The basic plan is to paddle a kayak from Gladstone to
Cairns. Gladstone is often thought of as
the southernmost point of the Great Barrier Reef and Cairns Queensland’s
northernmost major population centre.
The coastal zone in this stretch of the GBR is riddled with beautiful
islands that make excellent kayak touring.
There are some strong currents in the area, particularly around Shoal
Water Bay and Stanage Point resulting from the very large tidal ranges. For example when I am planning to be on
Townsend Island tidal range will be in excess of 6m! This makes it important that I plan
departures around the currents and leave at the best time possible.
I am planning to travel mostly by island-hopping along the
many islands dotted along the reef occasionally hitting the mainland. I will be visiting some very famous islands
such as Curtis, Keppel, Lindeman, Hamilton, Magnetic, Hinchinbrook, Dunk,
Fitzroy and a whole bunch of still beautiful but lesser known islands such as Humpy,
Townsend, Hexam, Percy, Digby, Smith, Armit, Russel and others.
I will need to hit the coast in a few locations. The first populated place i hit the mainland is Bowen which is also the halfway point of
the trip. In Bowen I am planning some rest and resupply from a food drop i am posting to the Bowen Caravan Park.
Along the way I am expecting to see many very beautiful
places and hopefully meet some interesting folk and generally have a great
adventure.
I will be updating this blog site with thoughts and photos
along the way so feel free to jump on and have a look and make a comment if you feel like it. My progress will be tracked each day and
there will be a live feed with dots on the map to see where I am up to.
I hope you enjoy looking at some of the info from the trip and
shoot through a question or comment if you have any.
cheers
Damian
cheers
Damian
