On Boxing Day, we were invited onto a boat by Sandra and Ian, Kevin's parents. They have a lovely speedboat which we launched into the river close to their house. The river is very wide, winding north alongside the coast, between banks of tea trees and eucalyptus. Unfortunately, because of the recent fires, the banks were full of rather sad charred trunks, some areas still smoking. Further up the vegetation started getting green again, though, and we stopped briefly by some unspoilt mangroves to haul up a crab pot which had been left there earlier in the week. Kind of like a lobster pot, seeing the two crabs caught in it frantically claw their way away from the entrance and Ian's hand made me once again vow to give up all forms of meat. Anyone who saw their little eyes searching for an escape would never again claim that some animals have no fear or pain. Luckily, one was a female and the other a juvenile, so both were released back into the river. We continued on up the river and into a wide and very choppy lake.
On the far side of the lake, the bottom suddenly became very shallow and we had to manoeuvre our way between sandbanks to reach the entrance to the network of rivers beyond. Safely past the banks Lisa spotted a ray, languidly making his way along, occasionally scuffling at the sand, hunting, perhaps, or trying to hide himself.
Further up the river, the waters became a deep red, apparently from the tea trees along the banks. Swimming in it reminded me of swimming in Silvermine Dam in Cape Town - MUCH warmer though! It was so warm it was necessary to kick down deep to disturb the cooler waters!
It was a lovely spot to have a picnic lunch, so we did.
Coming back to the shallow lake we passed the sandbanks again, this time covered with little groups of pelicans, clacking their beaks at each other and eyeing us in case we tried anything silly. And it would be silly - those birds are much bigger than Finding Nemo makes them look...
