Saturday 3 October 2015

Paddling The Wilderness Coast, Greenglades to Bemm River

Due to an ongoing injury I had to shelve my original more committing paddle trip until next year. I had organised my ground crew for the planned trip though and Mark was still keen to see some Wilderness, so that's what we did! Mark would spend the first night at Merrica River before I would head further south alone and meet up the next day in Victoria.



The southern end of Croajingolong NP near Bemm River would be our finish spot three days later. We left Greenglades late in the afternoon for the short paddle to Merrica River so I could get away early the next morning.

Greenglades
Heading for Merrica River


Merrica River
Beef Vindaloo!

Merrica River to Mallacoota 

I departed Merrica River for Mallacoota at 8am trying to get there in time for the cricket world cup final  I missed the first few overs due to the light to moderate head winds which picked picked up around Cape Howe. I had a quick stretch and something to eat at Gabo Island before arriving at Mallacoota 6:45 later. Distance 49km. Mark paddled back to Greenglades and picked up the car to RV in Mallacoota.
Paddling the Nadgee Coast
Iron oxide in the sea cliffs

Approaching Cape Howe

Gabo Island

Arriving at Mallacoota
Mallacoota to Wingan

I had been told that Wingan Inlet was a nice place to stay with lot's of mussels on offer, so Wingan Inlet was going to be the next shorter leg. I saw two large Bronze Whalers on this leg, one of them launched a metre in the air doing acrobatics. Lot's of seal's around the Skerries, which is a small island near the entrance to Wingan Inlet. Mark met me at the river mouth and we collected some mussels for dinner. I had light winds and a small 1 metre easterly swell. Travel time of 4:20 and distance of 34km for this shorter day.

Dunes south of Mallacoota
Isolated cliff lines


The Skerries

Looking back at the Skerries

Collecting dinner

Friendly local

Asian Mussels coming up
Wingan Entrance 
Wingan to Bemm River

After a noisy night from the seals located at the Skerries we woke up in the darkfor the final day's paddle There was a lot of smoke from  the HR burns as I headed out past the Skerries. I headed for Pt Hicks for a lunch break and then onto Bemm River. We were told that Sydenham Inlet was open to the ocean but this would turn out to be incorrect as we were later told it had closed a couple of weeks earlier. I had a 50m or so portage before paddling into the small township of Bemm River. The winds came up from the ENE at around 20 kt mark which gave me some nice runners for the final leg along the coast. This was a great short trip along the NSW and Victorian Coastal Wilderness. Thanks Mark for coming along for the adventure.Travel time 7 hrs, distance 57km. Total distance for the 3 days 143km.
Skerries by name Skerries nature!
Just north of Pt Hicks

Lunch just north of Pt Hicks

Sydenham Inlet, closed!

Portage coming up
Sydenham Inlet



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