Burrill Lake To Lake Tabourie The Ocean Route

A couple of years ago, Doug and I walked from Dolphin Point, just south of Ulladulla to Bawley Point using bush tracks, rock platforms and beaches. That was the first time I had actually seen Burrill Lake bar, although I have, of course, passed by Burrill Lake dozens and dozens of times. Given that I have paddled every permanently open, and some infrequently opened bars between Jervis Bay and Dalmeny, and I started to think that one day, just for something slightly different to do, I should paddle Burrill Lake bar.

Sunday was forecast to have moderate winds and a low swell, so three of us launched from a small park in the community of Kings Point, half way up Burrill Lake and, paddled south to the long snaking Burrill Inlet. Out of an abundance of caution, I put my helmet and nose plug on, but paddling out the bar was definitely a non-event as a good channel can be followed slightly north and a rip current swiftly assists in gaining the ocean.

There is about three kilometres of rocky headlands south of Dolphin Point which we paddled past increasingly feeling the impact of some gusty winds. Winds which were coming from the southwest instead of the northwest as forecast. At Lagoon Head, the last headland before 4.5 kilometre long Wairo Beach, we got hit by the full impact of the southwest wind which was certainly gusting to 20 knots, if not higher. Although this is an off-shore wind, the wind was so strong that even a couple of hundred metres off the beach a small sea was developing.

We plugged away south along Wairo Beach until we got to Tabourie Point where we landed in a dumping wave and carried the kayaks about 100 metres until we could launch them back into the 30 centimetre deep water of Tabourie Creek. With a strengthening wind, we paddled north to the highway bridge and out into Lake Tabourie which is a quiet, reed fringed and shallow lake. By this time, it was feeling well past lunch time, so we paddled back to where we had left a car at a small park in the community of Lake Tabourie. The wind was so strong, that it blew Doug’s kayak off the stools I had placed it on to rinse off the salt water.