Rockingham to Perth

Saturday

This was a two day training paddle for our longer trip in Shark Bay. For some it was the first chance to paddle loaded kayaks and camp overnight and the distances were similar to those that we planned to cover.

Heading down to Rockingham on the freeway

Something we didn’t expect to encounter up North was rain. There was plenty of it about in Perth when we set off. After a very dicey drive down to Shoal Water Bay we packed the boats in steady rain before setting off north.

Paddling in the rain

Care was taken round the rocks and reefs at Point Peron before we turned NE into a gentle headwind. Passing under Garden Island causeway the group speed seemed to grind to a hault. Mindful of the time slipping by we opted to press on rather than take a break here. We were now paddling past the large industrial area around Kwinana. It made for interesting, if not classically beautiful scenery. The main complaint was that with the headwind it seemed to take for ever to crawl past each landmark.

More detailed inspection of the map, whilst looking for somewhere to land revealed that we were alongside a large exlusion zone. The next beach we were legally allowed to land on was not until we were virtually at Henderson.

Eventually after 4 hours at sea and having covered 18km we made it. Sore legs were stretched, full bladders emptied and the sun even came out for our belated lunch.

After such sterling work in the morning we were within site of Woodman Point, our destination for the night. To help matters further the wind dropped.

We weren’t 100% sure where we were going to camp that night. A provisional booking had been made at Woodman Point caravan park but it was set quite a way back from the coast so we open to better options. Whilst hunting about for such a place the caretaker at Woodman Point yacht club offered us their front lawn. This proved to be an excellent camp with the only slight downside being a 1am visit from the local bogans.

Our camp at Woodman Point Yacht Club

Sunday

With some slight personnel changes we set off for Fremantle. It was hard to remember that we were paddling on the ocean, so flat and calm were the conditions. After some singing and general larking about we pulled up outside Maccas in Freo for out first pit stop. From here we also radioed ahead to the harbor master to get permission to paddle through the port.

Turned out nice again

Big Mac and fries

With permission granted we made our way through the moored up boats with plenty of interested tourists waving us on.

Passing through Fremantly harbor

Safely into the river we stopped at the Zephyr café to lose a fight a water fight with some children before continuing to Point Walter to lose another battle, this time with Black Swans.

With the wind now firmly at our backs we cruised back to Matilda Bay where everyone had a good go at doing victory rolls.

Arrving at Matilda Bay

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