Hi Guys,
A friend and I were thinking of Pack rafting the Shoalhaven river in January. Neither of us have ever pack rafted before so we’re doing everything from scratch and need to buy all our equipment. Any tips from anyone who’s done the Shoalhaven or just tips in general ??
Cheers,
Bree
Hi Bree,
Your biggest danger will be getting hooked on Packrafting!
I’ve done a couple of sections, but they would probably be best left until you have paddled the tamer bits first. Problem is, I haven’t paddled the easier bits so hopefully some of the other crew around here will catch your message soon.
I would try and get a copy of the “canoeing guide to NSW”, as it has some reasonable info on the different sections that might be suitable for you.
Start getting familiar with the river gauge heights (for eg. http://www.adventurepro.com.au/paddleaustralia/pa.cgi?action=details&id=shoalhavenriver2)
If you are coming from a kayaking background you’re all set, and if not, start small and keep within your comfort zone.
Most importantly have fun and take heaps of photos and post them up here when you’re done.
Cheers Darren.
Bree,
You have picked a nice river, I’ve packrafted from Long Point to Badgerys Crossing on a weekend trip doing a car shuffle at the top. Small rapids but watch for some fallen trees blocking some of the channels.
In November five of us paddled from the Nerrimunga Creek junction with the Shoalhaven to Greater Horseshoe Bend, there were lots of small rapids that even two of our party on Lilos were able to run, even though they fell off a couple of times.
We were bumping over boulders with the river so low, we would have liked another 20 centimetres of water so we could have floated over the boulders without hitting.
The river height at the gauges was, Fossickers Flat 0.49m, Hillview 0.65m, Shoalhaven R at Warri 0.78m, Mountview 1.16m.
We will be back in the future but doing a longer multi day trip next time.
Cheers, Duncan
Not sure if this will work, I hoping that this will link to Picasa to show you the packraft in a small rapid on the Shoalhaven River.
Duncan