly there is the striking block-like nature of the sedimentary strata, mid-way up the cliff face.

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The headlands of the Sydney coastline typically have rock platforms at their bases. These platforms are destructive barriers to most vessels yet they provide convenient landing stages for nimble kayaks - when the swell is low.
.

Tony landing his fibre-glass hull on the barnacle-encrusted rock platform of Salmon Cove.

Ideally our kayaks would have a re-inforced ridge line on their hulls to withstand the abrasive action of this local condition. Note also the igneous remnants of the Salmon Cove dyke beyond Tony.

Although the sandstone cliffs seem permanent and enduring they are in a constant state of slow motion erosion with the occasional dramatic release of massive blocks. It is this constant mutation over thousands of years that leads to the circumstance described previously where the harbour's entrances have opened and closed.

A twenty five tonne iron-infused block of sandstone that has fallen out of the cliff's face and neatly fractured along a single bedding plane.

More recent examples abound.

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A headcrusher that looks as though it fell as recently as last night.

The broad rock platform on the north side of Salmon Cove displays the distinctive north-east parallel fracturing which is so characteristic of the sedimentary rock around Sydney Harbour.

A lense of shale.

Meanwhile, Derek was paddling southwards from Collaroy to rendezvous at Salmon Cove.

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Derek appearing from the horizon ...

Snorkelling amongst the boulders one hopes that another section of cliff is not about to release itself from its 200 million year bond.

Sea garden.

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Patterns of weathering.

Some of the sediment contains the fossil remains of Glossopteris.

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Striking lichens.

Temporary visitors.

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Northern track = Derek's passage from Collaroy.

Southern track = Tony & Luke from Point Piper.

King prawn

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Capt Pete writes:

After meeting up at South head, Derek, Tony and Peter decided against an open ocean adventure as an easterly swell and wave action created a messy sea outside the Heads. Despite that we ventured around to the Oasis and then turned back around South Head to Chowder Bay with the thought to undertake some rolling practice and search for sea horses.

Not much luck on the seahorse front unfortunately, however we almost succeeded in getting Derek rolling. With chilled torsos and little UV on offer, Tony kindly shouted us all a coffee and Derek thoughtfully brought a stash of chocolate croissants. Eventually when Peter's fingers returned some colour, we headed back north.

Tony grabbed this prawn off the water which seemed to have surfaced like a miniature submarine. It seemed to be skipping along the surface in some sort of predator luring act of self sacrifice! Placed back on the water it continued its bizarre behavior!

King T with his latest sea catch.

Purple people eaters

2009-10-25T22:28:00.002+11:00

Capt Peter writes:
Overcast skies and calm conditions greeted Derek and Peter at Little Manly for our journey to Shelly Beach and back.

Heading north around the Heads the sun popped out occasionally to highlight the soaring sandstone formations.

A school of dolphins joined us at Salmon Cove and a little further on were busy dining on Bonito that boiled across the surface. A thought went out to Luke and Tony who would have reaped the benefit of this moment.

As we reached Shelly our favourite surfing break was disappointingly absent.

Donned with snorkels and flippers we carefully entered the water at the southern end of the beach to avoid an unpleasant mass of purple stinging jellyfish, which from below the surface were a magnificent translucent maroon colour.

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The Purple People Eater (Pelagica noctiluca) is a delicate, small and attractively coloured jellyfish with four fragile mouth arms and eight tentacles around the bell. It is found throughout eastern Australia.

The tentacles, mouth, arms and bell are covered in tiny dots, which are bundles of stinging cells (nematocysts) that will leave a painful, itchy rash if you come into contact with them.
These jellyfish can deliver a painful sting. If stung, apply a cold pack to relieve the pain.

(The Australian Museum)

A purple person.

Derek found a large eastern blue groper sporting a few speargun wounds that surprisingly was still friendly enough to enjoy a pat!

Heading back home was relatively uneventful, finishing with a few less than impressive Eskimo rolls!...more practice needed!

Materiality

2009-10-17T21:28:00.002+11:00

A brief paddle to the east side of Bradley's Head.

How much more satisfying this composition of organic forms would be with a kayak that was constructed out of local Australian woods rather than ubiquitous / cold-hearted fibreglass ...

Perhaps using a combination of the following woods:

1. Australian Red Cedar

Wood Colour: Light to dark red colour.

Weight (seasoned 12% m.c.) approx: 450 kg/cu.m.

"This tree was once the pride of the east coast rainforests from the Shoalhaven River to Cape York."

2.Southern Sassafras

Wood Colour: Pale white to very light grey, sometimes with black streaks (Blackheart Sassafras).

Weight (seasoned 12% m.c.) approx: 530 kg/cu.m.

3. Sydney Blue Gum (in small amounts due to its weight)

Wood Colour: Pale pink to Pinkish Red.

