Picture this, five girls setting off from suburbia to drive 1200 km through the barren red northern landscape with two subarus, a camper trailer, four swags and a heap of surfboards. Their destination was to be the Ningaloo reef where 100km of remote coastline was to be stand up paddled solo, by one of their members in the sole purpose to raise funds and awareness for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Ten days later, 100km paddled and over 2500km driven the crew had successfully completed their journey and raised over $2500.00 worth of donations.



The crew ready to hit the road and wave goodbye to suburbia for ten days! From left to right its Hannah, Theresa(me), Sam, Sharron and Steph. Looking awkward as most of us were strangers meeting for the first time.


Goodbye rain hello sun! Look out Pilbra here we come.


VRRROOOOOMMM!!!!! It’s road train central just south of Canarvon.


We spent our first night in the Cub on the side of the road after a very long 16 hours of driving. The amount of goats, cows and kangaroo’s was unbelievable! Not a good situation for weary eyes! The next morning I poked my head into the camper and a red eyed Sharron looks at me and says "I think I have hyperthermia." I have to admit it was really cold that night!



We finally made it into Exmouth where the next couple of days would be spent finalizing logistics like contacting Exmouth Marine Rescue, Department of Conservation and finding my board that had been transported up. I have to admit I also got to sneak in a few surfs at the local surf break in between business!


How amazing is the colour of the earth up here!


Stoked to go for a surf after the long drive. I had a sweet little peak all to myself. Wave after wave. Yeewww!


Big anthill by the naval base. Such a barren but beautiful landscape.


Here is my support crew from left to right. Sharron, Hannah, Steph and Sam looking gorgeous! This is the Friday night before I was due to leave on my paddle when we decided to hit the pub with my snazzy homemade rattle tins! It was a great night that started with a pub meal at Graces Tavern (highly recommend).

When we ordered our meals I asked to leave our tins on the bar and as I went about eating, I was approached and asked to speak to the manager. I went up to the bar and he emerged with a big ice bucket full of money that he heavily swung upon the bar. He said “There’s at least $600.00 in there. It’s yours.” What a LEGEND! Turns out he had passed on the donations they had been collecting for the RFDS over the year to me!



Sharron and Sam picking a roadie. The girls did great work at the next pub collecting over $200.00 and bringing our total for the night to over $800.00! I’m am pretty sure one of the girls even sold a kiss on the cheek for a $50.00. Noice. It was a motivating lead up to the start of the paddle the next day.

Day 1- Winderabandi Point to Yardie Creek, 27km, 3 ½ hours paddled.

The forecast for the week was looking great. On Friday the wind was blowing from the North so we were uncertain if I would be able to make a start on Saturday. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. I met Andrew, Jen, Katherine and Drummond at Yardie Homestead before setting off to my starting point for day one.



Andrew getting ready to cross Yardie Creek and praying that the sand isn’t soft! Thankfully it wasn’t.


Day one was the most remote day of the whole paddle where I wouldn’t have contact with anyone. Above is the track you drive in on. Middle of NOWHERE! I started to get nervous at about this point asking myself, “What have you got yourself into this time Theresa!”


Hilly's panorama of entering the Ningaloo Homestead Land. Not far now!


Here is another of Hilly's panorama's of Winderabandi Point. Only 100km’s to go!


Hooray! I finally hit the water at 1.00pm with a solid sea breeze behind me. I really do move fast and my last contact with people is with a dad and his dingy full of curly red haired kids who raced out to take a picture and wish me good luck! Above is the gear I carried. A camel pack full of water, 1 smoke flare, 2 rocket flares, thongs, sun cream, zinc, snacks, lunch and camera.


I'm ready to go. Pic by Hilly


Bye Drummond!!!!! Setting off from Winderabandi. Pic by Hilly.



As Winderabandi Point quickly fades away in the distance and I realize I am in the middle of the bay in some rather deep water so I decide that heading a little closer in may be a good idea. After the chaos that has been Term 3 combined with house renovations and organizing the trip things suddenly seemed a little quiet. I have to admit I was almost lonely!



The paddle progressed well and I moved across mostly deep clear water. There were sections where I had the wind behind me and sections were I had to paddle hard across the wind towards a point. A couple of hours later I came across the first signs of people. I waved madly to someone sitting on a folding chair on top of a hill but to my disappointment I didn’t get a wave back. In hindsight I am pretty sure that they would have been thinking do NOT wave at the crazy lady shaking a stick at us. Ha ha ha.


I arrive at Yardie Creek at 4:30pm. The girls are waiting for me on the beach and are happy to see me arrive safely. Hannah quickly informed me that she had trod on a king brown snake and had it wrap itself around her ankle! It was a lucky escape with Hannah managing to kick the snake off before it had a chance to bite her. She was a little rattled after the incident as Cape Range National Park has 8 of the 10 most poisonous snakes in the world as it’s local residents. EEEKKKK!


Here is a track from one of those slithery little suckers near our camp.


Home sweet home!!!!! Very happy to curl up into my swag after a very successful day one! Thanks to the Hills who made it possible!

