 | The trip down the west coast started rather differently to usual. Everyone was somewhat nervous about the sea conditions in this exposed area. However our first problem was getting to the launching spot. Cecily's Datsun was a bit low slung for sandy tracks. |
 | With a bit of help from Jeff's Pajero, we soon had the Datsun through the short, sandy spot over the sand dunes. Now all we had to worry about was what the sea conditions would be like? |
 | Before we set off down the coast I searched for some quite rare aboriginal rock carvings that I had read about. Sundown Point is one of only a few places in Tasmania where these could be found. |
 | We put our kayaks in the small creek that flowed down the beach to save carrying them. The intention was to head south down towards Temma Harbour and beyond, depending on weather and sea conditions. |
 | We watched for the pattern of waves hitting the beach to see if we could avoid the big ones. We had four people on this trip, Laurie in the extended North Sea Tourer, Toby and I in the double and Ian, a relative newcomer, in a North sea Tourer. |
 | With the video camera in the front cockpit I was hoping for some good footage on this trip, previous trips had been on calm water. I was not going to be disappointed. I was soon drenched by a few waves as we pushed out through the surf. |
 | Ian had a bit of difficulty getting off the beach. North Sea Tourers, with a hogged keel, often turn sideways to the waves when still at the waters edge. He seemed quite confident as we set off down the coast. |
 | It wasn't long afterwards that we turned around to see Ian in the water alongside his kayak. He had got caught up in some long kelp and capsized while trying to free himself. It didn't take long to get him back in his kayak. |
 | After rounding the first point Toby found that the electric bilge pump wasn't working. This was very unusual as they are very reliable. We landed and found that one terminal had come loose, probably on the rough trip along the track into the beach. |
