![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/PastedGraphic-1_81547_tn-1.jpg?_t=1774479810\")
<\/p>\nMORE than four decades after pushing off from Queenscliff on what is still regarded as one of the most extraordinary small-boat journeys ever attempted, legendary sea kayaker Paul Caffyn has returned to where it\u00a0all began.<\/p>\n
On 28 December, 1981, the New Zealander launched from the shores of Queenscliff in a single West Greenland-style kayak, setting out to circumnavigate mainland Australia.<\/p>\n
Over 365 days he paddled about 15,000km, travelling in tough conditions that included tropical cyclones, long stretches of remote coastline where there was no possibility of landing and circling\u00a0tiger sharks.<\/p>\n
The memories are still vivid.<\/p>\n
“The cyclone was moving eastwards across Cape York and the only time I could hear radio forecasts was when it was dark,” Caffyn said.<\/p>\n
“I heard that there were two cyclones in the offing, and I can still picture myself in the tent reading \u2013 the only thing I had to fill the time was an elderly Reader’s Digest \u2013 but the island started going underwater.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He remembers the howl of the wind, the rising sea and watching a stunted casuarina tree in the middle of the island getting battered along with him.<\/p>\n
But his most eventful night came when he reached the Zuytdorp Cliffs in Western Australia. With nowhere to land, he had to paddle\u00a0continuously for 34 hours to clear the 160km stretch.<\/p>\n
“That was something I did not know if I could do when I first started out,” Caffyn admits. “I could barely eat, I could barely keep food down, I was so nervous because this was make\u00a0or break.”<\/p>\n
If he couldn’t clear the cliffs, he said, the journey was over. He set out with a packet of Iced Vovo biscuits, an orange drink and No-Doz tablets, and took Lomotil to keep his\u00a0bowels dormant.<\/p>\n
“I got caught by a cold front that wasn’t forecast off the backs of cliffs and it roared in,” Caffyn said.<\/p>\n
“It’s pitch dark. I can’t see anything. I’m surfing out of control in front of these raging seas. I’m bracing from side to side to stay upright. I’m using the rudder pedals of the deep draft rudder on the stern to keep my bow from smashing into the cliffs.”<\/p>\n
But a swell rose underneath him and pushed him toward the breaking zone at the base of the cliffs.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/654238588_1555002446_62458.jpg\")