Day 14, Deep Creek to Little Musselroe
This is our first day we have managed to get away by 7 am! After packing our camping gear up, we dragged our kayaks down Deep Creek to commence our paddle to Little Musselroe in a calm sea.
Our one stop for today was Stumpys Bay, we did a whip around with the tins amongst the campers and were pleased with the generosity of those we meet. There were a couple of stand outs amongst them, who deserve special mention. Firstly, Tas and Margaret King (Tas happens to be the fire chief at Musselroe and a good mate of Chris' Dad, Pat), who not only kindly supplied Ben with a nice cup of coffee, but also help out with some local knowledge re how to get a phone signal. Then there was a lovely couple from Melbourne, Reg and Libby, who had actually seen us leaving Friendly Beaches several days earlier, they helped Charles and Chris out with their coffee fixes.
We had a really good stop over at Stumbys Bay and were amazed when a large group came down to see us off.
Our luck with the weather on this leg had held until we passed 'Big' Musselroe, it was then that we had our first encounter with the much talked about Banks Straight tidal flow. And what a flow it was! But if that wasn't enough the wind once again changed from following to on the nose, so the last ten or so kilometers of our day took us almost 3 hours.
We paddled into the river at Little Musselroe and very soon after dragging our kayaks up on the bank, we headed down to the river for a much needed soak.
As there was a uncertain water supply at this camp site Chris' Dad, Pat, kindly gave up his time to drive up from St Helens with some fresh water, he stayed the night with us and enjoyed some spirited conversation around the campfire...
Leaving Deep Creek camping ground at 7am!
Pelican taking flight, just north of Deep Creek.
Chris fueling up at Stumpys Bay on one our staples.
Our farewell 'committee' on leaving Stumpys Bay.