KEEP POSTED MORE TO COME SOON ON THE REST OF THE TRIP!!!!!!!
























Day Two Yardie Creek to Turquoise Bay, Approximately 26km, 6 hours

Definately not too late to phone in and donate!!!!!!!!

Alternatively, if you would like to make a donation by electronic fund transfer I now have access to account numbers. Just PM me and I will forward them on to you.

Theresa

Keep up the good work Rez.

Fantastic story Rez , great photos , looks like an adventure of a life time. Well done.

Piros

Awesome effort Rez, looking forward to seeing more pic's of that beautiful water.

Day Two- Yardie Creek to Turquoise Bay- Approximately 26km, 6 hours paddling.

Day two was a harder paddle than what I had anticipated. Luckily it was the most scenic section of the whole paddle so that made for a good distraction. I awoke early at camp Bungelup, about 5.30am, to light offshore conditions and a clear blue sky. As I was waitng for the girls to get up I packed my gear and then took a few pictures.


Sweet logo stickers kindly designed and donated by straight up studios.






Camp Bungelup. A DEC site that we were luckily allowed to use complete with two lockable (mouse proof) rooms, shade, picnic table and our own squeeky clean drop loo.


Breakfast!!! My breakie of choice was 5 vita brits with bannana and covered in milo.


Once the girls were up and we were all fed I hit the water at Yardie Creek at 9am. The wind was still light and offshore and this was going to be the trend for the first couple of hours of my paddle.


It wasn't long before I came across some wildlife. Here are a couple of emu's kicking back at the waters edge. One was even wading in the water!!!! Ha ha. I have to admit that it was only 10am and the sun already had a bit of bite to it so I guess they were just cooling their big feet.


A couple of hours later I approached Sandy Bay. A seriously BEAUTIFUL beach. The wind had just turned to the southwest which was a welcome change. The Exmouth Kite Expo was also happening at this time so I pulled in to say hi to a couple of friends. Scott and Emma from Exmouth Kite and board and camper hire who organised the event had been kind enough to do some fundraising for me and even made up their own rattle tins. Stoked.


Veiw coming into Sandy Bay.


I had just had my lunch and had started to paddle away from Sandy Bay when Jen came sprinting down waving madly at me. I paddled back in and was happy to hear that Hilly was going to come for a paddle and keep me company. Above is Hilly setting off into the mass of tuquoise water that is Sandy Bay.


We were now heading into turtle country. I saw literally hundreds of turtles but I just couldn't get a picture! A big old barnacle encrusted turtle over a metre long would pop up take one look at me and get the hell out of there!!!!! I then had a light bulb moment- I look like someone in a canoe with a spear!!!! So I swear it must be a deeply ingrained instict for the turlte to bolt from the days where they were hunted by aboriginal people. Ha ha ha. So no cool turlte pictures.


We headed out to the edge of the reef where it was shallow and the coral was beautiful! Heaps of Staghorn and Plate corals everywhere. I still hadn't seen any sharks which was unusual.


By this point there was a moderate sea breeze and Hilly and I were moving along with ease. I saw Hilly suddenly make a bee line to the edge of the reef. Hilly found a wave! Small but with plenty of potential. I had to turn and paddle really hard upwind to get to it. Hilly caught a couple that were small but rolled along for ages. I had to have one of these I thought. Finally I caught one.......and was very ungracefull. Trying to paddle into the wind nearly killed me! I was feeling tired!


MORE FROM DAY 2 to COME!!!!

Day 2.....continued.


Moving over prime snorkling territory. One of my favourite spots and very pristine compared to more publicised locations. Remember to take care to not damage coral as it takes thousands of years to grow! Big fins can do a heap of damage if you are snorkling in shallow water. If you think you are going to need a rest always take something to float on.


View back to where I have come from. Almost half way I can't believe it. See that headland all the way back on the horizon...thats where I have come from. Yeeewwww!


It is now coming up to about 1.30 and I am starving! Good thing I am meeting the girls for lunch very soon.


Ahhh. Mandu Mandu. Hilly arriving at the home of the upside down jellyfish....they live in a tidal pool and yes...swim upside down. They are apparently very unique and the area is classed as a bethnic protection zone.


Hello Hannah!!!!! Im starving! How has your day been???? She wasn't complaining! Check out this beach!


After a quick 15 lunch of a tin cold baked bins (yum ha ha), fruit, apricot squares and crackers Hilly and I set off to the last 10km. The tide is REALLY low and the wind is all but gone again! I walked as far up to the nose of the board as possible in an attempt to bring the fin up a little. it seemed to work as we weaved our way over the reef.


Some interesing purple coral. I went over a few of these further out that were huge! At least 5 meters across and 3 meters tall.


Finally arriving at Turquoise Bay! I was seriously exhausted after 6 hours on the water with only a little rest for 20 minutes at the most during the day. One thing is for certain, I definatley did NOT eat enough food and I was suffering because of that. Also the strange thing was that I had also developed motion sickness. I felt like I was still floating on the water from when I stopped a Turquoise bay up untill I went to bed that night. All in all I was very tired but I have to say I was completely stoked. What an AWSOME day!

