Last Sunday i took Mia and Baylee for a canoe on the Gorge. On our early morning drive to the Gorge we passed an Echidna in the middle of the road. This is the first time i have seen one in the Territory after 20 odd years of living here, so i was pretty excited. I was so worried he/she would be run over that i threw a towel over he/she and begged Mia to pick it up and move him/her to the side of the road. She did this after much begging and " you can do it, it wont hurt you " , i thought I'd drop it if i tried. Mia moved him safely off the road amid much hissing from the echidna and we continued on, happy that he was safe.
The Gorge is always beautiful but more so early in the morning. The weather was perfect, chilly but not real cold. A strong wind made the paddle to the first Gorge very tiring but we made it.
We left the canoes and taking our snacks we walked around to the second gorge to find a nice spot to sit and eat. At this stage there were no other people around, i don't know where the owners of the other 2 canoes were.
Walking to second gorge
second gorge
The girls braved the cold water for a swim, watched by a tour group walking on the other side.
I tried to find some birds and found this fellow, Sulphur Crested White Cockatoo
The girls swam back to the canoes while i played mule and carried everything. In our absence a few more canoes had turned up.
Mermaids on a rock
Heading back. The girls had a double canoe and i had a single one, my first time in a single and i think i will stick to the single from now on because i found it so much easier to paddle and control than the double.
The girls did a good job paddling and didn't weave all over the river like Clare and i did !
Not a very good hiding spot girls
I was so busy clicking away that i beached the canoe, the girls came over to see what the problem was.
Baylee took this one with her phone of me powering up the river, the young ones just couldn't hack the pace i set ....when i saw this photo i saw how low in the water my canoe was, must have been caused by the weight of the backpack ..mmmmmm
