(This happened before we joined the club!)

We had just started kayaking & had bought our “Penguins” ( had to drive to Canberra to get them!!) Decided to try them out, with a paddle to Bribie Island. 5 of our friends, (also just starting to kayak) decided to join us.

We started from Golden Beach..beautiful sunny day. Too hot to wear lifejackets, all in agreement, not to take them!! (Also, didn’t have such a thing as a “skirt”!!) The plan was to overnight at Donnybrook, so all loaded up with camping gear..what an adventure we were going to have!!

Made it to the camping ground at Donnybrook, during the night, the wind came up & in the morning, thought it looked a bit rough! ( didn’t think about weather forecasts!!) So off we went to Bribie!!

Once out in the channel, conditions drastically became worse..paddling against the tide, wind & waves crashing over our kayaks (no skirts/pumps)..what a nightmare!! All being “first timers at this” we carried on!! Finally, the bridge was in sight (with our kayaks half full of water!!)  we made it to the Caravan Park.

Overnight, the wind still blowing, in the morning as well!! So made a decision to start back & Albert said..”If anyone not happy with conditions by the time we reach the bridge, head to the shore!!”

Conditions were very, very rough, so after about a couple of minutes,  the 3 ladies looked at each other, without a word, we headed to shore!

One of the guy’s wife, had to come from Golden Beach & drive the men back, to pick up the cars at Golden Beach… Loaded the kayaks on the cars & had to go back to Donnybrook to pick up our tents …which had all blown over because of the strong winds! ( we were to overnight there on the return journey ) So after many hours, we arrived home!

From that “experience ” we decided to always wear a lifejacket & bought skirts!!