Friday 9 March 2018 Snowy River - Willis Campground to McKillops Bridge Part 4 Final Day

We had to make a concerted effort to be away early this morning to make it back to Dalgety by 3.00 -3.30pm in order to get to Canberra in time for the celebratory dinner.
Richard packing our boats for our last morning of paddling.

Packed and ready to go

Christian taking to the water. We are reluctant to leave knowing our adventure is soon to end.

A final hitch of the shorts before clambering aboard

More clothing adjustment going on

We head off at 10.00am

Yet more clothing adjustment - maybe our clothes are beginning to stick!

We don't seem to be too keen on paddling today

Another beautiful long pool

L being the last down, Richard heads back to his boat

Lots of chatter at the back

McKillops Bridge, marking the end of our journey, hoves into sight.

Watching a huge old goanna amble across the sand

And this is called spot the Sea Eagle. Richard said there must be something dead nearby to attract both the Sea Eagle and the goanna.

With Alison waiting to greet us, we pulled out short of McKillops Bridge on a rocky beach from which a path led up to the road. Several trips were necessary to get all our gear up to the waiting vehicles.

Alison had laid out an early lunch for us, Pumpkin soup, rolls and plenty of chilled watermelon, all of which went down a treat.

Richard had thoughtfully arranged for a conservationist mate, James Fitzgerald of the Two Thumbs Wildlife Trust to come and drive the four of us and our personal stuff back to Dalgety so we would get there by the time required whilst Alison, Richard and Christian remained behind packing up the rest of the gear.

James drove us back to Dalgety by yet another scenic route, this time via Bonang and Delegate.

Distance paddled 3.6km
Approx 1hr 20mins

For different reasons, the trip exceeded all our expectations. For all of us the lack of 'white water' was a bonus because we hadn't undertaken the trip for 'thrills and spills' - we wanted to quietly paddle the Snowy to access and experience a wild place, a part of the county that we could not otherwise get to. On the other hand, with Richard and Christian on hand to guide and help us the little bits of white water we did encounter became fun. Christians enthusiasm and unflagging energy and Richards experience and depth of knowledge combined to make a terrific team as they shepherded us down the river. We paddled through a far more varied and interesting terrain than I was expecting.

And lastly, the food - flavour, variety and quantity exceeded our expectations; as did the whole camping side of the trip. The lads worked hard to make us as comfortable as possible. And the boats; whilst they were a bit of a pig to paddle on the flat water, they came into their own on moving water, and whether facing the right direction or not (V and I went down quite a few gravel races backward, and annoyingly never got 'stuck' when doing so) they nearly always got us through without mishap (L and I each had an unplanned dismount).

To top it all off, the weather gods smiled upon us and we had perfect weather for whole trip; warm days, cloudless balmy evenings and crisp post midnights, AND astonishingly no mozzies or bugs.

Trip Notes:
Put In: Willis Campground
Take Out: McKillops Bridge
Distance 30.5km
Paddling Time (incl. Morning Tea & Lunch Breaks): 14hrs 10mins

River heights:

Date 2018	Dalgety Weir	Burnt Hut	McKillops Bridge
Tuesday 6/3	.93m (399ml/day)	.11m (198ml/day)
Wednesday 7/3	.91m (369ml/day)	.11 (196ml/day)	.48m
Thursday 8/3	.86m (199m/dayl)	.32 (372ml/day)	.47m
Friday 9/3	.84m (212ml/day)	.26m (313ml/day)	.45m