News & Events
April 2010 Nymboida (NSW)
It had been 8 years since we’d paddled the Nymboida River in
northern New South Wales. Then our boat of choice was the
Dancer and the level had been low, very low. It was time to
head back to the Nymboida River.
It sounds simple but any trip
in northern New South Wales involving paddlers (and gear) from
Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane is going to be
complicated. Thanks to Paul and Graham for transporting
Paul’s four wheel drive, the club trailer and boats and gear, to and
from Nymboida.
Paul, Anthony, Brandon and I flew to Coffs
Harbour and picked up the hire car. We expected Evan to be
on the flight but a bad case of gastro had laid him low. He
would join us in a couple of days. We then met Graham,
Brendan and Bob Powell, outside the supermarket in Coffs.
It was great to see Bob again. We’d last paddled with Bob
and his wife, Ingrid, on the Franklin River back in 2000.
With
the first rendezvous going well we drove to Nymboida and a place called
The Briary. The place was a huge barn with a bunk house
upstairs, a big kitchen and a comfy lounge area around an open
fireplace. The boys then headed down to the Nymboida Canoe
Centre to get a paddle in on Goolang Creek. Paul was
particularly keen to try out his new boat, a Dagger Nomad.
After
they returned from paddling and Paul declared his new boat a ‘keeper’
went drove down to Coutts Crossing to sample the delights of the
town. According to Brandon Coutts Crossing has the highest
population of single women in NSW. This certainly raised
Brendan’s interest and the pub was definitely an experience.
Back
to our cosy accommodation and a good night’s sleep. The
owner had gone out for the evening leaving her dog behind.
First we experienced the waves of mosquitoes and then the barking
started. Both Brandon and Anthony tried to quieten the
dog. Anthony ended up setting up his tent and sleeping
outside. Eventually the owner arrived home (after midnight)
and the barking stopped. Brendan also had a close encounter
with a bat during the night just to cap it all off.
The next day
we paddled Goolang Creek. The water in the creek actually
comes from the Nymboida River. The water is pumped over the
ridge and powers a hydro plant before flowing down the man made rapids
of Goolang Creek. It’s a great course and great
fun. After a couple of runs we headed off to our base for
the next few days at Dorrigo.
At Dorrigo we were staying at the
Dorrigo Mountain Resort. The caravan/camping area was in a
great location on top of the hill with views over the surrounding green
valleys. However the people running it must be the
Australian cousins of Basil Fawlty. The cabins had a Wild
West theme and we ended up in ‘The Barber Shop’ right next door to the
‘Saloon’. The person who suggested that the cabin slept 6
people must have had a great imagination or been from a family of
dwarfs. Ants quickly invaded our food forcing us to put
everything including muesli in the fridge. Graham had his
throw rope drying line confiscated and Bob was grilled about using
toilet paper to dry his dishes. To top it all off we were
even accused of stealing towels from a line we didn’t even know existed.
It
was Paul’s birthday so he had the choice of dinner venue.
Actually there was no choice really as only the pubs were
open. The food was fine but Paul’s desire for a bottle of
port proved an impossibility as the whole town was closed by 8.30 p.m.
Monday
and our first ‘real’ paddle. We’d decided to start off easy
with the grade 2-3 section of the Nymboida between the highway and
Moonpar Bridge. The river was small at this point and full
of contrasts. The river flowed through a mixture of
farmland and bush. At times it was barely flowing in long
slow pools and at other times it cascaded over rocky drops.
One section was particularly rocky and with the level at 0.7 at
Platypus Flat (minimum level) it was a matter of finding a way
down. A couple of times it was impossible and we had to
portage. Bob’s long boat had no difficulty finding places
to pin. It certainly wasn’t a section I’d be rushing back
to paddle at that level.
We
got back to Dorrigo about mid afternoon with time to check out the
town, including the wood fired bakery, the café with the world’s
smallest motor cycle museum and the antique come junk shop which had
one of everything. Back to the Barber Shop and Evan
arrived. He’d managed to get on a flight to Coffs and had
then got a taxi all the way to Dorrigo!
Tuesday and we’re doing
the next section of the Nymboida River, from Moonpar Bridge to Platypus
Flat. Unfortunately Bob had had to head home.
For the first few kilometres the river was small and the rapids
rocky. Then the Little Murray joins the river and it
changes dramatically. The river broadened out and changed
to large drops over ledges with deep pools in between. The
rapids were mainly good drops of 2 to 3 metres, generally with narrow
chutes or slamming straight into a rock wall. It’s great
fun and the adrenalin flows.
