The Nadgee coast is a bit like Atlantis
to sea kayakers, a lost kingdom where there are no roads or
motorized access, as complete a wilderness as you can find in a
heavily developed country like Australia. As such, the Nadgee is on
every sea kayakers bucket list. The lead up to our five day trip
featured the usual twice daily weather checking of various different
models, adjustments to “leave by dates” and, finally, an
agreement to meet at 10 am at Boydtown at the tail end of April, 2018
packed for a five day excursion.
The standard Nadgee trip is about 100
km long and takes in the rugged and undeveloped coast between
Boydtown and Mallacoota. Water is available at a few locations, but
once past Bittangabee Bay in Ben Boyd National Park, all camps
require surf landings. Even some of the bays north of Bittangabee
Bay (and including Bittangabee Bay) close out in big swells.
Boydtown to Mowarry Bay:
Boydtown is a sleepy little location on
the south side of Twofold Bay. There is a big hotel, which always
seems rather quiet, a new housing development up the hill, and a
couple of large grassy campgrounds. It never seems busy, but perhaps
in the middle of Christmas school holidays it is a rowdy as most
Australian sea side locations.
While Doug and Mike put the car shuttle
in, a respectable two hour turn around (pretty good for five days of
paddling), I shuttled loads down to the beach. We had lunch before
we left, and then paddled east out of Twofold Bay. A moderate
southwesterly wind was blowing which was beam on to our kayaks, but
the sails did help lift our loaded boats out of the water a little.
Once we passed Boyd Tower we were almost completely sheltered from
the SW wind and it was an enjoyable paddle south past striking red
rocky cliffs and Leather Jacket Bay to Mowarry Bay.
There is a small but level campsite
tucked under a steep hill with the grass kept well cropped by
resident kangaroos and wombats. We arrived with an hour to spare
before dark, just enough time to wander around the headlands and
watch the sun set over Twofold Bay.
Mowarry Bay to Bittangabee Bay:
Sunrise was beautiful, and, as we were
not going far, I walked north along the track in the early morning
enjoying the sun rising through misty tea trees. After a leisurely
breakfast, we packed our kayaks and paddled south in glorious autumn
sunshine and paddling into each small and large bay. There were
dolphins, seals, and many sea eagles along the coast. The SW wind
was still blowing but we were quite sheltered below the cliff line.
At Bittangabee Bay, it felt warm enough
to have a swim, albeit a quick one. Doug wandered all around the
headlands south of the bay until he was able to get a mobile signal
to get an updated weather forecast, and I wandered along the Light to
Light track to the north of Bittangabee Bay strolling along scenic
rock platforms.
Bittangabee Bay to Merrica River:
It was a day of calm winds and low
swell, very different to the last time we had paddled around Green
Cape. We headed off from Bittangabee Bay knowing we would not land
before Merrica River. Conditions were about as good as they get. We
passed close by the lighthouse at Green Cape, with only a metre of
swell languorously running. There were seals sleeping off the Cape,
and as we paddled into Disaster Bay, the ocean flattened and smoothed
until the surface was glassy.
By the time we reached Merrica River, I
was feeling very cramped, and, upon seeing an easy landing, I rushed
into shore negligent of any real timing. I was just extricating
myself from my broached kayak when a large wave reared up behind me
picking my boat up and dragging it across my back as my face was
ground into the sand. When I emerged both the boat and myself was
clogged with sand. It took me an hour in the lagoon behind the beach
to clean out just half of the sand deposited in the cockpit, and I
didn't get sand out of my ears until we returned home.
After lunch and an hour or more
kneeling in the lagoon to clean out my boat, I scrambled around the
rocks south of the river outlet where a catwalk runs along above the
rocky shore line. I followed it south until it became too crumbly
and unsafe to continue but it was a wonderful vantage point to spy
sea eagles and dolphins.
Merrica River to Nadgee River:
South of Merrica River is new paddling
terrain for Doug and I. Although we have walked the Nadgee
Wilderness track from Wonboyn to Mallacoota, seeing the coast line
from the ocean is quite different. It's a wonderfully scenic section
of coast with seals, dolphins, sea eagles, caves and cliffs.
There are a couple of very small sandy
beaches, even in low swell, washed with waves, and then the longer
expanse of Jane Spiers and Newtons Beach where even today the waves
crashed onto the steep beach. More rocky coastline and another
couple of small patches of scoured sand and we arrived at the small,
semi sheltered beach at the mouth of the Nadgee River. Landing at
the south end was easy and I took more care than the day before not
wanting another dunk and drag experience.
Behind the beach we found a sheltered
and soft camp among wind beaten tea trees. Doug and I walked south
through thick scratchy moorland to Nadgee Lake where the haunting
sound of black swans echoed across the lake. The beach at Nadgee
Lake is more exposed and looked to present tougher landing
conditions. I walked north along rock platforms near Nadgee Lake and
by the time I came back to camp, it was full dark.
Nadgee River to Mallacoota via Gabo
Island:
Our last day and we are away early with
a long way to travel. It is a beautiful, if chilly morning at Nadgee
River, and the rising sun washed the beach golden. Dolphins paddled
past our boats again as we headed south soon paddling around Cape
Howe and into Windtoria where the ocean was eerily calm. Smoke from
fuel reduction burns floated out over the water and all we could see
of Gabo Island was the striking red granite lighthouse suspended in
haze.
We paddled around the south end of the
island, slipping between this island a wave washed rock with
Australian fur seals on one side and New Zealand fur seals on the
other. They were curious and jumped into the water to swim around
Doug's boat. At the north end of Gabo Island there is a small
sheltered beach, underwater at high tide. We landed and carried our
food bags up to the helicopter pad where we cooked up a late
breakfast. The lighthouse custodians came down for a chat and before
we left I walked up the island to the monument remembering the ship
Monumental City that ran aground on nearby Tullaberga Island in 1853.
A light northeasterly wind gave us a
gentle but appreciated push along the final stretch of coast from
Gabo Island to Bastion Point where regretfully our Nadgee trip was
over.
