Talk about kayak journey inspired by Killcare resident
The Hardys Bay Residents' Group will host a talk by Ms Sandy Robson who has kayaked from Germany to Australia.
The journey took five years and was inspired by a German adventurer, Mr Oskar Spek who did the same voyage in the 1930s and eventually came to live in Killcare.
Ms Robson will be recounting the story of her dangerous journey, by single kayak.
Her presentation will be held at the Church Hall, Araluen Rd, Hardys Bay at 7pm on Friday, March 17.
Residents' group member Mr Quentin Munro said: "During the Depression in 1932, an out-of-work German adventurer called Oskar Speck, set out in a folding kayak from Ulm on the Danube River on a journey that would last seven years.
"It was his original intention just to paddle to Cyprus, but the travel bug and the sense of adventure got him and he decided to kayak to Australia.
"It took several kayaks and seven years, but he eventually landed in Australian waters.
"By 1939, the war had broken out, so on arrival as a German, and flying a Swastika on his kayak, he was interned as a potential spy.
"Oskar eventually came to live at Killcare, overlooking Hardys Bay, and built a stunning home on Scenic Rd (now called Grumaldi).
"Inspired by Oskar Speck's amazing journey, Ms Robson, from Western Australia, has just finished retracing the Speck route across the world by kayak.
"It took her five years but on the way she set several records including: first woman to circumnavigate Sri Lanka by kayak; first woman to kayak the coast of India; first woman to kayak the coast of Bangladesh; first woman to kayak the coast of Papua New Guinea.
"She paddled across the Indonesian Archipelago, paddled the Straights of Malacca and the south east Sumatra Coast; and paddled the Myeik Archipelago, Myeanma.
"Her next journey is to spend a year writing the book that Oskar Speck never got to write.
"Her book will be a compilation of her own journey from Germany to Australia, but interspersed with stories from Oskar Speck."
Media release, 1 Mar 2017
Quentin Munro, Hardys Bay Residents Group