ADVENTURE GIRL!!

Husband Material and the big blue contraption. He sits in the rear and does the steering, I sit in the front and do the bossing around.




















How Peaceful......





















Green tree frog that decided to hop under my hat.






















Look! No children yelling "MISS!"





















Husband Material packing up the kayak after a really great adventure.






Yes!! That's me! Adventure Girl....I wear my new label like a proud medal as I never knew being said girl could be so fantastic! There are many long suffering people out there who have had to put up with me complaining and whining...'I'm built for comfort...not speed' my whole life. BUT NOW there is no stopping me and the long sufferings will now have to suffer my 'adventure girl' mantra (said in super hero speak of course!). Now let me explain the first installment in the Super Adventure Girl Saga.........


This is my very cute and very adventurous foot (I really do put my best foot forward!) leading the way in our new adventure vehicle.....the Hobie 2 Person Kayak. We purchased this little beauty during last year in an attempt to flatten our matching big fat stomachs. Who knew it was going to turn me into Adventure Girl? Now, if I was a boy I would be turned on by the fact that it has mechanised foot pedals to make you go really fast and an attachable sail to make you go even faster and rest your legs, or that you can race old fashioned paddle kayaks and leave them for dead. But, no, I just absolutely am in love with the feeling I get when I'm sitting atop this beautiful blue contraption, pedaling away, listening to the water lap the sides of the boat and watching the world go buy. It has a peaceful and calming effect on me.....and the very best bit is that Graham/Musband Material (from now on only to be known only as HM) and I never fight when we are on the Kayak! Never, not once, which for anyone who knows us is quite a feat. We don't even bicker, which, admittedly, is our most common pastime. Sometimes he steers me into a mangrove tree or splashes me, just to be funny, but the crazy thing is, I think it is funny!!! Being on the kayak turns us into really decent, normal, relaxed and chilled-out individuals. If I had known of the effect of the blue contraption I would have bought one 15 years ago!!

So, at the start of the Christmas Hols (after a putrid year at school) we went on our first real kayak adventure. This involved pedaling and paddling for 20 kilometres across a lake, and up an estuary and bush camping for two nights at a campsite you can anly reach by canoe (all camping gear had to be packed into the kayak, and was 'heavy as' as us aussies say). I had a map I had printed off the internet, but other than that we really didn't know where we were going. What were we thinking?It did not begin well......

The first morning of launching was a bit of a disaster. The sky was a dark shade of impending doom, and there were actual waves on the lake. As we stuffed the kayak full of three days food, water and camping gear, the rain started....Luckily we had our trusty ponchos. HM refused to use his as he is tough (?!). Anyway the lake looked ominous, a huge expanse of grey, with not one water craft to be seen. Even I, who knew nothing about boats and stuff like that, thought that was not a good sign. We had to pedal 5 kms across the lake to get to the next landmark. To an outsider I suppose it may have looked slightly humorous, me with my big blue poncho flying up in front, the rain pissing down, HM, who had gotten out the compass to direct us acurately (sounds stupid, but we actually couldn't see where we were going) yelling at me to put my poncho down because all he could see was a mass of blue vinyl flying in the air. It was looking like the adventure from hell.

When we arrived at the first landmark the weather had calmed and suffice to say it was plain sailing... achem....pedaling from then on. In fact it was blissful...... meandering through the winding river bends, with the black water giving us beautiful reflections of the swampy mangrove trees. aah it really was worth the effort, as you can see by the pictures..

This is where I, deservedly, rose to the new and heady height of (drumroll ploise).........Adventure Girl!