Today we celebrated Father’s Day in Australia, and we had an awesome day. With Janet, my partner, and our son TomO, we headed to the Central Coast region just to the north of Sydney for some fun at ‘The Haven’ – Terrigal.
Janet’s sister, Leah, and partner, Ray, and their beautiful son, Aubrey, joined us at Terrigal which is an old haunt of Ray’s.
Ray and I have decided to spend more time ocean paddling this spring and summer to help hone our white water skills. This will assist our chances in the Coast-to-Coast race across New Zealand next time we enter and hopefully give us an edge to improve our times from this year. It has a 67-kilometre kayak section, including around 35 kilometres of white water paddling along the Waimakariri River.
Ocean and surf paddling is a good way to assist in developing and advancing white water skills and is more accessible for us than white water kayaking. We have lots of beaches near-by, but very little white water other than the stadium that was used in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
And Terrigal turned it on for us today, we are only two days into spring and the weather was fantastic, if this is what we can look forward to over the next few months then we will be in seventh heaven!
I gave my other kayak, a Fenn Mako XT, a run today, its first in months as it is a very stable boat to paddle. Although it is slightly shorter than my Epic kayak, which measures in at 6.5 metres long, and 42 centimetres wide. Ray was paddling his Beachcomber Barracuda…
There wasn’t much of a swell coming through the Haven and further offshore a strong southeasterly was making conditions choppy, but we made the most of what was on offer spending about three hours on the water.
Ray was eyeing the large hill that shelters the Haven from these winds, pointing out that the stairs leading to the look-out would be good for a cardio-workout and was booking me in for next Saturday morning at 6am. I was thinking of some ‘naughty’ words to use, but simply smiled and said…bring it on!
But hey, happy to put it in the diary as it is a great spot and we can finish off the session with a paddle in the kayaks, that will give me a chance to wreak my revenge on Ray…
And seeing TomO out on the paddle board today having fun in the sun whilst Janet and I looked on was the best father’s day present a dad could wish for…!
happy father’s day :}
Thanks BG!! We had a great day…
Looks like the same surfski my husband has! Looks like fun!
It is a Fenn XT, great boat to paddle and I’ve had it for a few years, I paddled the HAwkesbury Classic on this a couple of times (111 kilometre race). Where does your husband paddle…
Mainly in Orange County, California: Dana Point, San Onofre, San Clemente
Wow — absolutely stunning pix. Happy Australian Father’s Day to you!
Thank you, we had a great day! It is such a beautiful spot to be ‘out and about’…thanks for dropping by!
Looks like so much fun! Thanks for sharing and a happy Father’s Day to you!
Thankyou very much…it is fun!
Thanks for sharing those beautiful pictures..very nice..Happy Father’s day to you!
Thank you very much, Terrigal is a beautiful part of our coastline, great beach!!
Looks like a great day!
Two days into Spring and the weather was perfect…Always fun out there…!!
It looks like you had a great time. As it’s my first time reading your blog, I have to commend you on your goal of reaching an 8000 meter peak. When I was young I did some mountaineering in the U.S., and I still enjoy armchair mountaineering while I stick to hiking and scrambling. Good luck!
Thanks Josh…Its a bit daunting, but I’m confident that with the right approach and training that I can at least give it a good shot. Hopefully, i can give you something exciting to read about!
God, this looks so much fun. This made me homesick (I’m from Adelaide, live in London). Happy Father’s Day to you!
Thankyou, and yes, lots of fun!!!
Looks like you are having a fab time. You are a great advert for Australia. Thanks for visiting and liking soulsnet.com. Look forward to meeting up with you again soon.
Corinne
Thanks Corinne, there is a lot to like about Australia, and I consider myself lucky to be in ‘The Lucky Country’… take care, The Landy….
That looks like a blast, next summer I have to get out a paddling!
It is for sure, but don’t wait for next summer!! Cheers,
You’re entering spring. How odd to think of that as we are entering fall!
And aren’t we loving it. Although just spent the last week climbing oin the Southern Alps of New Zealand plenty of cold and snow!