Kayaking the Waves, River and Smooth Waters at Patterson Lakes

When you can not swim well and cannot see well –  Kayaking becomes a whole new kind of adventure. But what is life without adventures? “Boring!” I say, so off we go to Patterson Lakes for an afternoon of fun.

Elly collected me from home in the Venture Vibe bus and off to Patterson Lakes we drove. The hour drive gave us time to get to know each other a little better. With a stop for some much needed coffee and time to let the rain clouds float away we arrived and got all suited up in life jackets and I got to wear my aqua shoes for the first time.  Yes, I am fascinated by aqua shoes –  they are like slippers for the water and save your feet from getting all sand between your toes and stepping on nasty sharp things.

Into the Kayaks – I had never done this before and the initial shwoosh into the water was a little scary. I soon found good balance and we used the dual kayak so I could paddle and Peter from Venture Vibe could steer. No need to have a crash on my first adventure! Safety first.

Kayaking the waves at Patterson Lakes

We headed up the river and into the shallow waves of the ocean, which was very exciting. The waves started to get a little too large so we headed back through the river to the smooth sailing in the lakes. After a stop for lunch we repeated the whole adventure again, with less wave action from the ocean as it was quite choppy by that time.

How accessible was this adventure?

So how do I rate Kayaking as an Accessible Adventure?  Simply put, the crew from Venture Vibe took the time to work out my personal and individual capacity and what I wanted to get from the experience and how they could deliver this safely. They adapted well to what I needed and what I could manage myself as well as when they needed to provide more guidance.

After a long day  I was exhausted and happy to climb back into the Venture Vibe bus for the trip home.

Being an NDIS provider has made Venture Vibe more aware of the needs of clients and the different abilities that everyone can bring.

I have to recommend this as an Accessible Adventure and will definitely be returning to the water to have more Kayaking Accessible Adventures soon.

If you would like to experience an Accessible Adventure with VentureVibe you can find them here.