Day 12 - Finished!

We finished our journey today. Woke up very early and had a nice calm morning with a northerly breeze to send us to end without any trouble. The day we went to the doctor we organised for the cars and boat trailers to be brought up and we investigated where it would be possible to pull the boats out. The last official boat ramp is at Parnka Point, but Garry & Ryan found a rocky bay between Policeman Point and Salt Creek that they thought would be a possible access point, so that's where we finished our trip. We could have kept going to Salt Creek and beyond (approx 5km), but there was no place we could see to remove the boats up that far and we didn't have enough time to go there and back as the wind had strengthened and turned to a northerly pattern for the next few days.
So all in all a successful, challenging and enjoyable trip. We managed to travel from before the Murray Mouth up to the end of the Coorong only using the sun for power (plus leg-work). Lots of difficult passages and shallow pans and coral outcrops, but we made it.
Stay tuned and we'll post some photos of wildlife we've seen and some summaries when we've had some recuperating time.

Day 11 - Evening

Hi people
We had a lovely morning of nice still conditions. Dead flat, sun shining, hooked up the boats together, music playing - all good - oily water. A little trouble locating the channel leaving camp, but within an hour or so once entering the Coorong Lagoon (the final leg of the journey), depth was consistently approx 2 foot, which is plenty for us. It all seemed great and we were hoping for a northerly breeze in the afternoon and talked of reaching the end by the end of the day. Unfortunately, it turned southerly and dropped our speed from approx 3km/hr to below 1 at approx 1pm. It got got very choppy and the kayak that was being used as a makeshift third hull on the Kaczkowski cat became swamped with water faster than it could be bailed and we had to cut it loose. Managed to save it though and towed it to shore, where we spent the afternoon trying to keep cool and hoping for the wind to abate. It didn't, so we are currently camped on the beach. A nice spot - a large 100m sandy/salt crust beach from the water to the dune's edge. Beautiful clear skies. Vegetation seems a lot more dense up this far and possibly greener. Also there are no bombies to watch out for, which makes for much more relaxing travel. More rocky reef outcroppings though - but they are easier to spot. So far we've travelled for approx 95km, which has taken approx 50 hours. Going to make a very early start to try and finish our journey tomorrow. A long shower is definitely on the wish-list.

Day 11 - Things are looking up

Antibiotics are kicking in and the breeze seems much more tolerable so we're on the move again. Thanks for all the support messages!

Day 10 - still no progress but infections have been seen to

Woke up after a long night of sore feet to another blown out day. Decided, if we were going to go on, we had to have our feet (particularly Ryan's) checked out by a doctor.
walked over to the near-by Coorong Wilderness Lodge to enquire about transport into Meningie. The staff were very helpful and friendly and even offered us a lift into Meningie for us to been seen by the doctor... we accepted the generous offer and were chauffeur driven into the hospital where the kind nurses took care of Ryan's infected foot.
He was prescribed some anti-biotics and half an hour later Garry decided to go and get his foot seen to as well.
After getting back to the lodge we had a chat with George (the lodge owner) about Ngarrindjeri ways of life, a very knowledgable guy on aspects of the Coorong and the tradition of the local Aboriginal people and their bush tucker.
A very lovely spot to stay for anyone interested. They have nice cabins overlooking the Coorong and the ocean and camping and backpacker style huts too. They do kayak tours and bush walks. After our chat we returned to camp and discussed our plans for the next days for our voyage.
Our camp site is very exposed to the wind and sun so we are keen to move on after our second night in this spot.
Water is VERY salty and is full of millions of briney shrimp. We are surrounded by dry salt pans. And the water is very shallow- a foot or less except in a very hard to navigate channel which seems to be about 3 foot deep, and 2 foot wide. Why we're going all imperial measurements I'm not sure?
We plan to leave early tomorrow morning hoping for flat water, a light northerly breeze and the anti-biotics to kick in by then of course!

Day 9 - No progress

Left early this morning, but hit a bad head-wind about 1 hour in. Pulled over and spent the day hoping for the wind to abate - but alas it howled all day. Blast. Had to set up camp here.
Ryan's foot is very bad. He has something (shell?) in it and it is badly infected. He can't put any pressure on it and it is constantly throbbing. Tried to call Tim & Candice to take him to Meningie to see a doctor tomorrow morning, but they've already gone home. Tried the Coorong Wilderness Lodge which we passed this morning (we think) but they didn't answer. Will try them in the morning to see if they know of a way for Ryan to get to Meningie to see a doctor and perhaps get some antibiotics. Otherwise, we may have to go home. We'll let you know.

Day 8 - Through the Needles to Parnka Point

Very difficult day trying to navigate through the Needles. Many islands and lots of ways to go, but all too shallow or too rocky. Found a way through, but had to push our boats a long way for hours. Tim & Candice motored/paddled/walked up from their campsite for a lunch-time visit, whilst we google-mapped to try and see if there was an easier path. Ended up having to push one through at a time, using all four of us at once. This was made all the more difficult by the lacerated feet of most of our party - shells and coral have wrought havoc on Ryan's, Vic's and Garry's feet. Sarina (o wise one) has perfectly happy feet because she brought her Crocs.
Reached our supplies at Parnka point and dug them up - yipee they were all still there. Had a bucket rain-water bath at the National Park shelter there (bliss) and moved on to camp not far from there. We were so dog-tired, that we hit the sack straight after dinner.

Day 7 - Meningie to Needles

Light breeze this morning and overcast so debated about staying put for the day, but decided to soldier on. Made our way through the maze of bombies and a small sandbar 150mm under the water that completely blocked the way and then the path opened up to a long section of deep water and fairly easy motoring.
Had a morale-boosting visit from Tim & Paul on their canoe today with some blue-vein cheese and crackers from mum - much appreciated!
Wind was kind so we made 10km, which is our current daily goal. Should make it Parnka tomorrow where we have a buried stash of food/drink. Our camp sites are getting better and better; camping on an island tonight at the start of the needles. Passage through looks tight, but we should be able to wind our way through with an early start. The weather looks bright and sunny tomorrow, which will make spotting obstacles easier.
The island is small - approx 40m wide by 150m long and we are in a sheltered bay. Found an old kayak with a timber paddle, which we've attached under the blue cat to increase buoyancy.
Found out something we didn't know about kangaroos today - Garry saw them swimming across from this island to the Coorong mainland.
Looking forward to tomorrow's challenge.

Day 6 - Bombie City

We slept in today as weather seemed too windy. Tim Rodgers & Paul Slingerland visited on Tim's canoe from Meningie (they're camping there at the mo) at about lunchtime, which pepped us up to give it a go even though the weather didn't seem ideal. Started off OK, but hit a long line of bombies - they are nasty. Spent a long time in the water (to take the weight off the hulls and to assist navigation through the bombies) and are a bit scratched. Wind forced us to call it a day and we have set up camp on the top of some sand dunes - just past Meningie. Lovely spot - no flies, no mud, great views. Just had a visit from Will, Tim, Candice & Kym Rodgers and Troy Volkmann who have kindly brought us some supplies (thanks for the Clinkers mum). This is especially handy as we missed one of our food/drink drop offs a few days ago (just didn't spot the landmarks from the water that seemed so obvious from the land). In total, we've travelled approx 60km, but batteries are still looking full and hopes are high to make it past Parnka Point in the next few days and then onto Salt Creek for a counter-meal, beer on tap and a hot shower.
Update - just heard from Jeremy Butler and his kayak team and they've had to turn back. They made it as far as Long Point, but have had trouble with wind so they never caught up to us. Blast! Seeyou soon guys!
Thanks for all those following and commenting!