Windsor canoe club did a whip around for Tangaroa Blue last night to donate to Tangaroa Blue. Awesome club. They will send me off on the Nepean Portages this morning. A very technical section I will paddle without a fin and portage 16 times in 20 km over river stones on my leg Day 7 - Yarrramundi to Penrith.
Day 7 Spectacular The Nepean portages. 21.1km and 6 hours. Blown away how much fun that was. INCLUDES her sneek peek of my world first invention "The Wheel Fin" and "SupExplore Harness" perfect. More coming on day 8, 25km porttage, Penrith to Eastern Creek. STOKED.
I just cant wait to hit the road again. Day 8 - 20km Overland portage testing my SupExplore Patented "Wheel Fin" and "Sup Harness"
Hope your wearing a good pair of Double Pluggers Stu.
Don't want a blow out.
Seriously though, this is an amazing trip. We'll planned too and well executed.
Good luck.
ET.
Scotty and ET was a long day. 8hrs and 20 km. Sore and sunburnt. My shadow was company, the trees my shade and old school and new school gps on show. Tomo is longer. 30 km to Liverpool, see map. I need sleep. thx for following
Hey Stuart, your going great, keep it up mate. Can you let me know when and where on Tuesday your starting on the gorges river so I can meet up and share the paddle to Oatley with you.
Shane - that would be cool. I will be putting in at Liverpool Wier and meeting kids at St George EEC at Chipping Norton at 9.30 ish then head from there down to Oatley. I may even need a help on logistics that morning. So join me at Liverpool or Chipping. PM your number and I will call you to coordinate. Cheers Stuart The company will be good.
I am enjoying your adventure Stu. Best thing on Seabreeze for ages.
How did the SupExplore Patented "Wheel Fin" and "Sup Harness" go?
Awesome Kissa. So glad you are supporting the Adventure. The patented "Wheel Fin" and "Sup Harness" was absoloutely faultless. Engineered and designed for the job. Across ditches, through knee high grass, along dirty metal roads without missing a beat. This has saved my back from injury. I was inspired by the desgn of the polar explorers.
Day 9 was a gruelling 30km and I had doubts my legs were going to hold up. Seriously sore. A beer and T bone at Pritchards hotel has solved that. Day 10 looks like this. Glad to have a paddle in my hand again. Georges river here I come. I will meet about 40 kids from Georges River EEC from 9am to 10am. Will be great to see there faces as I introduce Sup and Tangaroa Blue. What a priviledge. We will be doing a beach clean for the Australian Marine Debris Initiative.
I am sorry not to have heard of this earlier, though I live some of the time in Richmond and work in Penrith. I am not a SUP paddler, but a kayaker. All of my descriptions below are of paddling against the flow.
From the broken rapids at Castlereagh to Emu Heights is 6km of very flat water with no true obstacles.
To paddle upstream from Tench Reserve (under the M4 at Penrith - or, an additional 3km from the rowing club/railway) would take you through 15km of a spectacular quiet gorge that is part of the Blue Mountains National Park on both banks. You can bail at Norton's Basin if you have support or partially walk gravelly shallows to Wallacia, just down from the well-known hotel.
To enter the Grose River is a good thing to do, though the water is ankle-high over golden sand for 1.5km to then enter the Blue Mts - with many 10's of km of rapids above you.
Where the wild Grose meets the Nepean, it changes name to the Hawkesbury.
You can paddle your SUP 2.5km, with no obstructions, up the Warragamba River. Steep-sided bushland. Speccy to see the dam wall rise up in front of you - and you certainly are not trespassing to be below it.
You can paddle 18km up the Colo River from Lower Portland (locality with good road access). At high tide, you can paddle another 3km to the timber Upper Colo Bridge. Most fun if you can organise to get dropped off - or a car shuttle.
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Of that photo of the can of Monster. It is depicted amongst Salvinia, a fresh water weed that can more than double in area twice a day.
weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au:443/Weeds/Details/118
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No doubt the Windsor Canoe Club told you of the annual Hawkesbury Canoe Classic held annually in October. 111km overnight.
www.canoeclassic.asn.au/ Several SUPs have completed it now. www.abbeydigital.com.au/ev/131026HC3/e2/index_3.htm
Day Ten Update - 30km A day where I reminded the walking muscles to paddle. Hope the huge blister under my foot does not burst. Highlight was paddling with Shane for the whole way and Sherifa for a few km. And meeting the kids from Chipping Norton who engaged in a beach clean up for Tangaroa Blue. Frankly the weather forecast fore the next few days scares me as I tire. Very strong NE winds are right into my face. I am praying.
Wollemi only someone who knows could write that. Thank you for your soulful contribution I hope you keep following.
Photos below show a bit of the colour of the day:)
Stuart,
It looks like mother nature is being kind to you.
I just checked the tracker and Stuart has just left Botany Bay and has approx 6-7 km's to Maroubra.
Winds are still light from E-NE and fingers crossed should sneak into Maroubra in about 1 and 1/2 hrs.
Up until yesterday, winds were predicted from NE and strong so this has worked out well.
