I finished my university degrees and started a job in Western Queensland, away from the coast.  I took my kayak with me.  The only place local to the town I was in, Barcaldine, was a very small stretch of the Alice River where a weir had been built.  The stretch of water was only a couple of hundred meters long and I only paddled it a few times.  This river, the Alice, is seasonal, so only runs when it is raining an extended time and when it runs you would have to be the best-ever white water paddler to try it; it is like those Olympic slalom courses.  The nearest stretch of river of a decent length was at Longreach, a one hour drive; it, too, was only a dammed (Weir or barrage) section of the Thompson River about three or four kilometres long.  On one occasion I thought the Longreach tourist boat was going to run over me; the driver was not watching where he was going; when I paddled past the bow of this boat one of the tourists yelled out ‘do you want a sandwich’ – we were that close!  There was an inland lake about three hours drive away called Lake Dunn.  

Lake Dunn

Road to Lake Dunn - This is as nice as it gets out West Queensland as the scenery is usually very uninspiring.

This is the Alice, near where I lived it was only a trench a few hundred meters long.

Lake Dunn, Jabiru birds

Lake Dunn at sunset, a water skier pictured.

I went there on two occasions and camped by the lake.  I saw Jabiru birds and other bird life there (I have not seen a Jabiru bird since).  I paddled the perimeter of the lake (quite a distance) and found out how tough my kayak was:  I was paddling through sunken trees, with their tops protruding through the water, when the kayak become stuck on top of a tree limb.  When I leaned forward the kayak rocked forward and when I leaned back the kayak rocked back – so stuck was I that the kayak was turned into a seesaw.  The kayak was unloaded but I had gained weight on my body and weighed 87 kilograms, so the full weight was supported at one point on the hull.  I eventually got off the limb and paddled on.  Lake Dunn is a nice place to visit, considering the area, and I only wish I came more often before I moved to Rockhampton after one year.