It took an hour to drive from Nowra up to our launching site at the Tallowa Dam Wall. First we unloaded the boats and stuffed them full of our camping gear, clothes, food and water (9litres - most of which we used) etc. We then wheeled them down to the water. After returning the wheels to the car and moving it to the car park and a last loo stop we were ready to launch.
We pushed off at 10.35am, an hour and a half later than planned. In no time at all, we had stopped paddling and were gobsmacked by the surrounds
and heading for that narrow slot in the trees.
The birdsong was continuous as we paddled along and lyrebirds abounded, their repertoire rolling out across the water.
It was all so huge, and we had it all to ourselves. It was an amazing experience.
It was after 1.00pm when we stopped for lunch. Our rate of progress hadn't been what we'd planned, in fact I don't think it would have been possible to go any slower.
Pull out points are few and far between up the Shoalhaven, but we found this shady spot for lunch.
After lunch we paddled until 2.30pm when we realised that we weren't going to get anywhere near as far as we had planned and that we should stop at the next available campsite.
We paddled on and found a campsite (2nd on the left after leaving the dam wall on the map below).
And joy of joys, we discovered this campsite had a loo, discretely tucked away in the bush.
Unpacking and setting up camp took quite a while and we were just sitting down to have a rest when we heard the whap whap whap of a helicopter drawing close. Soon we could see it coming up the gorge below the level of the top of the cliffs (in between to two dead trees).
As it arrived opposite us we could see they were lobbing something out of it at regular intervals. Our first thought was incendiaries for a fuel reduction burn as we had seen a lot of smoke as we had driven north.
I was a bit twitchy until, after awhile when no tell tale smoke appeared, we deduced that they were aerial baiting.
The last of the sun, for us. Looking up the river
Directly across the river
And looking back down the river.
We managed to scrounge enough wood to have a fire for a few hours. And dinner that night was one of Guy's curries that we had frozen (which worked very well) with instant noodles. It was yum.
We were in bed by 9.00pm, both slightly dreading the night ahead, but the new sleeping mat over the top of the old self inflating one worked a treat and we were both more comfortable than in a lot of beds.
Next morning was clear and a little chill in the air, it wasn't until after 9.00 that the sun reached us.
We had a leisurely breakfast, took advantage of the loo and discussed what we would do. Our options were to a) pack up and head back, b) pack up and paddle further up river and c) leave the camp in situ and go for a paddle upstream. Neither of us had the slightest desire to do a), weren't too keen on taking down the camp, packing into heaps of little packages and stuffing them back in the kayaks, so C it was.
We took to the water with great excitement. Looking forward to scouting ahead for future trips. The first couple of hundred metres was okay, a little breezy. However when we paddled around a slight bend the wind felt like a full on gale. Paddling became really hard work and a matter of survial when some strong gusts blew us sideways towards submerged trees. At one point I was sweep and draw stroking as hard as I could and I was still being blown sideways toward a clump of submerged trees. I got past them with a foot to spare - very unnerving. I was praying that L was having the same trouble as me and was very relieved when he called a halt and said we should return to camp. We had only gone a couple of kms. Returning we stayed well out away from the trees and literally got blown back to camp, only having to do a bit of steerage. We were back in less than 20mins.
Heading back and out of the worst of the wind
It was with great relief that we saw our little camp.
And realised what a sheltered sunny spot it was.
We had a very lazy afternoon. The hardest work was foraging for more firewood. We whiled away the rest of the day enjoying the sun, reading, drinking tea, watching birds and listening to their song, especially the lyrebirds that we got glimpses of in the bush to the sides of our camp (and who kept up a continuous serenade). It was idyllic. When I was collecting firewood I saw stood still for awhile and from the one spot saw four lyrebirds.
Dinner that night was instant noodles with stirfried fresh veg. Not as delicious as Guy's curry, but still pretty good.
Next morning we packed up camp and as we were doing so we had a visitor. The tree in front of him was the one L was sitting under in a previous pic.
He completely ignored us as we went back and forth with loads to pack into the kayaks. He only disappeared when another helicopter, an army one this time, came screaming up the gorge, even lower and far faster than the one from the previous afternoon. We were both a little regretful about leaving and very much looking forward to when we could come back.
Heading back
Around the last bend and there is our pull out point across the water.
Not only do we want to go back up the gorge, but there is the rest of the lake to explore as well
:)
Home at last and that is all the stuff we packed into two kayaks!
Two things we found that detracted from our experience. The uncomfortable stools and the low tent.
Both of which we have now rectified - light weight aluminium directors chairs, and a tent we don't have to crawl into and can stand up in. Can't wait to field test them.
Trip notes
Put in/Pull out: Tallowa Dam wall
6kms to campsite
2nd day 4kms
No comments:
Post a Comment