Tallebudgera Creek - Kayak

I am a few days behind in keeping my Blog up to date. Busy times again this week.

We have been talking about buying kayaks for years now but the best we have managed to do is hire one every now and again. They have always been very basic kayaks as nobody hires out good ones. The hire rates have always been far higher than the quality so we have always felt that we did not get good value for money.
This week we had a few spare dollars left over so instead of investing it we spent it on two new kayaks. That is I suppose a form of investment if you look at how much fun we will have in them.

We bought two “Necky Looksha 14” kayaks from Goodtime in Woolloongabba last Wednesday. They are big enough to store camping gear and food for an extended trip down a river but still small enough to go for a paddle in a small stream and carry on top of a car. They are not sea kayaks but still very suitable for sheltered bays, estuaries, or a trip up along a coastline in good weather. Just the style of kayaking we intend doing.

On Thursday we loaded them on the car and headed to Tallebudgera Creek down on the Gold Coast. The creek opens up into a perfect bay a few hundred meters inland, just a place to try out our new kayaks. We thought we had set them up correct so pushed off and headed up stream.

After a couple of hundred meters we were both having trouble keeping them in a straight line and very uncomfortable in the seat. We knew they were quality kayaks so the problem had to be us.

Wendy pulled into a beach and I followed her in. After 30 minutes of readjusting the seat and rudder pedals we set off again. Surprising what a few minor adjustments will do. We were soon skimming across the water and performing sharp turn using the rudder and all the while being very comfortable in the seats.

We spent the best part of the day paddling in the inlet, and we will be back. There is a caravan park (Tallebudgera Creek Caravan Park) in this little bay so we intend taking the Avan down in the next few weeks and we will spend 4 or 5 days camped there and go paddling each day instead of driving up and down the Mountain every day.