Setev kayaking
Day 8 Report

Day 8 - 19/4/08 - Conondale to Kenilworth

It was a welcome change to be going with the flow. There was a lot of bum dragging and I tried to make it all the way without getting out but one set of trees beat me and there is a low bridge used for gravel mining that the kayak would not fit under.

In the morning I saw a platypus watching me from the top of the water but by the time I had thought “camera”, it had dived. A bit further on I saw another one scurrying up a small stoney gully to hide. Well scurry might not be the right word, perhaps a really quick waddle would be more appropriate.

Every little creek that came in was welcome as it added to the flow and the water built up so that the rocky bits were easier. Then I noticed something a bit odd. The flow started to get less. It took about 20km to build up again.

Glenda Pickersgill joined in at what we called the “broken bridge” which is about 15km upstream of Kenilworth. She showed me the different kinds of vegetation, the sand banks needed for the turtles and all kinds of flora and fauna stuff that I can’t remember. My engineering brain remembers different things I guess.

Glenda was in a K1! Only kayakers will understand this but she carried it around some obstacles and over some shallow bits she cocked it to one side to lift the rudder. There is no way I could have done that. It was truly impressive stuff. In the pools we paddled at between 8.4 and 8.9km/hr.

If the flow reduced, where did it go? My deduction is it must have gone into the ground. That would mean it would be charging groundwater. To build a dam that works it would be necessary to have a massive grout curtain underneath it. That would stop all of the subterranean flow. If there is anyone irrigating from downstream of the dam their source of water would dry up.

What does the Queensland Water Commission say about this? What are the measurements of groundwater flow? Ask them. Remember everything is linked, it is all connected. Don’t we want a Commission that understands this principle? As the wombat says in my presentations: “If you ignore that you are doomed.”

We called it quits at 49km making a total of 294km from Brisbane.

That was squeezy
Part of Stage 2 inundation
Like Scruffy the tugboat
Hit it hard & smash through
In a K1
Near Kenilworth


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