Getting up to find the forecast headwind had arrived way ahead of schedule we took our time taking down and packing up camp and we ready to start loading the gear into the kayaks at 9.00am
View of Wirritin campsite (13kms) from the water
As usual I was the last to take to the water - at 9.23am
and off we go
One creature still in abundance - the water dragon. Only two goanna spotted and no possums invading the camp this trip, tho' I did hear some possum squabbling across the river in the wee small hours.
Casaurina's killed during the flood.
L hugged the edge to avoid the wind as much as possible which meant he had lots of 'whoops' moments.
Paddling the gorge was still awe inspiring
We pulled in at the 10.7km camp on what was left of the tiny beach at 10.06am for our 1st leg stretch.
S&R did an explore of the campsite and declared it still in pretty good nick. At 10.16am we took to the water again.
Another water dragon giving S the evil eye for disturbing it's peace
We pulled in for our 2nd leg stretch at 10.50am and to look for the sunglasses S lost on the paddle up river, departing at 11.20am
Some water still running off the escarpment after last evenings storm
We pulled in for our 3rd leg stretch at 12.07pm for 5-10mins.
Paddling on through the magnificent scenery
In some areas up the walls there was no regeneration on the trees.
At 1.00pm we stopped at the bottom of Bullan Gap again for lunch and to continue the sunnies search.
Leaving lunch at 1.28pm we wove our way through some burnt remains of the 'ghost forest'.
The headwind having strengthened there was no stopping paddling to take pics and the cameras didn't come out again until our 5th and last stop at the head of Tom's Gully at 2.38pm,
where we we waited for 40 or so minutes hoping the breeze would abate. With no sign of it doing so we debated whether to move to the campsite and stay the night or to push on. Tired as we were, the thought of unpacking the boats, erecting tents seemed a tad daunting - the thought of a motel bed in Nowra was much more appealing. L clinched the deal when he lied and told us we only had a kilometre to go. So about 3.20pm we took to the water for the last time and paddled out of the bay and into the wind.
After paddling for what seemed like miles we passed a 1km to the dam wall sign and we realised we had been deceived!!!! We did briefly think about mutiny and letting the wind blow us back to Tom's Gully but the thought of hot showers, real beds and good Chinese stiffened our resolve and we slogged on.
At 4.04pm only 40 or so metres to go for these two and about 100 for L in Big Red :)
By 4.30pm we had the boats unpacked and most of the gear up.
And by 5.15pm we had the boats loaded, had changed and were ready to go. L,R and I stopped to check out the dam wall and the Shoalhaven River below. The portage track down to the river had a NSW Water closed sign on it without explanation and being too pooped to walk down and have a look we don't know if the track itself or the launch site is the cause of the closure.
V, upon getting mobile coverage managed to secure rooms for us at the Balan Village Motel in Bomaderry, where we stayed on the way up and dinner at the adjoining Chinese was as good as we remembered.
Trip Notes: See Shoalhaven Gorge paddle, October 2017
Day 1: approx 5hrs 30mins
Day 3: approx 6hrs 45mins
Total paddled: 28.75kms
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