1000kms4kids

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Day 23, Port Sorell to Ulverstone

We meet up bright and early today, determined to get on the water just after sun up, the idea being to get plenty of paddling in before any wind got on the water. Problem was the wind was already on the water, infact it had blew like mad for most of the morning. So it was no big suprise when we rounded the headland just north of the Rubicon River that we found ourselves in conditions that could only be described as "awful". The waves were around 2 meters and the wind was howling into our faces at a good 40knots.

After over 3 hours of slogging in the wind and waves, we finally entered the Mersey River. And as an added bonus we had made arrangements to have breakfast at McDonalds Family Restaurant (who are our major sponsor). Special thanks has to go to Lois Dan, proprietor of the Devonport Maccas, who not only ensured we had a very filling breakfast, she also came down to the river to wave us off. Not content with that she then drove around to The Bluff and once again wished us well from the shore.

We headed off hoping for more favorable winds for the remaing 18kms of our 40km day, but wouldn't you know it, once again the wind turned and blew right into our faces, all the way from Devonport to Ulverstone. It was a very welcom sight indeed as we spotted our landing point just infront of the surf club.

Once on shore we were greeted by a very helpful lifeguard, one Matt Potter ("as in Harry Potter"). Matt not only helped us up the beach with the kayaks, by loading them onto the ducky behind his 4wd, he even went into the clubhouse and made us each a cuppa (Chris also endulged in a few Monticarlos! typical).

After the paddle it was off to Pengiun for some fundraising outside the IGA stores (yes they had several), it was not as profitable as yesterday, but considering the smaller number of people in the streets, we were very happy with the $200 or so that was collected.