Nearly 6″ of rain had fallen in the Wonnangatta River catchment recently. The river was still ‘up’ so I reckoned this would be my last opportunity this summer to canoe this section of this wonderful river. Yes, you can hitch a ride in. NB: You can check the river heights here and assess how many […]
Posted Monday night on Facebook: ‘Listen to the birdsong: 6:30am Monday morning in one of the most remote spots in Victoria, Wonnangatta River Alpine Nat Park. From Melbourne it would take you 7 1/2 hours by car (1 1/2 of them 4WD) and either a solid day’s hiking or 4 hours in a pack raft
From Neates Track down to the Kingwell Bridge takes about 2 1/2 hours paddling. If you put in at the riverside camp just above Neates track it would take three hours. This would be a pleasant excursion if you were camped there. Mostly this section travels through farmland but as with much of the river,
Very little rain was forecast for the three days – and very little fell. We were however treated during the night to that beautiful brooding, ominous rolling booming of thunderstorms clawing their way across the faces of the mountains, and to the mysterious comings and goings of the cervine denizens to their wallow not twenty
Finding just the right conjunction of time, three days of delightful spring weather and enough water to make the river canoeable is harder now than it was before the bushfires years ago when the river height was over 1.8 metres on the Waterford gauge all summer. Now it rarely is. Last winter was quite dry
Originally posted 2/08/2011: ‘Back early from three days’ hunting/hiking in Wonnangatta-Moroka NP due to sore toes (Have to do more research into boots) and accidentally taking the three-quarter length Neoair mat which was a bit harsh on my bad back. However saw lots of deer, some of whom visited me during the night.’ (This is
We were so glad we stopped at the (first) Surprise rapid; The dawn was spectacular! As I went down to check the water just as the sun was lighting the hill to the East, its warmth caused the whole pool to ‘boil’ with mist. My eye was at first caught by a mysterious patch of
The second day we ventured as far as the ‘Surprise Rapid’ which took us five hours (this is including brief halts for lunch, snacks, etc – and at retiree speeds), but mostly speed is related to water flow, and we are canoeing the Wonnangatta this summer with very low flows because of the effects of
This is a quite committing section of the river. it also contains many hours of outstandingly beautiful, serene forest containing many beaches and grassy flats where you can swim or camp. It is likely to take you up to six hours (with a couple of refreshment stops). You might prefer to do it as an
This is the second section downstream from the Kingwell Bridge. It takes about two hours including rest stops. It makes a delightful after-lunch canoe trip if you are camped at Black Snake Creek or at Kingwell Bridge. You put in where the Creek joins the river and there is a small pebbly beach. Straightaway you
