Kayaking the Cape Fear River
I remember watching Cape Fear the movie when I was a kid, In Canberra, Australia, I was a real movie buff but that film shook me and afterwards I vowed never to be stuck on a boat on that River as long as I’m alive. Fast forward 30 years and here I am, this Aussie has found his way into the heart of the most special American girl, who then made their way to North Carolina and yep you guessed it paddling kayaks along the Cape Fear River.
I met my wife who was traveling at the time in Melbourne, Australia. We were lucky enough to have spent enough time together that we fell in love. Insert global pandemic and I was living in one of the most locked down cities in the world so we got separated for over 600 days due to Covid. We first got to Wilmington in 2021, it was our reunion and our first trip after our long separation, we had brought 1993 Winnebago and my wife was desperate to show me this place called Wilmington. She had lived there earlier in her life before she travelled to Australia, she was sure I would love it, it had all the hallmarks of the things I love, waterways, beaches and sunshine. She was right, It was love at first sight. Wilmington, Carolina Beach and Surf City in my opinion are the most underrated destinations of the East Coast of America and we’ve RV’d east coast to west coast more than a couple of times and sometimes spending months at a time exploring the great land of America and yet we keep coming back to Wilmington and it’s surrounding area’s.
Whilst I’ve lived here I’ve always been drawn to the Carolina Beach area, not sure why but my work has always taken me to these parts and I’m not complaining.
We got ourselves a place on the inter-coastal waterways lucky enough to be able to launch our Kayaks and explore Masonboro Island the surrounding salt marsh’s and its healthy eco-system. The sun rise is in my opinion possibly the best and most consistently beautiful place to watch a sunrise on earth, it just delivers day after day. I then started as tour guide, taking tours along the Cape Fear river, now I’ve had a lot of jobs in my time, I’m an actor and have worked on sets with great actors in great places, I’ve worked as a carer, farmer, retail, service, roadie just about every industry you can think of but taking kayak tours along the Cape Fear river and inter-coastal waterways definitely is the winner, hence why I started Aussie Yaks. I wanted people to experience what I fell in love with, I wanted to share this incredible love of the local waterways that changed me forever.
I’m so passionate about kayaking the Cape Fear river its become my life. With the healthy eco-system in the area every paddle is different, I’ve had the pleasure of sharing the water with Egrets, Bald Eagles, Tri coloured herons, Turtles, crabs, dolphins and all sorts of fish, one even literally jumped into my Kayak all whilst taking in the most incredible Sunrise or enjoying a cool breeze as the sunsets over the West which is magical.
So, don’t fear the Cape Fear, this brackish waterway is filled with adventure and it’s ready to provide you with memories that will last forever and hey maybe even change your life just as it did mine.
