It was Sunday, and we had our kayaks, so, although the rest of our companions from our recent five day seakayak trip had departed for home, Doug and I "did" the Sunday paddle. I had long had a hankering to paddle north up the dammed Brogo River from the dam to see how far it was possible to get a kayak up the Brogo River.
The Brogo River runs west deep into Wadbilliga National Park, one of the few truly roadless areas in NSW and, as such, an important tract of remaining wilderness. These blank areas on the map where there are no roads are instantly appealing to me and I fully support NSW National Parks in their endeavours to preserve these tiny and vulnerable isolated ecosystems. There simply is no need and no convincing argument for people to be able to drive everywhere.
The grounds of the dam are open for day use and it is a pretty area with toilet and picnic facilities. We pushed the boats out from the boat ramp at the south end of the dammed river in the early morning when it was very shady and cool. Our first detour was up Nelson Creek where there are some interesting cliffs and an open area, now closed to camping due to abysmal behaviour by some campers a couple of years ago.
After paddling as far as we could up Nelson Creek, which is not very far, we continued north up the river in gusty winds. It turns out, that you can not get a kayak very far up the Brogo River at all as, not long after we got into the wiggly section of the river, we ran out of water. Ahead, there were patchy gravel flats and pools of water. In warmer weather, walking up the river would be an option.
We pulled off the river and walked up a hillside to a 350 metre ridge where we had filtered views of the river snaking west into Wadbilliga National Park. Lots to explore in this area and almost all of it must be done self-powered.
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