A cloudy, hazy day...

As Rob has mentioned today was a little foggy to start with but a good 5 hour paddle to get the blood flowing and clear the mind a little was a welcomed distraction.
We were paddling with the wind behind us today which in most cases is quite good to push you along but with 2 metre swell and hidden bombies (little reefs in the middle of the ocean where waves will build and break suddenly) appearing it was quite a trying and at times scary paddle. With the constant fear of sharks after the first 2 we sighted within 5 minutes of each other the senses were switched on as neither of us wanted to capsize in the middle of the ocean. Its funny when you see one shark as you then constantly keep seeing more and more sharks out of the corner of your eyes, if these sharks are there is another matter but for a split second you see that fin and then again and again....
Not much else to report but I am looking forward to a nice early night and hopefully waking up with a more positive outlook in the morning.

Peace,
Scott.

Day 16 - The day of shark fear

We paddled into Boat Harbour today, just south of Nelson Bay and for the first time properly got fin fear. It's a little like Sunday paranoid hangover fear except you're afraid of being eaten by a monster with 1000 teeth rather than just being looked at or bumped into whilst queing at the Coles check-out.
It was a sunny but really windy day and we'd left late because of a few beers with Scott's cousins the night before...so essentially we had Sunday paranoid hangover fear, but with high winds and choppy seas in an unstable 2 person kayak surrounded by sharks - sound like fun? First we saw a 1 1/2 metre juvenile hammerhead, then a 3 metre shark, then a menacing piece of sea weed, leading eventually to both of us getting twitchy and imagining every bit of white water and dark shape was Jaws about to take an arm off. We didn't have much to say as we were both feeling sick and were concentrating too hard on staying upright. Tomorrow's a big paddle to Newcastle accross Stockton Beach. Stockton beach is known for it's Great Whites - see SMH article http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/reeling-in-great-white-sharks/2005/10/22/1129775998728.html .
It's going to be so much fun!

Pics

We've had problems using flikr so sorry for the lack of photos. Here's a quick update from our Olympus 1030 camera. http://www.flickr.com/photos/b2b4prostate/. Lots more to follow.

New Year's Eve!

After an extremely pleasant paddle this morning...a mere 20kms...through azure blue waters and past many very pleasant beaches, a nudist colony, one tortoise, 3 dolphins and a 1 1/2 metre shark (further justification for peeing in a coffee cup), we've arrived in Forster, my new favourite place. It's low tide and families and us have been floating down currents, sitting on sand bars and throwing back 'throw backs' - another new Australian discovery (they're miniature beer bottles that make you feel like a giant - great for someone like myself who pretends that he's nearer 5'8 than 5'7 or maybe 5'6 tall). It's heaven and there's no more paddling for the next day and a half. We've got 2 radio interviews at 8am tomorrow morning which could be tough depending on what happens tonight, we were on Channel 10 news a couple of days ago and we hit the front page of the local rag today announcing our arrival. We're spreading the prostate word good and strong.
Happy New Year's Eve!
Rob

Things I've learnt...

Things I've learnt since the start of this paddle:

1. Sitting on your arse for 8 1/2 hrs straight is not relaxing - couch potatoes and computer game addicts deserve more respect
2. Sitting on your arse for 8 1/2 hrs soaked in your own pee is generally unpleasant, but still preferrable to getting in the deep dark water where the sharks live, or leaving your World Of Warcraft game as with above said gamers
3. There's more than one use for a coffee cup and two are better than one...dependent on your muscle control
4. Despite what your watch says whilst kayaking, time is not constant, can slow, stop and sometimes go backwards - a similar and related theory applies to dentist waiting rooms, meetings on a monday morning and pregnancy tests
5. The land mass of Australia is in fact a floating island, that sometimes moves - generally clockwise - due to the east Australian current (EAC) first discovered by Nemo, causing land masses to move away from tired kayakers unable to keep up with its rotation and associated time flux
5. What looks like your final destination, often isn't, despite what the map says: a common happening that provides an endless source of amusing and sometimes intelligable expletives from Scott
6. Jeff Buckley, Rage Against The Machine and Coldplay, are all good at attracting sharks
7. Steak and eggs at 4am in the morning is an untapped unrenewable energy which could put India in the top 3 world leading countries if enforced nationally - shame they don't eat cows
8. Australian's like to swear alot and use a variety of interesting non-dictionary derived terms relating to the human antomy as expressions of endearment
9. Scott, unlike normal people and a little like the new Brad Pitt film, is ageing backwards and is currently celebrating his 10th birthday psychologically - shame for him that he doesn't look like a 29 year old Brad...note here that I'm learning how to 'rib': another form of native Australian bonding I've discovered recently and have perfected following a series of unsuccesful attempts that were mistakenly interpreted as 'dissing'
10. Kayaking is a little like moving to Australia: it takes a long time to get there, but it's all worth while once you finally arrive
ROB

Conversations onboard a kayak...

We are well and truly past the half way point now and we are both looking forward to a "few" drinks on NYE at Forster in a couple of days.  We have planned out on detail what, when and where we will be doing everything for NYE over the last couple of days in the middle of the ocean and they all tend to end up with us quite drunk on a dancefloor doing the electric boogaloo...look out Forster we are coming!

So i thought as a little treat i would give you an insight to the typical conservations we have on any given day whilst heading towards that ever elusive headland.

