Friday 2 February 2018 Narrawallee and Croobyar Creeks

After our overnight sojourn at the Pigeon House Motel in Ulladulla (thank you V for finding and booking it) G took R off for a romantic breakfast down at the harbour whilst the rest of us forced down muesli in our rooms.  V&S then took off to buy some lunch - L&I had some left over rolls from yesterday's lunch (thoughtfully provided by R who had made an early trip to Bazzas on our behalf) - whilst L and I hitched up the trailer and extracted ourselves from the motel car park.

We met up at end of Matron Porter Drive overlooking Narawallee Inlet around 9.15am. Under a leaden sky and unpromising drizzle we unloaded the boats and carried them to the top of the walkway down to the water. There we loaded them with the usual paraphernalia and from there carried them down the ramp and launched one by one into the incoming super High Tide.

L, with the steadying hand of G, the last to launch at 9.46am. By this time the drizzle had disappeared and it was warming up.

We have all fallen in love with this submerged ramp with handrails method of launching

We waved farewell to G and turned around to follow our esteemed leader - but where is he off too? That looks suspiciously like surf in the distance - aren't we meant to be paddling UP the creek??

Declining  to follow L's lead the rest of up and across the inlet

R&I found this lead into the mangroves impossible to resist

Rejoining the others a little further on

The water was gorgeous, crystal clear ; lots of flathead and other fish spotted in and around spectacular underwater 'garden beds' made up of several different seaweeds. Beautiful.

Nearing the entrance to the High Tide shortcut

Dutifully, we follow our leader, distracted by the clear water and the tide pushing us along

 Only to find ourselves after 150m or so in a dead end. We retraced our path. Espying another lead I'm told to check it out

It seems to be definitely going somewhere

Its a big King Tide again

Ahh, there is the main branch ahead - we've made it through the shortcut

Reflections, while I wait to see if the 'others' have followed me

 Yes, here they come

About .4km after rejoining the main creek we turned left into Croobyar Creek and shortly after (at approx 10.50am) pulled in for morning tea having paddled 3.7km (including the 1st abortive shortcut). Exiting the boats was a bit tricky with the steep sides and L coached us in a new method of getting from the boats straight onto the bank. Lets just say, that for some of us, it is not a dignified means of egress and depends upon a lot of help from your friends - but it can be done

Site of morning tea, sadly with a no camping sign as we are still in the Narrawallee Reserve

20mins later and after some discussion of how to get back onto the water, with the persuasion and encouragement of L we went for seal launches (at least, I think that is what they are called). In this case V opts for a reverse seal!

Success - it works.

I was the last and managed to launch myself, despite a few wobbly moments, successfully.
Chuffed feelings all round.

By the time we were all back on the water the last of the cloud was disappearing and it was fast turning into a beautiful sunny day.

Soon after we were back on the water we espied this Dollar Bird - there were either lots of them or this one kept following us up the creek.

Continuing up the creek

Next highlight was a U-bend.  Looking across to where we had come from

Water detail

Breaking out into farmland. After turning the bend ahead

The obstacles started

And about 1km further on and 2.6km from our morning tea stop, the limit of our paddle was reached - a weir across the creek beside a manky farm. The fresh water on the other side was about 3 feel lower than we were and looked fairly manky as well.

Back tracking, negotiating the obstacles

Unlike yesterday, we had lots of intimate moments!

At 12.35pm and .56km short of where we took our 1st break, we stopped for lunch.  R discovered a huge huntsman had taken up residence in her chair - it was seriously attracted to R and it took quite some time for it to sink in that she was not reciprocating the feeling and it submitted to been taken away. After which  we settled down to a leisurely hour long lunch.

By the time we took to the water again, the level had dropped 6 inches and we had the outgoing tide assisting us on our return paddle - again L had got the times spot on!

There is that Dollar Bird again

Back in Narrawallee Creek  we missed the entrance to the high tide short cut and so entered some new territory. Clear water, sandy bottom interspersed with grass swathes and smaller mixed seaweed gardens; lots of fish - heaps of whiting, big and small. Fantastic

The outgoing tide sweeping us along

Shortly after the last photo we entered the inlet. With the tide rushing out there was no longer enough water to cut across the top of the inlet and we had to follow the main channel around then paddle across the outgoing tide to our egress point - a potentially hazardous exercise - which meant no time for pics.  EXCEPT for V, who thought 'bugger that' and clung to the western shore of the inlet and found a way around and back to the ramp. By 2.30pm our paddle was over. The ramp was now well and truly out of water and there was plenty of exposed sand on which to leave our boats as we carried them one by one back up the ramp and onto the grass, where we unpacked them before carrying them to the trailer for loading.
V giving R an 'assist' as she ties her boat on.

Shortly after we parted ways; R, L&I homeward bound, S&V off to Batemans Bay for another Indian dinner. We stopped on our way home for a Hayden's Pie - they are pretty damn good, and then again at Bodalla for an icecream. A yummy end to a great day's paddling.

Trip Notes:
Put In/Take Out: Matron Porter Drive Reserve
High Tide: 11.17am - 2.0m
12.5kms
4hrs 45mins