And Sunday, I went to the great Avon Decent in the Swan Valley River very close to where I live. This is a very popular two day Kayak race where about a thousand kayakers race down the river. From what I hear it was very challenging this year because the river was much higher than previous years which caused lots of rapids to form. There are a number of large rocks that one usually has to navigate around but this wasn’t so much the case this year. The river was raging strong in some areas and kayakers were injured from slaming into the biggest rocks that were above the water line. The area where we were was the roughest water and lots of kayakers tipped over and holding onto their kayak so it wouldn’t wash away. It was incredible how some people were making it through the rapids and other were not so fortunate. If you lost your kayak you had to be a strong swimmer and try to catch up with it, along with hoping it would slow down. I saw a few Kayaks that were really banged up. Most of the kayaks were the really long ones with a rudder and pedals.
After the Kayak race is the motor boat race where these 5 feet aluminum boats with out board motors race over these rocks with one man in the front checking for rocks and the other steering. They sped by so the photos aren’t great.
The best part of this adventure was the bush walk! When you go hiking in Australia it’s a bush walk, and boy did we go through some hairy areas! It was incredible the trees and small streams we crossed to get where we needed to go. It was awesome and I wish any of my good friends could have gone with me! It was a beautiful hike and a beautiful day. I was really fortunate to partake in this Aussie tradition.
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| Avon Decent |