Here's the link to the tracker
spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=8e1553112c2ddc730
Well Done Stu -
It wasn't quite South but it wasn't as north as you had thought, so half our prayers were answered
Keep going its all down hill now
Day 11 Update - 30km 5hours. The down winding in Botany was a a thrill but the back wash to Maroubra let me know where my body is at. mmmmm weary. ShireSup keep praying for me please, i have a big day tomo. If it stays south I may try for Maroubra to Manly. Scotty is on to it. Scotty helped drag me off the beach at Maroubra where i was feeling sorry for myself (and sore). Thanks for the welcome mate.
The day started with chat to these groups (atley Flora and Fauna Conservation Society, Oatley Amateur Swimming Club, Friends of Oatley, Oatley Heritage Group, NSW Wader Study Group, and of course, Georges River Environmental Alliance, and Myles Dunphy Streamwatch Group. It is not a matter of vanity for us, your support gives us more lobbying leverage!) at Oatley about Tangaroa blue and a chat with the local paper. Again I trained the Army Marine. At Botany Bay the awesome Botany Bay sup club accompanied me to the ocean and then it was just me and the ships. Oh and a article arranged by the Windsor Canoe club came out in the Hawkesbury Gazette.
Thanks everyone. Get me over the line.
Day 13 Update -- 30km 4 hours, downwinding, constantly watching bits of my body tightening up, feel like it is packing up. Thats why I pushed with the southerly before the north change and did Maroubra to Fisherman's beach, Long reef. Never thought I would do that. Paddling support from Alex Fraser. Nearly there. Join me tomorrow night at WindsurfnSnow at 4.30 for some beers and a chat about the paddle and why I did it for Tangaroa blue. Similarly I will be at Paddle to Battle MS on saturday to share the story. We are having a finishing paddle from Birdwood park, Narrabeen at 9am sharp to to Jamieson Park Paddle. Join me for the paddle in, 2.5km. After enjoy a BBQ and coffee and check out the Nisco inflatable racing. Anyone who feels willing can also donate on the Tangaroa Blue home page. www.tangaroablue.org/
Who can join me this afternoon at WindsurfnSnow Watersports at 4.30 or at Paddle to Battle MS tomorrow or the paddle into Jamieson Park Paddle on Sunday? Meet at Birdwood Park, Narrabeen 9am sharp. Photo care of Alex Fraser from "The Crossing" yesterday. Supporting the reduction of Marine Debris and Tangaroa Blue.
Day 14 Begins - Fishermans to North Narrabeen. Nearly there. This has been a feat of concentration and endurance.
Good one stu On the home run fishos to narrabeen is a walk in the park after this paddle. See you at the lake
Huge effort
Hughie
Awesome Hughie, thanks mate. Tomo is for everyone. Meet at Birdwood park, Narrabeen lake at 9am sharp for a paddle in to Jamieson Park Paddle. BBQ, coffee and racing. I wil chat with you about the adventure and Tangaroa Blue.
Day 14 Update 4.2 km. stopped by Paddle to Battle MS and picked up a fourth behind Toby Cracknell in the Nisco. So fun. Then an hour into the wind to north Narrabeen. Stoked. To paddle around this great city in support of Tangaroa Blue. Meet at Birdwood park at 9am sharp on Sunday for the paddle into Jpp. Bring it on,
A day of smiles today on day 15 the final leg. I will give a full wrap soon. Thanks to those who joined me on the paddle in. I did not know I had the strength to paddle 350km and overland portage 50km and win a NISCO race as well. Back to the Bikram this week for me.
Follow your Zen, put out a hand, inspire someone, Dare to Believe - SupExplore
Good job Stuey. Really enjoyed the commentary. Looked forward to the updates each day as i wolfed down the corn flakes.
Thanks Kissa and Scotty. I really am hoping the message about marine debris broadens into the sup, paddling, surfing, boating communities. Contact Heidi Taylor from T Blue, address below and organise a 100 metre clean up 4 times a year and record the data for the data base. Thats all it needs for science. Do it as part of a club meet. We use it and play in it, do we care??? Some of my feelings are quoted below. A full wrap is coming. Thanks again for the support. A donation is welcome on the home page.
info@tangaroablue.org
www.tangaroablue.org/
The Australian Marine Debris Initiative is a program coordinated by Tangaroa Blue Foundation, not only focusing on the removal of pollution in our rivers and oceans, but also on the collection of data and creation of Source Reduction Plans which stop pollution at the source, before it ever has a chance to enter the environment.
"When I took on supporting Tangaroa Blue I had no idea just how extreme the problem nor how much personal development I would do "
"One thing that hit me was we are putting more marine debris into the ocean than we are cleaning up. We know what that maths means"
"Plastic does not bio-degrade it photo-degrades. That means it does not disintegrate, it just breaks down into smaller plastic nodules. The debris on the surface is easy to clean up if we are motivated. These plastic smaller plastic nodules however float up to 1 or 2 km below the surface making them very hard to clean up. They also change in composition and become absorbent. They are very good at absorbing toxins like petro-chemical spills and become plastic toxic pills that fish eat and thus end up in our own food chain. Classic environmental Karma."
"Collecting data and contributing to Tangaroa Blue Foundation and the Australian Marine Debris Initiative is the best way to encourage change at the top. We need leaders to look at this issue now. I have noticed parts of Sydney that have turned their back on the water at their door step. I saw plastic piling up in parks adjoining rivers and spilling through the storm water into the rivers and creeks. I observed syringes with needles and computer monitors floating by. I rescued turtles from sewerage overflow. We need to change the system at the top, to be leaders in government, industry and community."
