Sunday 24th June – Kayaking with the dolphins

It was lucky that neither of us had to venture out for supplies this morning. We took it very easy. I don’t think I’ve drunk that much beer in one day for some time. Luckily, our kayaking tour didn’t commence until 130pm, so after a suitably slow morning we had time for a tasty fortifying brunch before it was time to don a wetsuit and head onto the ocean waves.

View along the beach to Cape Byron

We were shown some kayaking skills on the beach before venturing into the water

If I still wasn’t feeling awake, the face-full of breaking waves that we made it through as we left the beach certainly sorted me out!  A pitfall of being at the front of the kayak, along with the fact that you can’t always see how much effort your co-driver is putting into the enterprise, yes I mean you Simon Newman!  Having passed the breakers, the sea was the essence of calm and it was the perfect blue-sky day to be out kayaking.  One of our guides spotted the spout of a whale some distance out to sea and we made a concerted effort to make ground towards it, but we were never close enough for a decent view.  We headed out past Cape Byron and the lighthouse until we were officially the most easterly kayakers in the whole of Australia! 

Kayak selfie in front of the lighthouse

The guides turned us around and we felt the all too familiar feeling that we weren’t going to get to see any marine mammals after all. We would be offered a ‘rain check’, the chance to kayak again tomorrow, but Simon didn’t seem too keen on that. A relief for everyone then, when a pod of dolphins appeared nearby, and we got to watch them after all.

They hung about for a short while, then everyone was keen to try some kayak surfing into the beach. We were delayed heading in when Simon ‘the spotter’ Newman saw a turtle for us. Head up, out of the water at the surface. We got quite close before it dove out of sight.

I’m not sure if we definitely caught a wave or not but we found ourselves on the beach and not having had a swim, so I guess it was a success?!

We were supplied with hot drinks and Tim-Tams (famously good Aussie chocolate biscuits), but I was still feeling suitably warm from having been chasing distant whales.

It was a short walk back to our apartment to freshen up and relax after the fresh sea air.  You may have forgotten this by the time I post this, but it is currently the World Cup in Russia.  Tonight, is the England/Panama game and due to the time difference, it is on at 10pm here. The Sticky Wicket have reserved us a table (we must have been good customers last night!) and they persuaded us that we should get there about 7pm to witness one of the most important Aussie sporting events – The State of Origin Rugby League series.  This is a yearly best-of-three contest between the States of New South Wales (which we were in) and Queensland.  Played since 1982 fact fans, Queensland are the favourites having won all but one of the last twelve seasons! However, tonight was game two of the series, with NSW having won game one and having the home advantage as the match was being played in Sydney. Simon and I concentrated hard on trying to establish the difference in the rules between the rugby union we had been watching all weekend and rugby league. It was brutal. Against predictions, NSW stormed to victory, securing not only the match but the whole series.  No time for sitting back and enjoying the win. The channel was changed over straight away as England and Panama were about to kick off.

After last night we were not feeling a five-hour drinking and sport session in the pub. So we sat there nursing our drinks and trying to stay awake to watch the match. For a very pleasant change, tonight, being an England fan was not as painful as usual! Panama’s discipline was so terrible that they conceded a couple of penalties in no time and England managed to add to the tally, even in open play for once, making it 5-0 by Half-time! It was almost tempting to call it a night then, but it would have been a shame not to be able to bask in the glory of an easy second half for once.  Panama managed a goal and England got another dubious one. We were heading out the door as the full-time whistle blew at 6-1 to England.  Result!  Looking good for us making the knock-out stages comfortably.  That’s enough sport for one weekend I think!