The river has a totally different feel about when paddling at night. It is not really quiet but has an insect driven hum about it with an occasional splash as the mullet jump clean out of the river. On our paddle, after last light and before moon rise the star light show as fantastic. I just lay back in my kayak and took it all in.
Eight paddlers, Darren, Jamie, Bruce, Richard, Barbara, Steve, Ned and myself assembled at the Lismore clubhouse in the late afternoon. We drove our cars to Wyrallah and parked them at Julie and Stuart’s house who had kindly consented to let us use their river bank on our exit after the paddle. One car ferried us all back to Lismore and we began our down river, current assisted paddle at 6.40 PM.
Our pace was slow and leisurely. We encountered a brief shower of rain around Lismore Lake. Paul was at home and up for a chat on his catamaran moored around Sandy Point. A group were having an Australia Day evening barbeque in their backyard on the bank at Gundarimba near where the old wharf was.
Darren and Jamie are new club members and paddled a Canadian canoe together. They found the going a bit tough and hung back a bit. Good on you guys for having a go! You’ll get fitter in time. They repeated an event which to my knowledge has only happened once before in club history. Jamie was hit on the face by a jumping mullet!
Most paddlers finished in time to have their supper on the bank. I finished later with Darren and Jamie about 9.30pm as the moon was rising. We loaded our boats back on the car and drove back to Lismore. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable paddle.
Colin Cussel
