Up the creek without a....

We have been so busy that we haven't been out together with the kayaks in ages. Tommy has his nights out with the boys most Wednesdays but I've been itching to get out for a paddle. Last Sunday afternoon we finally did it. We packed up some fishing gear and headed off. Skip waved us off "Don't forget your paddles! Ha-ha!!"

Some friends were taking their kids fishing off the wharf at Torpedo Bay so we headed down that way. We got to the boat ramp and started unloading. It was then Tom turned to me and said "Did you put your paddle in?"

AAAARGGGGH!!! Oh crap, I felt like a right eejit! Oh well... I thought Tom had put it in but next time I'll have a better system for packing! Every time we go out we learn something new but I have to say this was a bit of a major foo-foo!! So... I left Tom to get suited up and play with his fishing gear and drove home again to get the paddle!!

Once I got back WITH MY PADDLE we got started. We paddled out to the end of the wharf where we saw Mel, Chris, and the kids then paddled our way around the corner to Cheltenham Beach. Being a Sunday afternoon they was an lot of traffic in the harbour, most of it heading back into Auckland. At times it was a bit like I'd imagine it to be if you were cycling on the motorway... bigger vessels all about at a much greater rate of knots than we were doing... and us putt-putting along. We headed back up towards Deveonport and the wake from the larger boats was churning up the surf. I discovered that my kayak rides the waves well... much to my delight!! Wheeeee!! Tommy was aching to have a fish but I wasn't so keen. I didn't yet have a paddle leash and the thought of trying to keep a hold of it and fish was not really very appealing... besides leaving it behind once in an outing was enough for me... and I was starting to have a lot of fun riding the waves! Tommy went back around the point to have a fish and left me to my own devices paddling out deeper then rollercoasting back in again.... Over .... and over. After an hour or so of that I was starting to wonder if it had been a good idea after all as my muscles were starting to complain. I was quite pleased to see Tom heading back.

As we got the kayaks out of the water and started changing out of our wet gear we couldn't wipe the cheesy grins off our dials. Tom was rabbiting on about all the little things he had learnt, where to put the gear while fishing, where to stow it coming back, blither blither... and me still buzzing from riding the surf... we had had a fantastic afternoon... it's the simple things in life that are the best!!

And after all that sun, salt, and surf.... we slept like logs!!