We’re at Loch Sport – the quietest town I’ve ever been. There are maybe a hundred houses here, and we’re on a little grassy block on the edge of the lake, the main road running behind us, and all afternoon the only things that have gone past have been one car, three kangaroos and a dozen black swans. We think that the Loch Sport monster has swallowed all the locals. My imagination running wild for good reason.
I left Lake’s Entrance early this morning. The tide turned at 6:15 and I didn’t want to have to paddle against it.
It was what most people would describe as a bleak sort of a day, low clouds, occasional drizzle, cold wind coming off the ocean. It was glorious out there. A slate grey ocean, the wind not strong enough to impede progress, and the endless dunes of 90 Mile Beach receding to the horizon, a landscape without the slightest indication of human presence, unchanged perhaps since time began.
I stopped for lunch (some Snapper saved from the night before) and had started up again with about 16k to go to Loch Sport. I was just thinking about how nice it was to have an uneventful day after the drama of the last few when I saw a brown shape about 30 metres ahead and to my left. It was about 4 foot long and 3 foot wide, and being so wide across the back I thought it had to be a ray.
Then, as it drew level with me its dorsal fin popped up. Shark. Big Shark. Just the tip of the fin protruded, and the rest was still well under water so I didn’t see it all at once. I’ve got no real idea how big it was, and I don’t know that much about sharks either, so I’ll just describe it and maybe you can work out what it is.
As I said it was brown on top, a lighter shade underneath, and because of that I couldn’t really see how “”thick” it was from top to bottom. I also know the mind can play funny tricks at moments like that. This shark was definitely bigger than the distance from me to the front of the kayak (about 8 foot) and definitely smaller than the whole kayak (about 16) so I’m guessing it was 9-12 foot long, and as I said, very broad across the back.
It was cruising past slowly in the opposite direction, and it looked at me and I looked at it, and then it was gone.
Needless to say the next 10k went by pretty fast, and all I could think about was making sure my hands, still smelling of snapper I’m sure, stayed out of the water. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw it tomorrow either. I just had that look about it that it was cruising its beat. It’s scary and exhilarating seeing such a magnificent creature in its element, all the more so in a craft that has you perched barely above the waterline.
Other than a little Mako in Byron and something lurking underneath me at Lord Howe, I’ve never seen a shark out on the water (though I've been bumped by one).
It was a new experience for me, and one I’d be happy to have just once.
Tomorrow: Golden Beach (40k) if the weather stays the same, Seaspray (60k) if it improves
And by the way, Bigpond Wireless Broadband works out here in Loch Sport - that really blows me away