One of the early rapids was a large
drop, with the entire river flowing into a narrow trough, water hitting
a rock wall on the right and to a lesser extent a rock wall on the
left. It’s hard to pick which was to lean as there are lots
of cross currents. There were lots of support strokes, one
roll and then a spectacular tail stand followed by a back loop from
Graham’s boat. It was a theme that Graham’s boat repeated
throughout the trip and had Graham contemplating a new boat.
Another
drop flowed into a rock wall and the river turned 90% to the
right. I thought I’d followed the same line as the others
but I was quickly upside down, washed into a rock and then lost my
paddle, wedged into a rock below the water. A swim was the
inevitable result. Eventually the paddle washed out and I
was back in business.
Paul made another long rapid with some
nasty drops hard work. He was trying to recover Anthony’s
boat when he got into difficulties above the rapid. He
ended up having a nasty swim down the rapid.
Yet
another rapid was a wide drop with lots of rocks. It was
going to be difficult to paddle it without ending up landing on some
rocks. There was one small ledge jutting out which gave a
launch pad over the rocks. As long as you had someone to
point to the spot you were fine.
There were so many great rapids
and they just kept coming. Finally the Bielsdown River came
in on the right and it wasn’t long before we arrived at Platypus
Flat. The level at the gauge was at about 0.7
metres. I say about as the critical part of the gauge was
missing.
It had taken us 6 hours to paddle the section and we
were stuffed. We headed back to Dorrigo and Sam’s Chinese
Kitchen, in a back room of the lower pub. We had had to go
to Sam’s as Paul found a dish called ‘Phat Prik’ on their
menu. This seemed to amuse the blokes
considerably. Actually phat prik and the rest of the food
were pretty good.
The next morning, Wednesday and the first task
was to repair boats after yesterday’s paddle. Brandon had
lost a bung out of the back of his boat but a cork and some duct tape
solved the problem. Brendan’s problem was a bit more
serious. He’d bought the boat second hand with a repair
underneath the seat. The repair hadn’t been great and it
was now leaking.
We packed up our gear and then headed into town
for Brendan to get some repair equipment. We were undecided
as to what or whether to paddle that day. We were all
stuffed and the only real option was the Little Murray to the Nymboida
and then on to Platypus Flat, another big paddle. It had
also rained heavily overnight and there was a possibility that the
Little Murray would be too high. In the end we decided to
set up camp at Platypus Flat.
As we drove to Platypus Flat it
was apparent that the rivers had risen. When we reached the
flat the gauge showed that the river had doubled in height.
It was now 1.4 metres and the calm pool at Platypus Flat was now a
brown flowing river.
Anthony and Brendan got to work fixing
Brendan’s boat while the rest of us decided to go for a
walk. We headed to the nearby rainforest walk.
The trees were fantastic and we were enjoying the walk until the call
of ‘leeches’ went up. Tiger leeches covered our
feet. While we were distracted removing the leeches a large
tree crashed down where we’d been walking a short time
earlier! A quick visit to the rainforest information centre
near Dorrigo followed before we said good bye to Paul. He
had to drive back to Coffs to catch a flight to Melbourne the next day.
Thursday
and the start of the three day trip down the Nymboida River from
Platypus Flat to the junction with the Little Nymboida.
Evan and Brandon headed off early from our camp at Platypus Flat to
meet an old Whitehorse member, Sean Marler, now based in Brisbane, at
Nymboida. Sean was joining us for the paddle.
It was great to have Sean with us. Apart from being a top
bloke, he’d paddled the river many times before. Evan,
Brandon and Sean then picked up our shuttle driver, Alistair and headed
back to Platypus Flat.
They arrived about 12.30.
Decisions were made about what was going down the river and what was
staying in the car and boats were packed. Alistair’s
constant question was ‘I’m now 200 metres down the road, what have you
forgotten?’ Of course there were several things but it was
too late then!
After a quick lunch we set off. The
river was still at about 1.4, higher than Sean had paddled it
before. It was going to be a great trip.
After
a few fun warm up rapids we reached the big grade 5s. First
was Lucifer’s Leap Falls. It was great to have Sean with us
as at this level the eddy for the portage was small and hard to
see. We portaged river right and paused to take in the
thundering mass of white water. We entered the river below
the falls and Brandon quickly flipped over in the turbulent
water. We rescued his boat and paddle, as Brandon struggled
to the bank through a mass of foam. At one stage I thought
he was going to drown in it. He certainly looked quite a
sight covered from head to toe in foam.
