blogs

I know I promised musings on industry, but instead I’m going to talk about food. That’s because after paddling 60k today, it seems far more crucial. I'd been so good too - holding myself back to a nice easy 30k a day, easing into it slowly, but the summer weather pattern for most of the East coast is a few days of calm, a Nor-Easter strengthening over a few days, and then the Southerly buster comes through. Today was the strong northerly, so after reaching Kiama at Lunchtime I thought I’d most of it and get to Culburra beach. Then I misjudged the distances and ended up in Currarong instead, about 15ks further. Oops - so much for navigation by sight.

Early start today, pulling out in mist and light rain. The weather soon cleared, and on one of those rare days without the slightest breath of wind, the ocean become a rippling mirror of the sky - glorious. Please remind me of this on Sunday when the Southerlies are forecast to hit hard.

Reached Wollongong at midday and Lorelei from the Mercury was there to write her third article on the trip. The Mercury is doing regular coverage down the South Coast, allowing us to explore some of the deeper issues. Today we were discussing appropriate valuation of environmental resources, using as a parallel the whales that used to frolic in the Derwent River but were slaughtered in two decades between 1840 and 1860 - the ultimate unsustainable industry. I've written a paper about it which I'll post to the website soon.

Slept IN! All those hours organizing the trip caught up with me, and the sound of the waves lapping at the beach made for the best night’s sleep. Tony paddled out from Bundeena, another eminent Australian coming for a "paddle with Sim" and we agreed to catch up when I got back from the trip. Out on the water, it was yet another perfect day – a gentle breeze from the North and blue seas shimmering up against the spectacular cliffs of the Royal National Park. I couldn’t help thinking how lucky Sydney-siders are to have this much bush so close to the metropolis, and thanking those who had the foresight to preserve it. I pulled in to Garie beach for an ice-cream and to practice a surf landing since Garie can get dumpy. Not today – all smooth. Met a surfer called Tim just out of the water, and when he found out where I was going he said “are you going to join that lawyer guy?” Tim had been on holiday in Tasmania where had seen the clear-felling. Tim’s not exactly the sort of bloke you’d describe as a Greenie, but he couldn’t believe they were destroying such beautiful forest in Tasmania, and was stoked about the trip when he saw it on the news last night. So there you go, from surfers on the beach to CEO’s of major investment companies, looks like everyone feels the need to preserve our environment.

What a great way to start the trip. Thanks to everyone who came down to Manly this morning to see me off and paddle with me out to the Heads. I’d like to thank the hundreds of people who are getting behind this trip, with special thanks to Guy Leech and Brad Pedersen, Deputy Mayor of Manly Council for coming out to support the Launch. Channel 9 and 10 News both featured stories, and my niece Orienne is very happy about being famous. If you’d like to sponsor the trip click here.

Today was a cracker of a day for paddling - a nice steady 15 knot North Easter pushing all the way, and just enough swell to make it interesting!. Capsized once going off the lip of a wave which was great for a bit of Eskimo roll practice and surfed waves all the way, completing the 30k leg to Bundeena In under 4 hours. On reaching the beach I met the loveliest couple, we started discussing Tassie forestry and the trip, and they’ve invited me to stay over at their beach shack. Now I'd say this was a co-incidence except I don’t believe in co-incidences, but this person "happens" to be a very highly regarded business leader with a previous involvement in forestry, and we’ve already had some very interesting discussions about business and sustainability. Like so many people, he completely agrees that we need to preserve the environment - its just finding the most effective way to do it that needs working out - I'm looking forward to more discussion over dinner.