More Boats, More Booze.

After such an arduous bush camping trip, all that camp fire smoke and marshmallows, it was time for a little TLC in the hands of the Nylands while we rallied for more of this tourism lark. Based from their pad in Adelaide's Noarlunga Port, we've since been sallying forth for day and overnight trips to take in all that South Australia has to offer.
First off was a dangerously intense pastime for the likes of us; a little sea kayaking! Good and active for some, other members of the party were a little nervous at the physical exertion and even the prospect of those big fish sometimes found off Adelaide's coast! No matter, we trundled south of the city to meet Kerry's uncle Mal (a dedicated and ever-so eccentric sexagenarian paddler with plenty of stories about the Bass Strait) and headed for the small beach of Second Bay near the southern headland where we rigged the kayaks (not canoes by the way, very different) and received a little instruction. Importantly, the boats had rudders so we knew that the self-steering problem we had had in Vietnam would not be an issue...that and the fact that the blokes were in the back! Learned and efficient paddlers now, we fought with our spray decks for a few moments and then launched, practicing the steering for a bit to find that both boats still seemed to want to turn in opposite directions. Immediately Rach found that at the front you get drenched, which put a stop to her concerns about the paddles dripping Turning our backs to the west, where we had been told the next landfall was South America, we headed off along the coast to practice nipping in and out of little coves to practice our skill before finding an isolated beach to run up the kayaks and clamber a solitary rock for a picnic and some well-deserved champers; its amazing what you can store in these kayaks!
The booze and nibbles fortified us and with a few death-or-glory stories from Mal we were ready to make the journey back with its promise of a daring cave challenge...Essentially we had to blindly enter a dark cave mouth, with water rushing and boiling in as we paddled gingerly to turn around and reverse (a nautical term that one) as far back as possible...this meant that Danny and I were crushed up against the back walls as the girls went full steam astern!
Somehow we all managed it in and out, and there was nothing for it but a return to the launch point for showers, tea and medals...