Bathurst Harbour Day 5B

Manwoneer Inlet and Farrell Point

Our afternoon journey took us further north into Manwoneer Inlet, which is a haven for black swans. There must have been between 100 and 200 of them, floating along the edges of the lagoon, although they took umbrage at our arrival and launched themselves in rather noisy fashion to find a less kayak-infested spot.

It takes them quite a bit of effort to get airborne: they’re big birds and a little ungainly on take off, seeming to appreciate a headwind for some extra lift. They are also very hard to capture photographically from my viewfinderless little camera: trying to hold them on the screen at maximum zoom turns out to have about a 90% failure rate. Fortunately I took more than 20 photos. They are, however, quite magnificent in flight, with their long black necks and mostly black wings contrasting with their white flight feathers on their wingtips.

The inlet is quite shallow and the navigable channel is marked with sticks. We didn’t have time to go further north into the Spring River, but instead turned and headed back down the inlet and back out in to Joe Page Bay.

Back out in the bay the westerly had picked up in strength and was not entirely helping our desire to head south, but by keeping in the lee of the western banks we made good progress until we turned to make a run south-east to Farrell Point. There were 15 knot winds behind us and they were kicking up some waves that were big enough to get the occasional free ride. Some would wash over our deck, and others catch us and twist our orientation, so there was a modicum of concentration and exhilaration as we made our way across this final stretch.

The final challenge was to go beyond Farrell Point far enough to miss the reef but then turn in sharply to bring ourselves up on the sheltered corner of the small beach. Here another lovely little campsite awaited us, perched on the cliff above the point.

After setting up, but before dinner, a few of us walked up and over the headland to the Port Davey track and down to where one of the boats awaits those who are hiking and would like to cross the Narrows.  

The late afternoon sun occasionally broke through the clouds, and lit up the hills across Ila Bay.

A couple of members of the party were foolhardy enough to brave the cool waters and have a quick dip.

Meanwhile, Mt Rugby just sat there. (Of course, if it did anything else it could be quite disturbing!)

The shadows were lengthening as we made our way back up over the ridge.

The sun was doing its usual “sinks slowly in the west” thing, although it is still at least an hour short of sunset.

When we got back to camp, I went for a wander along the little beach, and appreciated the unusual patterns in the rock.

A fallen tree in the bay also created some nice visual effects in the fading light.

Needless to say the day was rounded out with another fine dinner, again very much appreciated because we’d covered another 19km (actually slightly more, because my GPS batteries ran out and so I missed the little wander over the peninsula).