Paddling on a Saturday again!
Plans were laid to paddle Bermagui River and Nutley's creek. However a guest at lunch on Friday mentioned there was water from bank to bank in the Bega River and L and I pricked up our ears. As soon as the guests departed we jumped in the car and drove to Bega to check out the water level and access at the Tarraganda Bridge. Sure enough the river was flowing and definitely paddlable. There were going to be some tricky sections for us flat water paddlers to negotiate, where water flowed through willows, but it was now or never. Back home plans were redrawn and our fellow paddlers alerted. Unfortunately R, not feeling the best, dropped out upon hearing the plans for the much longer and possibly arduous adventure .
Saturday morning S&V arrived about 9.45am to load the boats onto the trailer and stow their paddling gear in our car. After leaving their car at Mogareeka we drove through Tathra - heaving with Canberrans - to the Tarraganda Bridge on the outskirts of Bega and S&V got their first look at the river.
Sitting in the eddy just upstream of the bridge receiving instructions and cautions from L.
Peeling out into the flow at 10.30am
We were pushed down the river at a reasonable clip, reminders of past floods evident,
and hints of what was to come.
was over and the blood started pumping and the anxiety levels rose as L led us on a twisting route through the willows yelling back instructions.
There were brief respites between the sections of willow choked river bed for which we were most grateful.
After paddling about 2.5kms the chokes cleared and we floated down river, pulling into the first sandbank we found for morning tea. Looking back upstream
We relived the one uh oh moment - in the last choked section L went ahead choosing to follow the main flow of water. He became airbogged on submerged tree trunk and shouted back for the rest of us to head down the narrower lead to the right. We did but then had to make a sharp left hand turn across the current to avoid being pushed onto a clump of small willows. S&V did end up hugging the willows, but after a couple of minutes managed to extricate themselves and join me in the eddy on the left riverbank where we waited for L to get himself off the log, head river right to follow the lead we took and join us in the eddy.
Feeling chuffed that we had made it unscathed, we had our ego's deflated somewhat when an old guy (at least L's age), in a kayak of the vintage where comfort was not a factor, appeared from upstream and told us as he floated past that he regularly paddled the Bega River, had started further upstream than us (where the river is seriously choked) and at this water level, the paddle was a doddle. Further more, he couldn't stop for a chat as he had to get on as his wife would soon be at Mogareeka to pick him up - no rest stops for him then!
Back on the water we passed a water dragon
and soon after, three more
Going past the island that marks the limit of an upstream paddle when the river isn't flowing. It was about here that we lost the discernable push from the river and we
paddled another couple of km's and pulled in for lunch about 1.00pm. V Chose the site, the tiniest, soggiest piece of 'beach' to be found on the Bega River. Naturally, we gave her heaps, 'specially L, who as you know, has been banned from choosing our lunch sites. While we ate it started to drizzle so we donned our rain jackets expecting to get cold as we set off again at 1.25pm.
However the breeze which had sprung up during morning tea died away, it didn't get cold and we
paddled on largely glassy water.
The drizzle came and went. Here 'came' as we went down the back of the island opposite the entrance to Blackfellows Lagoon.
At the beach on the big bend at the end of this strait we pulled in for a quick stretch
before tackling the last leg.
Round the back of the island just upstream of the bridge we passed some pelicans walking on water.
Then it was under the bridge to the beach on river right,
where L and I pulled in and S&V took a quick detour to the entrance. Upon their return they told us the hairiest moment of their day had been toward the entrance where they got caught in the outgoing current. Here they are, ending our paddle at 3.30pm.
Whilst S&L went to retrieve the car and trailer from Tarranganda Bridge, V&I unpacked the boats and then sat, contented, on the now deserted beach, and enjoyed the birds wheeling overhead and the play of light across the inlet. By 4.30pm the cars had returned and we were all packed up and, on my part, having failed to talk anyone into chips (and maybe a bit of fish) we were ready to head home.
Trip Notes:
High Tide at Entrance: 10.34am 1.7ms
River Levels:
Bega River North: 1.04ms (However I think this gauge isn't working as the gauge reading was listed as 1.04ms over 4 days whereas the Kanoona (further upstream) varied from 1.25 - 1.62 over the same period.
Kanoona: 1.52m
18 kms
