How's it going hive?
We went down to Brunswick Heads which is just over the Queensland border into New South Wales.
The journey is about a two hour drive from home. So we packed up the car on Saturday morning then hit the road.
Our mission was to make our way down to Brunswick Heads to compete in a 10 kilometre stand up paddle board race down the Brunswick River.
Starting at Heritage Park in Mullumbimby and finishing at the Terrace park in Brunswick Heads.
Now a little back story of my stand up paddle board history-
I have only tried stand up paddle boarding once in my life and that was a couple of months back while we were at Brown Lake on Stradbroke Island.
And I probably covered about a whopping 20 meters in distance on the paddle board. So what could possibly go wrong in a 10 kilometre race haha.
Now a bit more info about the Mullum2brunz race.
This was the 11th annual Mullum2brunz paddle! And you can paddle the 10 k journey on any type of floating device.
Canoes seemed to be a popular floating device along with stand up paddle boards aswell as dragon boats.
There is prizes up for grabs for those enthusiasts who set the fastest time, but we entered the fun paddle.
Each year the event attracts over 1000 paddlers and this year was no different.
The event raises funds for the Brunswick Surf life saving club and Marine rescue Brunswick.
Now we arrived in Brunswick Heads in the afternoon and headed straight to the pub to start training our elbows for the big race tomorrow.
After a great night out we were all up early to head to the start line of the 10 KMS paddle.
We signed in then lined up to get into the water.
Now the moment I got to the waters edge the realisation of what I'm about to go through just kicked in. It's winter and I'm going to try and paddle board 10km down a river. Sure I've got this... haha.
I put the board into the water then jumped onto it with the finesse of a baby elephant taking its first steps. I was so wobbly on the board and was afraid to fall into the freezing cold water.
Once I finally got my balance I noticed about 20 other people that were behind me in line had already got into the water and were off down the stream. Obviously this wasn't their first rodeo.
I eventually got the hang of it and started to cruise down the river. Taking in the surroundings while other floating device enthusiasts passed me.
There was one guy who had his dog on his paddle board with him which was pretty cool.
As we made our way down the river we passed under some bridges.
At one point Dennis got a bit unstable and quickly checked out how cold the water was haha.
It didn't take long for him to dry off.
We slowly made our way down the river until we passed the place we were staying at.
And some pelicans chilling on the rocks.
Now we eventually made it to the mouth of the two rivers that meet at the ocean.
We were going with the tide the whole time so the river slowly took us to the ocean. But the last 500 meters we had to go up stream against the tide and man it sure was a struggle.
Every paddle we forced our way up stream. It probably would have been quicker to jump off the board and walk it through the water.. But that's not what we are here for.
Passing the pub, and under the first bridge, we were on the home straight to the finish line.
There was a bit of a crowed on the bridge at the finish line and this is where Renee and Karina were waiting for us. So we powered through and finally past the finish line with my new personal best 2 hours and 10 Min!!
It sure was a great morning on the river, now it was time to hit the pub for a well earnt beer and breakfast.
We will definitely come back next year and I'll see if I can beat my new record haha.
Thanks for stopping by and happy travels!