Weight (seasoned 12% m.c.) approx: 910 kg/cu.m.

The Guillemot Expedition Single

Ride to work day

2009-10-14T21:02:00.002+11:00

While the bicycles were duelling with the cars and trucks on the city's network of roads, the harbour was a broad field of calm spaciousness.

(Kayaks occupy a parallel universe.)

Arrival at the city's front door.

Kayak parking spot.

Apocalyptic dawn

2009-09-23T20:28:00.001+10:00

This morning the east coast of Australia woke up to an apocalyptic dawn as a billowing arc of orange-red coloured dust tumbled out of the continent's dry interior and across the Tasman Sea.

The scale of this dust storm was absolutely immense.

Sydney Harbour with its metropolis obscured by red dust.

Grasping the cloud.

SEA TO SEA

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We have had a very enjoyable 3 day trip around the Beecroft Peninsula, Jervis Bay.
Please click here to see the trip report:

http://sea--to--sea.blogspot.com/

River of wind

2009-08-30T20:14:00.005+10:00

It's fascinating to see how local weather conditions owe their characteristics to the influence of regional weather systems. Today a large High pressure cell is centred over the Indian Ocean, extending a protruding ridge eastwards over the Australian landmass and combining forces with a series of deep Low pressure cells that are peeling off Antractica (See chart above).
The magnificent effect of this arrangement, stretching over many thousands of kilometres of the Great Southern Ocean, is a river of west-sou-westerly wind that tears the harbour's surface into a field of white sea-horses. This is a great scenario for the kayaker with a sail.

Beating a path to windward and into the teeth of 35 knot wind gusts.

Tony's kayak buried in white water.

Paddling into the relative calm of the Clark Island wind shadow to ...

hoist sail and ...

... catch this river of wind.

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Sail under full pressure, carving a path towards Shark Island.

We tucked into In the lee of Shark Island where the wind was roaring through the palms like an angry lion. Three times we beat a windward path up to Clark Island and then three times we sailed back to the east.

On the second trip to the lee side of Shark Island (while a particularly violent gust swept across the harbour) we had the opportunity to reach into the clear water beneath our kayaks and extract a pair of sea urchins. Cutting through the spiny shells and extracting the urchin roe we sampled this delicacy in its raw state. Although it looks entirely unappetising the roe is incredible. It's like eating the ocean as the tiny eggs erupt in the mouth. This gastronomic experience is not at all surprising to the Italians and Japanese who have been enjoying sea urchins for many centuries. The NSW Dept of Primary Industries permits a bag limit of 10 sea urchins per person.

Yep, it looks kind of like possum shit after a rainy night but the taste is truelly magnificent.

Energised by the sea urchin roe, Tony cranks the sail right back and propels his kayak along a reaching tack.

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By 9am the river of wind was turning into a gentle stream.
(In this photo the climbing sun fortuitously picks out a spot instrumental to Tony's future.)

Looking a little weather-blown and salt encrusted Luke set up both sails to do the work for the trip homewards. A fabulous winter's day.

Before you go, here's an excellent recipe to try using sea urchin roe:

Scallops with Sea Urchin Butter.

See ya!

2009-08-30T19:38:00.000+10:00

And check out these videos from Tony's deck ...

Video 1

Video 2

One perfect day ...

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Destination North Head.

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Tony feels something heavy on the end of the line ...

... dinner.

Peter leading the way into Salmon Cove.

The eroded volvanic dyke of Spring Canyon.

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Peter had to leave the adventure early and dash home to carve the Sunday roast.

Into the Pacific.

Derek exploring the kelp.

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Looking for a certain shellfish ...

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From sea to mountain ...

Room with a view.

On the way back down we leafed through the geological folio at the cliff's base

A distinctive zone of darker strata reveals many fossils.

2009-08-23T22:50:00.005+10:00

Glossopteris : an extinct seed fern that lived alongside ice sheets in the supercontinent of Gondwana around 265 million years ago.

This cliff face represents 200-300 million years of deposition.

We scambled around the small headland to the north of Salmon Cove to find ...

... an inland sea !

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2009-08-23T22:46:00.002+10:00

Some of the rudely disturbed locals ...

This is a shell-less marine snail in a small pool of exceptionally clear water.

2009-08-23T22:44:00.005+10:00

With life comes death. This large octopus was taken from its rock pool and ended its days pan-fried in crushed garlic and red chillis. What is the consequence of this fairly innocent action? How will this rock pool be changed by the departure of a single animal - itself a hunter of other animals? The variables are too great to predict an outcome but we can be sure that change has been brought upon this rock pool by our visit today.

Climbing the cliff face with octopus.

As we prepared to leave Salmon Cove a tall three-masted ship made an unexpected appearance from behind the cliffs, like a cardboard cut-out entering a theatre stage from the wings.

