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Adventure on the sea
 SIX kayaks glide silently across Coles Bay. Side on, it looks as though they are all in a race. The bright yellow bow of the Nova Scotian boat pushes ahead; then the Victorians come at them until the two boats trade the lead with each stroke of the paddle.
We are not travelling at Olympic pace, nor are we racing, but these plastic two-man kayaks cut into the steady breeze with ease until our group of eight visitors and two guides has nestled under the protection of The Hazards range. Here guide Gus McKay gives his first "interp", tourism industry jargon for interpretation or rundown of an area. We learn about The Hazards and how they are part of a granite seam that runs from Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, rises at Flinders Island and runs down the East Coast of Tasmania. There are birds to observe, such as the pied oyster catcher, cormorant and an obliging sea eagle that perches on a tree about 20 metres from the rocky edge of the bay. Interactive tours such as this one by Freycinet Adventures give the best of all worlds. You are rewarded for your paddling effort by the extraordinary beauty of Coles Bay and the Freycinet National Park and enriched by the interesting information dispersed by the guides. You can feel and taste the saltwater around you but aren't getting wet because the kayak skirt is keeping spray out of the user-friendly two-man boats. I take the tour with my son, Solomon, 11, and we form one of the kayak teams. The captain sits at the back to work the rudder with foot pedals while the front person provides some additional grunt with the paddle. John and Elizabeth Stoddard, from Nova Scotia in Canada, have included this trip in their Tasmanian itinerary. Victorians Wayne Campi and Emma Partenza have finally made a trip to Tasmania after many years of hearing their friends recommend the island state. Chinese tourists Walter Leung and Tammi Tian, in the third boat, are enjoying their Tasmanian time so much that they are already planning another visit: "What's the best time of year to visit Cradle Mountain?" Mr Leung asks. Our paddle is undertaken in early February and begins at 8.30am under calm, overcast skies that belie a forecast of strong winds from the south-east. Guides Mr McKay and Theo Mapley are keen to begin in case the weather cuts short our adventure. We have several minutes of instruction: how to fit the splash skirt, find a suitable life- vest, paddle effectively. We practise our skills on Muirs Beach like practitioners in some early morning tai chi class and the guides point out some dolphins, the first they've seen this summer, to our west. We hope they stick around and soon we are on the water, paddling, chatting and stopping occasionally for photo opportunities. Under The Hazards we bob around a former granite quarry, where two Italian stonemasons spent 30 years painstakingly splitting granite. Coles Bay granite can be found in the Empire State Building in New York, the Commonwealth Bank building in Hobart and that purse sculpture in Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall. There is still evidence of their labours. To split a slab the brothers would drill a hole, jam dry wood in the hole, add water and cap it with clay. The expanding timber would crack the granite. A ripple edged slab remains, like a fallen page from a Spirax pad, to show just how time-consuming their work was. The guides direct us into a secluded beach with a small waterfall where they prepare a morning tea of enormous chocolate chip biscuits and plunger coffee. It's also a chance to switch positions in the boat and I end up with Solomon in charge. We cover some extra water under the guidance of Captain Fishtail but manage to stay with the others. Mr McKay gets everyone to join kayaks as he tells the history of Freycinet Lodge, a freehold property inside the national park with a strong conservation heritage and Mr Mapley points out the stingray-shaped Saffire resort, the much-vaunted Federal Group luxury property scheduled to open in April. We return to Muirs Beach with the ever-strengthening breeze at our backs, pulling our kayaks ashore after a three-hour adventure, and basking in the satisfaction of sea, sand, salt and self-propelled sightseeing. Freycinet Adventures runs the Freycinet Paddle daily from 8.30am; twilight paddles from 5pm. $90 a person, all gear and morning tea included. Call 62570500 or see www.freycinetadventures.com.au |
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