Canning River Breakfast Paddle
Canning River Breakfast Paddle
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Yesterday we were blessed with blue skies, no wind and a sense of adventure. What a superb day for a paddle on the Canning River.
Twelve paddlers from the West Coast Community Centre took to the river with Emily and Pam for a breakfast paddle from the Kent Street Weir. Breakfast paddle? Not an oar made of Weet Bix, but the combination of a beautiful paddle up the paperbark-lined Canning River, and a delicious cooked breakfast. It’s a great group activity in the warmer months.
With no wind, and some expert instruction from Pam, the paddling was easy. Even those with no experience managed to handle the 2 person Canadian canoes without any trouble.
The river east of the Kent St Weir is one of our favourite places to paddle. You can feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere, even though you’re surrounded by suburbia. The thick riparian vegetation provides shelter and breeding habitat for a number of birds, including black swans, cormorants, spoonbills, herons and various ducks.
After about an hour’s paddle, we arrived at Tracey’s house for breakfast. Tracey is one of Pam’s friends and she lives on the Canning River, so we could get the canoes ashore right out the front of her house!
Breakfast of fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, roast tomatoes and home made muffins was heartily consumed. Everyone was hungry by that stage and the freshly brewed coffee pot got a bit of a work out!
With some fuel in the tank, the return journey was easy, and we even met some interesting characters. The guy in the photo below was searching the river floor for old bottles. He dives under his dinghy and uses his bare hands to feel for bottles. He was pretty pleased with his catch – a black glass wine bottle from the late 1800’s – and only one cut on his hand for the morning. We left him to it, thinking we’d chosen the more pleasant activity.
Thanks very much to all the participants from the West Coast Community Centre, we love our paddles together. Thanks also to Tracey for letting us into her beautiful home and kitchen.
If you’d like to join us on a paddle, join up to our newsletter and we’ll let you know when we’e doing the next one. Or, if you’ve got a group already, give us a call today to organise a paddle (08) 6219 5164.
