27 January 2008 
We started this paddle from the small boat ramp beside the Breakfast Creek Wharf complex. Popular with power boat users it does require some patience and good manners as all parties must wait their turns both coming and going. Once launched we headed upstream on the last of the rising tide at around 11.30 AM. Beautiful clear day and the first part of the paddle goes past the Tripcony Slipway. We were the only paddlers on the water and the power boats headed out into the river so we had the creek to ourselves.
The creek skirts the end of Sandgate Road and is hardly scenic, passing the back of the Brisbane City Council bus depot and the businesses build along the creek. We passed two of the most ugly houseboats we have ever seen, as the photo attests. The usual suspects – liveupon boaties – greeted us as they worked on their boats – and after a short paddle we came to the bridge over Hudson Road. A large sign warned “mariners” to be cautious as they passed near the Transapex works over the creek. Whether we qualify as “mariners” in a sea kayak I am unsure but we took the warning. Fifty metres on you pass under a rail bridge and enter into a stretch bounded on both sides by high mangroves. Although the creek passes by the extremely busy Mayne railway yards, you would never have an inkling it is so well hidden from view. We passed under another pair of bridges and then came to a lovely stretch before rounding the bend and seeing the first of the Transapex Tunnel works. From the Inner City Bypass the work looks impressive but from the water it is positively intimidating. The two waste towers are massive and the conveyor belts carrying their burden of waste look massive from the creek.
It is only at this level that you learn how much is being done. As you pass under the conveyor belts you find pylons driven into the creek, widening of Bowen Bridge Road being undertaken and huge steel barriers built to protect the works from the creek flow. Around the Bowen Bridge Road section the Royal Brisbane Hospital comes into view and the creek wends its way eastwards. After all the recent rains the surface was covered in bubbles and a lot of floating debris brought down from Enoggera Creek. Kayakers and canoeists are uniquely placed to appreciate how much benefit the flush of the rains bring. The stagnant flows are revitalised and the waterways take on new life. We were constantly seeing shoals of small bait fish jumping and larger predatory fish chasing their meal. Birdlife was restricted to a bittern (we see one every time we go out), a black duck and little else.
About an hour into the paddle we reached Downey Park where baseball is played and a little later the back of Ballymore Park. From our low position on the creek, Ballymore is a massive structure reaching up with enormous light pylons stretching up into the heavens. Approximately at this point Breakfast Creek merges with Enoggera Creek and the paddle takes you up into Ashgrove. The problem was that we were seriously hungry by now and decided to return to the boat ramp. Had the water been a little cleaner we would have continued and readers of this blog should consider this trip now we have received some extra rain. The extra will have flushed the creek and I think it would be a better paddle. It was still quite enjoyable.
The return trip put us alongside some boaties with a tinnie hauling up crab pots near the bridge off the Inner City Bypass. These guys had a complete disregard for other water users and blasted off past us churning up the creek. Like a champ or kayak just rode the waves hitting us at an oblique angle, never looking like being unsettled. Every trip we take is a revelation of how stable this kayak is, particularly as I removed about 80 mm from the beam when I was building it. Good design, David Payne.
The return trip was uneventful except for the usual crowd at the ramp and a second chance to marvel at bad taste. We loaded the kayak, changed our clothes and went off to have a well-deserved Subway for lunch. Definitely a paddle I will do again, probably after the rains have cleaned out the creek and we can have another look at the progress of the Transapex Tunnel works.
We started this paddle from the small boat ramp beside the Breakfast Creek Wharf complex. Popular with power boat users it does require some patience and good manners as all parties must wait their turns both coming and going. Once launched we headed upstream on the last of the rising tide at around 11.30 AM. Beautiful clear day and the first part of the paddle goes past the Tripcony Slipway. We were the only paddlers on the water and the power boats headed out into the river so we had the creek to ourselves.
The creek skirts the end of Sandgate Road and is hardly scenic, passing the back of the Brisbane City Council bus depot and the businesses build along the creek. We passed two of the most ugly houseboats we have ever seen, as the photo attests. The usual suspects – liveupon boaties – greeted us as they worked on their boats – and after a short paddle we came to the bridge over Hudson Road. A large sign warned “mariners” to be cautious as they passed near the Transapex works over the creek. Whether we qualify as “mariners” in a sea kayak I am unsure but we took the warning. Fifty metres on you pass under a rail bridge and enter into a stretch bounded on both sides by high mangroves. Although the creek passes by the extremely busy Mayne railway yards, you would never have an inkling it is so well hidden from view. We passed under another pair of bridges and then came to a lovely stretch before rounding the bend and seeing the first of the Transapex Tunnel works. From the Inner City Bypass the work looks impressive but from the water it is positively intimidating. The two waste towers are massive and the conveyor belts carrying their burden of waste look massive from the creek.
It is only at this level that you learn how much is being done. As you pass under the conveyor belts you find pylons driven into the creek, widening of Bowen Bridge Road being undertaken and huge steel barriers built to protect the works from the creek flow. Around the Bowen Bridge Road section the Royal Brisbane Hospital comes into view and the creek wends its way eastwards. After all the recent rains the surface was covered in bubbles and a lot of floating debris brought down from Enoggera Creek. Kayakers and canoeists are uniquely placed to appreciate how much benefit the flush of the rains bring. The stagnant flows are revitalised and the waterways take on new life. We were constantly seeing shoals of small bait fish jumping and larger predatory fish chasing their meal. Birdlife was restricted to a bittern (we see one every time we go out), a black duck and little else.
About an hour into the paddle we reached Downey Park where baseball is played and a little later the back of Ballymore Park. From our low position on the creek, Ballymore is a massive structure reaching up with enormous light pylons stretching up into the heavens. Approximately at this point Breakfast Creek merges with Enoggera Creek and the paddle takes you up into Ashgrove. The problem was that we were seriously hungry by now and decided to return to the boat ramp. Had the water been a little cleaner we would have continued and readers of this blog should consider this trip now we have received some extra rain. The extra will have flushed the creek and I think it would be a better paddle. It was still quite enjoyable.
The return trip put us alongside some boaties with a tinnie hauling up crab pots near the bridge off the Inner City Bypass. These guys had a complete disregard for other water users and blasted off past us churning up the creek. Like a champ or kayak just rode the waves hitting us at an oblique angle, never looking like being unsettled. Every trip we take is a revelation of how stable this kayak is, particularly as I removed about 80 mm from the beam when I was building it. Good design, David Payne.
The return trip was uneventful except for the usual crowd at the ramp and a second chance to marvel at bad taste. We loaded the kayak, changed our clothes and went off to have a well-deserved Subway for lunch. Definitely a paddle I will do again, probably after the rains have cleaned out the creek and we can have another look at the progress of the Transapex Tunnel works.
