You say Fray-see-net, I say Fray-see-nay, let’s call the whole thing off

Travel Tip #3: When seakayaking, make sure you choose someone besides your spouse for a partner.

The twilight sea kayakers

After our adventures in southeast Australia, we drove up the coast to Freycinet (pronounced Frayseenay) National Park, one of the most gorgeous places on earth. Imagine turquoise water, white sand beaches, exotic forests, mountains made up of jumbled granite rocks, and most of it removed from civilization’s easy access. Now that’s my kind of place!

Wineglass and Honeymoon Bays at Freycinet Park

 

 

It was at this juncture that our trip became a bit more “balls to the walls” as Doug put it, and after a three-hour drive we hiked five hours up a mountain, across two beaches, and through the forest just in time for another dinner of fish and chips (Doug’s favorite food) at Coles Bay.

Wineglass Bay Lookout

At Wineglass Bay Beach

A wild wallaby on the trail

The next day we hiked to the top of Mount Amos in the morning, and then scheduled a twilight sea kayaking adventure across Honeymoon Bay.

Hanna hikes with her borrowed toque (Canadian), beanie (Aussie), or hat (American)

At the top of Mt. Amos

This went well, except that we have never sea kayaked before, and my driving skills annoyed Doug so much that he used up his quota of dirty looks for the trip.

We managed not to bicker too much (I mostly laughed hysterically every time he gave me a look for steering us in the opposite direction from where we were supposed to go) but Doug mentioned to our guide that when he used to guide whitewater rafting trips the guides called the double kayaks the “divorce boats.” She laughed and said she’d witnessed some awful fights in Honeymoon Bay and actually had couples ask to switch partners during the tea break half-way through the 3.5 hour trek.

The back paddler in a touristy sea kayak steers the boat not with her paddle, but with her feet. You press the right peddle to go right and the left peddle to go left. Or, if you’re me, you press the left to go right, realize that you’ve done the wrong thing, overcorrect and nearly tip the boat while out at sea. If you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, this might not be the position in the boat for you. 

The front paddler in a sea kayak sets the rhythm of paddling and generally tries to keep the boat going forward. I was decent at this except that I kept dumping shovel-full buckets of sea water on Doug when I brought my paddle up and out of the water and he wasn’t too keen on that experience either. So we switched spots during the break, and paddled in last because of my terrible steering skills. 

Sigh. You just can’t be naturally talented at everything.

They might have to rename Honeymoon Bay  Divorce Bay if they keep offering kayak trips for couples across it. Don’t try this at home.