Shoalhaven Gorge 30 November - 2 December 2020 Day 1

Having left Bomaderry about 6.15am and after a stop at Kangaroo Valley to pick up breakfast and coffee we drove through the burnt landscape to Tallowa Dam and had the boats and most of the gear down at the water by 8.35am.

At 9.30am we headed off on our adventure

Water pouring over the dam wall makes for a great infinity pool

The burnt bush was very confronting

No wind and overcast conditions = a perfect paddling day

The gorge entrance lays ahead

Very little to no new growth on the steeper slopes

Tho' this vine is making a vigorous comeback

Vine detail

At the end of the reed bed ahead we turned into Tom's Gully leading to the 1st campsite

 where we stopped at 10.15am for about 10mins for our first leg stretch

Continuing up the gorge.

 Unlike our other two trips there was very little birdsong however

the din of the cicadas cancelled the tinnitus of those who suffer it :)

 

Only the odd remnant of the 'ghost' forest remains - the fire and following floods have wiped most of it out.

at 11.15am we pulled in to an ashy/silty beach for a 15minute break. R&V got bogged exiting their boats and were lucky not to lose their shoes. Lesson relearnt - after fire and flood test the footing with a paddle before getting out of the boat. The rest of us had by chance pulled up on the pebbly strand left by water that had at some stage poured off the escarpment.

A few more lonely survivors of the 'ghost' forest

Somewhere along this stretch is the Monarch camp, about the 7.00km mark, but the floods had changed the banks so much we could not find it.

At 12.15 we pulled in for lunch the mouth of Bullan Gap.

Returning to the water at 1.00pm we headed off to check out the next three campsites: Carringal, unnamed and Throne, a light breeze now helping us along.

The floods had eroded the beaches and left steep sandy banks to each of the sites. Deciding that paddling the extra few k's to Wirritin which had had a large pebble beach would take less effort than lugging our gear up a steep dune we paddled on.

Going through the now mostly submerged rock garden.

Upon reaching Wirritin we discovered it had just enough, now rocky beach on which to pull out. Lugging our gear up to what had once been a grassy flat, we now found it covered in a couple of feet of sand and sprouting a good crop of weeds. The floods had come to within approx 3-4 feet of the loo. By 3.00pm we had the gear up, and tent sites chosen.

R's tent went up in a jiff, our's took a little longer and we won't talk about the other tent - suffice to say a lot of swearing was heard - an accompaniment to the cicada din and courtesy of a pocket phone call after our return I heard mention of a trip to Tent World :)

A convivial evening followed and we went to bed not long after the full moon lit up the bottom of the gorge. 

13kms

5 1/4 hours