The ship's metaphorical qualities as an agent of sudden change for this ancient continent did not go un-noticed.

Some moments before this apparition we had stowed into our kayaks fossilized leaves that had fallen from their branches 250+ million years ago when Australia was locked into a Gondwanan embrace with South Africa, South America, India, New Zealand and Antarctica. It is remarkable how much humans have affected the natural environment in just a fraction of this vast time. Today's innocent exploration of a relatively untouched part of Sydney's coastline was accompanied by this sense that we had invaded a little piece of the natural universe.

Paddling back to the Metropolis.

Nocturnal 2

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Nocturnal

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Paddling at night is nothing new. People have been doing it on Port Jackson for 10,000 years or more. A Joseph Lycett painting (above) from the early 1800's depicting the locals fishing by torch light.

Now the view looks like this ... Paddling towards the Harbour Bridge.

The laughing mask of Luna Park, aflame with electric light.

Mask reflection.

Tony and Luke's nocturnal odyssey.

The highlight of this very enjoyable night paddle was the homeward leg - sailing down the harbour at 11pm and under a starry sky.

Ancient Mariner

2009-07-05T21:31:00.004+10:00

A gorgeous mid-winter's day as Tony heads out to sea alone ...

... with the Tasman Sea rolling across south reef and into the bulwark-like cliffs of South Head.

Experience has now taught us two things:

Austalian salmon are often lurking around the Heads and they like attacking the "Xmas tree" lure.

Less common is the sight of Albatross gathering so close to the coast.

The presence of these masters of the ocean skies within sight of the continent's shoreline may be indicative of some unusual phenomenon out to sea. Perhaps an approaching cell of severe weather. Perhaps a lack of pelagic fish offshore. As with most natural behaviour there would be some deeper reasoning underpinning it.

Or perhaps it's just easy mid-winter pickings along the east Australian coastline. These Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche-melanophris) are feeding on the carcass of a cuttlefish. Click here to see many more of the vast Albatross family.

The view over the stern as Tony leaves the sea to the Albatross.

Eora

2009-07-05T16:50:00.010+10:00

This sketch is the earliest known rendering of Eora people in canoes ...

It was drawn in 1770 by Tupaia, a Polynesian who was onboard Cook's "Endeavour" when it sailed into Botany Bay. The sketch depicts one of the men spear fishing from his canoe. The sketch was drawn along the southern shore of Botany Bay.
"Details in his painting show the wooden spacers and tied ends of the typical bark canoes used at that time in what is now the Sydney coastal area." (Tupaia's Sketchbook / K.V Smith)

Above is a sketch from an unknown artist depicting an Eora woman and her child in a canoe. (Start 'em young, I say)

"In August 1788, 67 canoes, carrying 94 men, 34 women and nine children, were counted around the (Sydney) harbour, despite the fact that it was the season in which they make their new Canoes, and large parties were known to be in the woods for this purpose'.(An Historical Journal - John Hunter,1793).

Conclusion: paddle craft were here first, maaaaaaaaate.

Angophora Costata

2009-07-04T20:47:00.004+10:00

Continuing the indigenous theme, this afternoon's dash across the harbour was to collect seeds from perhaps Sydney Harbour's most beautiful tree species - Angophora Costata - otherwise known as Sydney Red Gum.

Angophora Costata is particularly common on Hawkesbury sandstone where it forms almost pure stands. The genus Angophora is closely allied to Corymbia and Eucalyptus (family Myrtaceae) but differs in that it usually has opposite leaves and possesses overlapping, pointed calyx lobes instead of the operculum or lid on the flower buds of eucalypts. (Australian National Botanic Gardens)

Angophora costata

Angophora : from two Greek words, meaning 'vessel' or 'goblet', and 'to bear or carry', referring to the shape of the fruits;

Costata : ribbed; the capsules bear prominent ribs.

One of the extracted seeds from the capsule which I will attempt to germinate. Apparently germination takes two to three weeks.

When we live in a place with such beautiful endemic flora (that incidentally also supports the local birdlife) it is maddening that so many apparently sane people stuff their gardens with exotic camellias, frangipannis and jacarandas.

Archipelago

2009-06-28T18:30:00.006+10:00

There is a chain of eleven islands strung out along the spine of the harbour.
For the most part, these islands sit idly dormant in Sydney's collective consciousness and in various states of post-industrial dereliction.
A couple of the islands have been "towed" back to the mainland by land bridges. And one or two of the islands retain indigenous Sydney bushland on their sloping faces.

The harbour as calm as it ever gets.
Above and below the surface at Five Dock where this morning's journey commenced ...

Striking out towards the eastern horizon.

Rodd Island.

(Local indigenous name unknown to me)

Snapper Island.