The grade 5 Rock Bar
rapid was immediately below. We portaged river left,
hauling boats over rocks and lowering them into a pool before
re-entering the river.
A few more fun rapids
before we reached the last of the big grade 5s, Devil’s Cauldron
Falls. The falls are in two parts, Devil Part 1 and Devil
Part 2. We pulled out above Devil Part 1 and walked down
the portage track to have a look at the rapid. The first
part looked messy. Sean saw a line and stuck to
it. Anthony and Brandon portaged around both parts, while
the rest of us gave Devil Part 2 a go. Sean had said to
follow the main flow as it did an ‘S’. The flow was big but
we all managed to get down although there were a few big support
strokes. After nailing the upper section Sean got cocky and
decided to go for a ‘gut run’ despite our indications that this wasn’t
a good idea. It wasn’t a good idea and he ended up swimming.
Not
far below Devil’s Cauldron Falls we camped at Pebble Beach Campsite on
river right. The campsite was small and decidedly
cosy. However the rocks nearby were a great spot to cook
on, although you did have to watch that you didn’t sit in a rock pool,
after more heavy rain during the day. Graham liked the
rocks so much he threw dinner over them. Fortunately his
‘food buddy’ Evan didn’t seem to mind eating the recovered dinner.
A
dry night and we wake to a fine Good Friday. It’s straight
into the long pretty Elkhorn Passage Rapid. Next is the
Elbow, another grade 3. Then a couple of easy rapids before
we reached the calm pool at Codhole. We stopped to look at
the campsite at Codhole. A huge goanna had made the spot
it’s own and didn’t appear at all disturbed by our
presence. Brandon made the big decision to pull out of the
trip. Codhole has the only road access before the end so
hopefully he’ll manage to hitch a lift back to Nymboida. If
not he was up for at least one night by the river and perhaps may find
religion.
I gave Brandon a consoling hug and then we set
off. Not long after Codhole we reach the grade 4 Waterfall
Rapid. The Waterfall is one of the few rapids I actually
remember. This time however there’s a metre more water
coming down the river. I can see that Sean is a bit
uncertain about paddling it but we decide to give it a go.
Of the first four boats down, there were 3 swimmers and the forth had
to roll! So perhaps we should have portaged.
After
dusting ourselves off we head down to the next large rapid, the
Alley. Graham provides the entertainment with a big tail
stand and back flip in his long boat. He swims and we can
see him thinking about that new boat.
After the Alley there is a
stretch of easy rapids and pools. Then we enter a section
with a number of good rapids. The first is S Bend and it is
a matter of keeping on the main flow as the river twists and
turns. Next is the Gully. At this level there
is a chicken chute down river right, which Anthony sensibly
takes. The rest of us paddle down river left to look at the
line down the Gully proper. The line is a long slide down
into a mass of confused water at the bottom. The ride is
great fun but most of us end up upside down in the confused water
resulting in a few rolls and one swim.
The Pinnacle, Kelly’s
Corner, Hidden Elbow and the Drop rapids follow in close succession
before we come to the grade 4-5 Liftover Rapid. The rapid
is a long with lots of large boulders requiring a series of moves to an
eddy on river left above the last drop. Evan led the way
down the rapid and then positioned himself on the rocks above the last
drop, ‘Liftover rock’ itself. Evan called the line but I
mistook his directions and ended up going over Liftover
rock. The rock forms a big frowning hole. For a
short time I’m in limbo, not going forward and not going
backwards. I know what is going to happen and I try
desperately to paddle away from the hole. The inevitable
happens and I’m sucked back into the hole. Briefly I
managed to side surf the hole before ending up upside down.
I pull the pin and now I’m being trashed in the hole. I
struggled to get my mouth above the water to take a gasp of
air. I’m not sure which way to try to swim to get away from
the hole. At that point Evan threw me a thrown
bag. I’ve certainly never been so relieved to get a throw
bag.
Back in the boat and the grade 4-5 Mushroom Rock Rapid is
immediately below. Mushroom Rock is also a long rapid and
we work our way down until we reach the rock itself.
Mushroom Rock is just that, a large mushroomed shaped rock covered in
water. The directions are to head for the top of the
rock. First you drop down a dip before rising up and onto
the rock and then sliding down the other side. It’s
certainly an experience!
