Day 8

Horseshoe Island to Warm Bay. Departed 09:30 am, landed 12:20 pm.

Really calm and cool to start but steadily got warmer. From Horseshoe Island we cut straight across to O'Donnell River instead of the nearest mainland shore because it was so calm. The water was a rich blue and reflected sun. Sunny and bug free.

Early lunch at mouth of the O'Donnell river on a gravel bar. There was a lot a deadfall in the river that created engaging sculptures. We explored the area for a while but could have spent more time. The water here was a much lighter blue.

We took the paddle into Warm Bay slowly as neither of us wished to end the trip. It was very busy at the Warm Bay boat launch, we enjoyed the excuse to take our time getting off the water. Afterwards we went to the Warm Springs for refreshing swim before heading back to town, pleasantly surprised that we had the place to ourselves, albeit with a big RV trailer parked closer than we'd prefer. It was windy so we didn't dally at the springs long.

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Got home a few hours later to find it happily in one piece and the kids happy enough with each other.