Day 3- Turquoise Bay to Graveyards- Approximately 32 km- 6 1/2 hours paddling.

Day three, Monday, I dragged my stiff body out of my swag early again. I don't know what it is about camping but sleeping in just doesn't seem to happen for me. I was feeling a bit stiff and my feet that got VERY sunburned yesterday stung as soon as the sun hit them. On a good note the motion sickness had dissipated so i was pretty happy about that. It was going to be an interesting paddle again today and I was looking forward to checking out Mangrove Bay.


Zinc on my feet today!!!! Very sore.


Heading off from Turquoise Bay around 9am with a nice steady 15 knot seabreeze already.


Sam checking out the marine life at Turquoise.


Sam's view! Heaps of wrasse, trigger fish, parrot fish, damsel fish and more!


I was feeling brave after paddling with Hilly along the reef yesterday so I decided I would do the same today so I can check out some more coral. Here's a view from under my board. About half an hour into my paddle I came across a flock of about 50 Turn's who were fishing all around me. They would dive bomb into the water grab a fish, eat it and then shake themselves off all whilst flying. So cool.


hello.


Here I am just near the Milering visitor centre in T-Bone bay. Note- I am really far out now! I had just passed two of the biggest dolphins of my life! Bigger than half the length of my board.


Hilly had put his jetski in at Neds camp so he could come visit me offshore. He even brought his kids out for a chat. I had their company for about half an hour before I was all on my lonesome again.


Hilly there's a WHALE!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw a humpback do a full body breach out of the water just behind the reef. Makes you feel pretty lucky when you are the only witness. Thanks Huey.


I had a blast cruising through this bay as the water was deeper and the wind had created some little runners for me to catch. Here is me motoring along trying to catch one.
I had said goodbye to Hilly and the kids and went along my way.


It was then that I noiced a big colour change in the water. Oh crap, I was going to have to cross a chanel and opening in the reef. A few years earlier I had kite surfed over a pretty massive tiger shark that was slowly meandering through the bay just near here. I was told back then that there was a 15ft female that resided in the area. As you can imagine I felt a little bit vunerable and decided to pick up the pace. I was self talking....don't worry they have plenty to eat up here....not going to be interested in me. There is nothing down there. I was about half way across the dark chanel and the point at the end of the bay was not far off now. Only another kilometer.

I was feeling a little bit more relaxed........until.......CRUNCH out of nowhere something cracked REALLY hard into the bottom of my board!!!!!!!!!!! It hit me with so much force that I literally flew backwards off my board and ended up completely submerged under the water. I popped up gasping and looked for my board which had shot out at speed infront of me. It was a few meters away as I wasn't wearing a leg rope. (I know Hilly- you told me so). I wouldn't call what I did next swimming. More a frantic doggypaddle with my paddle and all the crap on my back weighing me down. Never the less. I made it to the board, starfished on it and then jumped up had a look. Nothing???? With adrenaline pumping I got the hell out of there and then had to stop at the next beach to calm down. Ha ha ha. Was it a turle??????? I'm telling myself that it was. Pic by CB.


Hey you! Did you knock me off my board!


Oi! Do you know who knocked me off little crab?


The rest the day was a breeze. I stopped at mangrove bay for a good lunch break with a heap of birds on a sand spit and then pushed on. There are heaps of reef sharks at Mangrove Bay and I went over several that were much longer than my paddle. It must have been the extra food or maybe the shark induced adrenaline but I made Tantabiddi boat ramp my initail stop point early. I decided to keep going the extra 10km to graveyards as that would make day four a little shorter. I finished up at Graveyards shown above around 3.30pm and again I was very happy to see Hannah.


We made our way back to Yardie Homestead where the girls has set up a new camp. Here are some of the locals visiting our camp!


Yum! Vegies for dinner! I must say we ate really well.


Here we are cooking up a storm in the camp kitchen where I would catch up on what the crew got up to during the day.


We were now set up at the Yardie Homestead so got to hang out with the rest of the crew at night. There was only one day left to go! I couldn't believe it.

Did you go for a kite in the arvo?

Well done.

A true WA legend!

Great effort Rez, it was an experience of a lifetime to be involved, many thanks.

Love the lifestyle photos, the crab is a cracker.

Great story chicken, you inspiration!
Em xxx

Great stuff Rez.
How cool is it that out of all the photos there is only clouds in three of them.
No wonder we all try to escape up there as much as possible.

I am stoked all of you have enjoyed the pictures and story! Thanks for the kind comments!

My donation tally is still rising and is now close to $3000.00!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to those who have already donated, your support is greatly appreciated! Just think by donating you may have helped to buy the RFDS some lifesaving equipment-!

If you want to donate via electronic fund transfer just PM me and I will send the account details.

I was thinking that this paddle would make a great annual charity event????? Perhaps not the whole 100km but just the 76 from Yardie Creek.