6am  "lovely morning today Rob" "yes Scott this is great maybe we should try and go even further than planned today as feeling really good after that steak, bacon and eggs we had at 4:30 this morning", "Sure Rob sounds like a plan, hey check out those dolphins noble creatures aren't they"

7am "Time for a break i really need to pee", "oh thats disgusting Rob i cant believe you did not bring a cup or anything???".

7:10am "Breaks over lets get going so we can have a break at the next beach and stretch our legs", "sounds good Rob lets motor"

7:15am (insert babble here regarding drunken stories, relationships and when we finally arrive in Bondi)

8am "Feels good to stretch the legs huh, lets go and grab a coffee". We exit the kayak and walk to a cafe to buy coffees still feeling good about the day.

8:20am "Alright so we have 2 more hours until our next stop so lets get going", "lets do it"

8:45am "I swear that headland is moving away from us Rob is that possible?", "I think i saw a story on this once and yes i think it is entirely possible Scott".

9am "Break time and i hope you remembered to bring your cup this time Rob?", "oh shit i knew there was something i forgot..."

9:30am "That bloody headland is still doing that moving back thing, f#*k i hate kayaking!"

10am (roughly) "Lets stretch the legs again and have a sandwich and knock over this last leg as am keen to have an afternoon off to chill", "sounds like a plan"

10:15am "I really hate this kayak and those bloody dolphins are really pissing me off right now"

10:20am "............................................grumble, grumble, moan, f#*k.........................................!!!!!!"

10:40am ".....................................................................I really hate Rob right now!!!!"

10:41am ".........I really hate Scott right now!!!!"

10:48am ".....................such a stupid idea, i hope a shark comes along and eats Rob's arm so we can call it a day......."

10:50am "Are you sure that is the right headland Rob and not the one on the horizon?", "no thats definitely it Scott"

11am "Sorry Scott it is that one in the distance..."

11:01am "I really hate Rob!"

11:30am "It's definitely that one now for sure Scott", "grumble, grumble, moan Rob grumble f#*k!"

11:40am "........................................................................................F*#K!!!!!!!

11:45am "headlands moving away from us again Rob???????????", "Do you really think?", "yeah definitely this time without a doubt...........!"

11:55am "..................................................grumble, grumble, gruuuuuuummmmmmmmmbbbbbbblllllllleeeeeeee........................"

12a. "Aaah finally made it, that wasnt to hard at all!!!", "yeah looking forward to tomorrow now...".  

IDIOTS!

Stay tuned,

Scott.

Day 8 Scott's Head to Hat Head

It has been awhile since my last blog and have no excuse other than have been a little lazy...sorry about that ladies and gents.

So tomorrow signifies the half-fricking-way point, woop-woop bloody WOOP! We are expecting fireworks, chopper escort and ticker-tape parade when we arive into Port Macquarie tomorrow to signify this momentous occasion....only time will tell Port Macquarie, only time will tell (you have roughly 16hrs to do final prep FYI).

Today's paddling was good apart from dropping the bag with our 2 way radio, food, sunscreen, flares, digital camera and Rob's water bladder when we launched from the beach this morning, but besides that today was a good day. The good news is that the folks up here are the honest type and my dad i mean *ahem* "support crew" when he went back to search had already called it in and had the items out drying them for us. Good on you Scott's Head town folk, good on you (its not just a clever name after all)!

We managed to do just over 40kms today in just over 4 hours and both myself and Rob have noticed the difference in our stamina and endurance that we have slowly built up thanks to those lovely southerlies we encountered last week. All in all we are in good strength and the afternoons aren't so filled with calls to the girlfriends or friends looking for sympathy cause we are so sore and tired...well not me anyway! Some mornings are tougher than others though as you just want to curl back up in bed and get a few more hours sleep rather than getting up at 4am knowing that you have to get into the water well actually this is every morning but who's counting? That said once you get out on the water and you warm up little everything is ok and you just point the nose to the most distant headland and paddle.

When you are out on the water and have been paddling for awhile and you have taken as many stabs as you can at Rob and you are both sulking cause that headland is not getting any closer and you swear, i mean, you know that you are going backwards (you never actually are but at the time you know this to be the truth) you start to think about a lot of things, some random and some not as random as others. Here is a list i have compiled of some of the things that you think of and bear in mind some of these are at the darkest of hours:

1. Food - that you have eaten, you are going to eat and you would eat if it was right in front of you at that exact time

2. The future - so much about the future...

3. Work - contemplating where you have started, where you are going and general work stuff like 'where did that stapler go i had 6 months ago...?"

4. Love - what a craazy notion!

5. Sex - same as food above just replace 'eat' for 'have'

6. The paddle - actually finishing the paddle and making it to Bondi. Then the following day watching the kayak go up in flames as you laugh like a jackal.

7. Mortality - kind of a big one out on the water as there are certain times when you have no other humans around and a national park for massive stretches and you start to wonder what if a shark....what if we got knocked out and....would Rob jump in the water if a shark grabbed my arm mid stroke to save me?

To answer the last one Rob asked me this question and i said probably not so would not expect anything less from him.

There is a lot more things that go on in your head out on the water but they would be the top 5 but i will be sure to update you if there is anything else that bumps something off the list.
WE are currently staying with some family friends in South West Rocks for the night which is great of them to put us up for the night. WE went for a wander through town earlier and stumbled across the local Thai takeaway and being a fan of a good pun we had to take a picture and i have included the image for you all.

About it for me today but stay tuned...

Love Scott.