A small contingent of four boats made the rip up the Werribee river. Jim and Penny in Talisman, Andrew Campbell in Mars, Peter and Kirsty Batchelor in their new diving platform, the rubber ducky, and myself in Curlew.

There was much evidence that the high rivers of the last few months have also effected the lower reaches of the Werribee river, with fresh erosion showing about 300mm higher than the current level. In any case the river must have been higher than on other visits as I could go two more bends further up beyond the cliffs to the golf club, before running out of water depth.

For those of you that have not cruised this river the K road cliffs are spectacular with many bird nests in the nooks and crannies. Penny and Jim had the binoculars out to watch for the varied bird life.

We finished the cruise upstream just on 12 noon, and had a message that Chris Kelly and Andrew Cohen had arrived at the jetty in their yacht after a voyage from Williamstown, also there were David and Margaret O’Dempsey, and Graham Signorini in his canoe Nabari. So we turned around and headed back to the jetty for lunch together.

For those that don’t know Nabari, it is a peddle powered craft using the recumbent position like one of Graham’s bikes, driving through all wooden gears to a wooden propeller.

Graham deserves a medal for the day. He peddled/paddled from Newport to Werribee South, a voyage of 5 hours!!! During the lunch break the wind freshened and Graham got very cold, and it was also quite choppy on the bay with a south easterly wind. We tried to convince him to take the easy way home via a ride in the O’Dempsey’s car, or with Andrew and Chris in the yacht, but he insisted on peddling as he wanted to view Wyndham harbour on the way. Graham would have done 10 hours of peddling. What an effort!!.

Peter and Kirsty were trying out the new rubber dinghy that will be used on their diving trips. It is much more suitable than the wooden boats being a very stable platform, fast with a 30 hp engine, and more durable when air tanks are carried aboard. It is also very comfortable for a nap - wasn’t it Kirsty?

My boat Curlew had not been in the water for 2 years so it was time it had a run. I had water in it over the 10 days prior, and it had taken up quite well. The little Honda engine pushes it along well, but given the pitch on the propeller I could not go any slower, and soon left Mars astern, sorry Andrew.

The snapper must have been running because the boat ramp and car park were very busy, but as there are 6 ramps this was not an issue and boats were soon retrieved. (David Stott)