Camping and kayaking at Kangaroo Valley

I love Kangaroo Valley and we got to see it from its best side: from the water. A fun day of kayaking to a campsite where we stayed the night. As darkness descended, the wombats emerged. So beautiful they were.

Kayaking through Shoalhaven Gorge

What a wonderful weekend with lovely people including Elna, Srini, Zante, Samira, Howard and Rob. 

Chris very kindly lent me his kayak and I spent the money instead on a roof rack that will hold me in very good stead for paddle skiing and future kayaking trips.  

We did a 15 km paddle deep into the gorge with some stops along the way.  There, we found a camp site and overnighted.  The next day, we did an epic paddle back out of the gorge, without any stops.  A very good workout!

Highlights of the weekend included:

• The beautiful scenery, with the sculptured walls of the gorge and lush greenery, including trees tenaciously hanging onto cliffs.
• The first day, overcast and cool, perfect for kayaking.  It started to rain at one point which was a wonderful excuse for a swim.  There's nothing like that alive feeling of swimming in the rain!
• The camp site where we stayed, plenty of space and nice and secluded back from the river.
• A smorgasbord of delicious shared eats on Saturday night.
• Samira bringing a huge tarp and the fun all the guys had in erecting it from the trees.  It came in very handy, as the rain fell pretty hard on Saturday evening but we were perfectly sheltered.
• The blue skies and sunny weather on Sunday.
• Discovering how meditative paddling is.  On Sunday, we kayaked back without a stop and there were several long spans when my mind closed right down and all I was aware of was each paddle stroke.  It was extremely calming.
• Delicious pies in Kangaroo Valley and a drink at the pub.

A great weekend.  I can definitely get into kayaking.  A big thank you to Chris!

Me on my kayak, lent to me by Chris.  It may not have been the Ferrari of the kayaks there, but I was able to keep up fine and got quite attached to it.

Samira, who did an fantastic job of organising the weekend.  

Rudy kayaking with a fishing rod attached to the back of his kayak. He caught a fish but it wasn't big enough to feed more than a kitten!

Samira, Elna and Howard.  Sharing a kayak is always a brave thing to do for a friendship.  But Elna and Howard were still great mates at the end of the weekend!!  

Paddling into a little enclose for lunch.

I loved the dead trees.  Always so photogenic.

It started to rain and we used this as an excuse for a  swim. The water was lovely and fresh.  Or so we thought, until a kilometer or so up the river we found two bloated kangaroos rotting in the river.  A good lesson.  Never swallow the water!

A wonderful smorgasbord of food to share. Thanks especially to Samira and Elna.

Samira brought a large tarp and we all managed to erect it using the surrounding trees.  So great we had it, because the rain came down hard in the evening.

My beloved tent.  Might not be big, but its compact and lightweight, perfect for this kind of weekend.

The next day dawned nice and sunny. Here is everyone preparing to embark on the paddle back to Kangaroo valley.

The 15 km paddle back was pretty gruelling as we didn't stop once but I managed to take some snaps of the reflections in the water.  Beautiful.

This is my favourite photo of the weekend. Beautiful gorge on both sides, lush trees, blue skies and a lone fluffy cloud.  What more could you ask for?

Just me and the river.

Once we got back to Kangaroo Valley, we stopped for a delicious lamb pie, followed by an even more delicious cherry pie.  Yum!  Then a drink at the pub before the drive home.

Another wonderful video production from Srini.  He's making such fantastic use of his GoPro!