We camp at the pool below Mushroom Rock
and above the Chute Rapid. It’s a spectacular spot with
dramatic cliffs, huge sculptured rocks and a calm pool.
The
next morning we decided to enjoy the spot. We walked along
the rocks to have a closer look at Mushroom Rock and then down to look
at the first rapid of the day, The Chute. The Chute is
formed by huge rocks forcing the entire river down a large sloping slab
of rock on river right. From our vantage spot we get a
great view of the rapid, with its long lateral wave on the left leading
to a large hole at the bottom. Sean, Anthony, Graham and
Brendan then headed up to the ridge line to get yet anther perspective
on the river.
After they returned and we packed up the boats it
was straight into the Chute Rapid. From the top you roar
down into the bottom hole, surrounded by white water. It’s
a great ride.
Rumbles and Karl’s Rock Rapids follow before we
reach the calm of the Nymboida Gorge. The gorge is a pretty
spot with sheer towering cliffs of pink rock. Evan takes up
the dare to stand up and paddle his boat! He manages to do
it and this leads to all of us going for the ‘stand up in our boats’
photo. We also take the opportunity to enjoy the ambiance
by stopping for lunch.
After
the gorge there are still some good rapids to go. The grade
4 2nd Pinnacle and then ‘Off the Wall’ Rapid. Off the Wall
is a long boulder garden with lots of drops. At this level
there were many different lines and Anthony led the way as we work our
way down in two groups of three.
With Off the Wall behind us we
relaxed. Evan relaxed a bit too much. He
dropped over a fairly small drop and the back of his boat was sucked
back into the hole. Several cartwheels and rolls
followed. A couple of times we thought that he had managed
to escape but was then sucked back into the hole. After a
tough fight Evan ended up swimming.
We soon reached the junction
with the Little Nymboida. Not far passed the junction we
arrived at Alistair and Meryl’s place and there was Paul’s four-wheel
drive and the trailer. We’d come to the end of a great
paddle.
After
packing up our boats and gear we headed to the Nymboida Canoe Centre to
see if Brandon had managed to get a lift from Codhole. We
did a tour of the campsite. There were lots of people but
no Brandon. It was now after 6 p.m. and we were out of
petrol. The only petrol was at Coutts Crossing and closed
at 7 p.m.! Brandon was going to have to wait another night
by the river, as it would take 4 hours to pick him up.
We drove
to Coutts Crossing and found the petrol station which was
closed. However the staff was still walking to their
cars. We managed to talk them into re-opening and bought
about $100 worth of fuel. Dinner at the Coutts Crossing pub
before heading back to the Nymboida Canoe Centre to camp for the night.
I’ve
never seen so many people, kayaks and canoes and car tubes in one
place. Apparently this is the place for paddlers to be at
Easter and every paddler in Australia must have been there.
There were groups everywhere sitting around fires and playing music
(most fairly loudly). The managed to find a reasonably
quiet spot near the entrance.
The next morning, Easter Sunday
and fortunately the Easter Bunny had managed to find us.
There were Easter eggs in all sorts of places in kayaks and in
bags. We caught up with Sean and met his wife, Kris and a
crew from Brisbane. No rest for the wicked, Sean and his
group were about to start a two day drip from Codhole to the
Junction. They were heading into Codhole and would organize
to pick up Brandon and drop him at the canoe centre. While
we waited for Brandon we dried out our gear and sorted out what we
would take on the plane and what would stay with the car.
Brandon
finally arrived about 1.30 p.m. He hadn’t found religion
while camped by the river but had had a close encounter with the large
goanna. The trip was over. We’d had some great
paddling and definitely have to come back to paddle the Little Murray
and the other rivers in the area. But for now it was a
matter of getting home, Brandon, Evan, Anthony and me by plane from
Coffs Harbour, and Brendan and Graham by car to Sydney, then Canberra
and finally to deliver the car and trailer with boats to Paul at Albury.
If you’re interested in seeing some pictures and footage from the trip check out the links below.
Alison
Nymboida River Sections
Highway to Moonpar Bridge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBa80cmUi44
Moonpar Bridge to Platypus Flat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1J-M_gaSiM
Platypus Flat to Codhole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHnCuKtQovc
Codhole to Mushroom Rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0PYOaQ2qi0
The Chute to the Junction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4rck8KOPwU