(Ar-ra-re-agon)

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Spectacle Island
(Gong-ul)

Cockatoo Island

(Wa-rea-mah)

Crossing to the north side of the harbour at Birchgrove.

Berry Island

(Local indigenous name unknown)

An old local on its last legs.

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Goat Island
(Me-mil)

The great arch.

Paddling through a forest of turpentine tree trunks that form the supporting structure for wharves at Walsh Bay.

Drifting beneath the suspended deck of the Harbour Bridge.

Pinchgut Island
(Mat-te-wan-ye)

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Garden Island
(Ba-ing-hoe)

Clark Island

(Bil-long-ololah)

This island was carefully restored with indigenous species in the 1970's by the Sydney landscape architect Bruce MacKenzie.

"Bruce Mackenzie pioneered the use and conservation of indigenous Australian planting that made use of natural structural materials and native plants, combining a romantic attachment to landscape aesthetics with a pragmatic approach to conservation. He is considered one of the foremost practitioners of the 1970s and 1980s in the promotion of landscape design that respected and harmonized with natural environments. Significantly his first article extolling the use of native plants was published in 'Architecture in Australia' in November, 1966. "

(Heritage Branch NSW)

Shark Island

(Bo-am-billy)

Pausing briefly at Shark Island.

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The eastern end of the archipelago ...

Bottle & Glass Island
(Mo-ring)

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A bird's eye view of this morning's paddle.
Starting in the west ...

... and finishing 20 kms later in the east.

There is much to explore at each of these islands - from large-scale industrial wharves, abandoned buildings and rusting machinery to the gems of native bush rock and twisted angophoras. The trip along this "archipelago" deserves much more time than we could afford today. A good reason to do it all again.

Leave no footprints ...

2009-06-20T21:28:00.009+10:00

Previously we've made brief references to the people who have been paddling their craft across Sydney Harbour for many millenia.
Here's a little more information ...

View in Port Jackson, 1789 by T. Prattent
"This saltwater scene in Port Jackson shows Aboriginal men, women and children in bark canoes. Women fished with handlines and 'crescent-shaped lures' that were ground and chipped from shells. Fires burning in the canoes were used to cook fresh fish and mussels, which they spat into the water to attract fish."
(State Library of New South Wales Catalogue)

Other than burning the landscape from time to time to flush out animals, these original harbour-dwellers left few marks on their physical environment.

A few traces of their existence are found in a handful of evocative rock engravings that were incised into sandstone shelves around the harbour's edge.

The images below are hand-sketches (drawn in the year 1845 by two Europeans) of rock carvings observed at South head, Middle Head, and at Point Piper depicting whales, sharks, fish, kangaroos, wallabies, hand tools, shields and people.

The profiles of sharks and large fish at Middle Head.

Rock wallabies and a fish at South Head.

Hand tools, fish, wallaby and shield at South Head.

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Large fish, a sea bird and hand tools at Point Piper.

Shield and fish at Point Piper.

Dancing figures at Point Piper.

Kangaroo and more hand tools at Point Piper.

Shamefully, the carvings at Point Piper are now all destroyed.

A foray in pursuit of whales.

2009-06-14T18:45:00.001+10:00

The annual winter migration of southern hemisphere whales from Antractica to warmer seas is well underway. A stream of them is passing by Sydney's coastline now.

Optmistic of seeing this annual procession we paddled out through the Heads and into a brilliant dawn.

At South Reef a Mackeral leapt into Tony's lap.

Peter paddling out through the Heads with a dramatic ledge of cloud consuming the background.

Derek and the Sphinxes.

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Jules scanning the eastern horizon for whales.

Within minutes we had seen a dozen blasts of exhaled spray and the striking profiles of humpback dorsal fins cresting the surface about 600-800m away from us. We paddled on.

Out to sea, pairs of Albatross were elegantly sweeping the sea's surface for prey.

2009-06-14T18:42:00.001+10:00

Rafting up for hot chocolate.

A sea shower.

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Encouraged by Tony's sighting of a whale doing a spectacular full vertical breach (no accompanying photo) about 1000m to the north of our position we continued on to a point about 3.5kms east of North Head. However after a short while of scanning all horizons it was apparent that there were no more whales making their way up this section of the coast anytime soon.

We pointed our kayaks towards the coastline and made our way back to the harbour...

2009-06-14T18:38:00.003+10:00

Above is the southern contingent's track of this morning's short foray in pursuit of whales. You can see where we all paused to drink hot chocolate (east of North Head) and consequently drifted southwards with the current and wind, before paddling a bit further to the north-east. The total distance travelled on this particular track was a modest 7.1 nautical miles (13km).

The sea surface temperature was beautifully warm for cold hands to dip into ...

... but it's apparent that the East Australian Current is breaking down for winter and that colder water lies ahead of us.