Paddling Down the Glenelg River

A three day canoe trek down the Glenelg River through the Lower Glenelg National Park with Alex and Bec. Highlight (apart from canoeing down an isolated, natural river) was seeing a platypus.

Friday March 6 to Sunday March 8, 2009
55km, Pines Landing to Nelson, Glenelg River, Victoria

The platypus is notoriously shy. We saw it one morning as we were packing the canoe the kayak. The river was still, dead smooth, and the platypus emerged amidst bubbles about 8-10m from us in front of the landing, before diving down again. "Shhhh!" as I pushed Bec in the back, this was no time for talk. The platypus surfaced twice more for another look around, before disappearing. Btw that's not my photo, I didn't want to loose the magic of the moment by mucking around with a camera, but this photo is the closest to what we saw that I could find on the internet.

We took Friday off work, driving down through Mt Gambier on Thursday night after work. We camped at the beach campsite at Piccaninnie Ponds. Next morning we drove into Nelson, and left our car there as the canoe hire guys drove us out to Pines Landing, from where we would paddle back to Nelson over four days. Pines Landing is where we started this little adventure last time I did it. I was struck by how much this place reminded me of that day four years ago, and of Stephen.

From here we paddled 20km to Skipworth Springs, seeing almost no-one. It took a little while to get the canoe technique right, and we each tried out the kayak and canoe to see where we might fare well. The following two days we improved our technique, improving our 5.0km/h average to 5.5km/h. We paddled hard, only stopping to rest at landings, and not, as previously, at random spots to drift. I think was because this time we had the benefit of the GPS unit, so were able to estimate how much longer we needed to keep up the paddling before the next landing.

Friday was planned to be our longest day, at 20km, with Saturday to be 14km, Sunday 7km and Monday 14km. We had booked the campsites late, not knowing it was also a long weekend in Victoria. So the short 7km day was unavoidable. But on Sunday, we reached our planned campsite at Bowds, 14km downstream. Since it was only 3pm, we decided to paddle the additional 7km to Lasletts, where we had planned to stay Sunday night. Even though we were only staying at canoe campsites, where space was more limited than the car-based campsites, it seemed likely there would still be space for our two small hiking tents.

Friday night we spent at Skipworth Springs, and had it all to ourselves. Small tents are an advantage at this campsite, as the sites are small since the campground is on a hill. Like all the campsites, there is a toilet, picnic table and at least one fire place. These facilities aren't always marked on the official map, not sure why. There is also rainwater available, except here where there is a natural spring. We hunted down some dry wood, from some dead fallen and not so fallen trees, for a campfire. Victoria is different than South Australia in that fires are permitted during the Fire Danger Season (except on days of total fire ban) and collection of firewood in a national park is permitted. We were visited by the ever fearless possums, who came to our picnic table to clean up our crumbs. For a few moments it looked like we might have a stand-off between two possums, but they resolved their differences and chased each other up a nearby tree.

Saturday night we camped at Lasletts, this time sharing the campsite with a group of eleven and a group of five. So we didn't get in on either of the fire places, but then we didn't actually have a booking for this campsite anyway. Bec's idea of bringing along a picnic rug, as we chairs were too cumbersome, was a real winner. We set up camp in the corner of the campsite, looking over the river and cliffs. These were the same cliffs that us boys had scaled last time to walk into Nelson to collect Julie's car so she could go home for work a day earlier than the rest of us.

We decided a swim was in order here, yet Alex stated he was off to test the water first. "What? Test the water? Whatever dude." You see, you just don't do that. You decide to swim, if it's nice then that's just a bonus. So Bec and I chatted, and a few moments later Alex emerged soaking wet. I was shocked, he was totally wet. He was surprised as neither of us had heard him bomb it in off the landing. Alex and I returned to the landing where I ran off the end. It was cool, but not freezing, and we both avoided touching the bottom. That night we used my little gas lantern I had found by chance on Friday. I car-camping size gas light with a 2-3kg gas bottle was too big to bring, but this tiny one fitted onto a 300g hiking gas canister, and was much better than a torch.

Now I include a random jaws video, it seemed it wasn't only platypus that occupied the waters of this river.

Australia being in drought, we weren't sure what to expect with the water level. We were surprised when we arrived in Nelson on Friday morning to find the river high, indeed, very close to some riverbank buildings. The canoe guy told us the river mouth had silted up just a few days previously, so the river wasn't flowing and was backfilling. At Skipworth Springs, the water level was a mere 10cm from the landing deck. Sunday lunchtime we had trouble finding Forest Camp North, another canoe only campsite. The shorter canoe camp landings can be harder to find, as they are simpler structures than the higher car-camping landings and boat ramps. This particular one even more so, the landing deck being about 10cm below the water surface. Last time we were here, I recall Julie rolling around in the mud beside the landing. Throughout the canoe trek we found a few other landings beneath the water surface.

Monday we paddled the last 14km into Nelson. We stopped at a cliff near Princess Margaret Rose Caves, and climbed part of the cliff to a cave entrance. It turned out this is part of the Princess Margaret Rose Caves network, but has been separated from it by cave-ins. At the main caves landing, we walked up to the shop to grab a cool drink and some food. We hunted around for a while to find a water tank that wasn't contaminated with too much eucalyptus, as Lasletts had also been contaminated.

I recall the stretch from the caves into Nelson as being particularly long and boring, there are not many landings to break up the day. Despite the head wind along Taylors Straight, which slowed us considerably down from 6-7km/h to just 4km/h, bringing our moving average down to 5.2km/h.

Back in Nelson a day early, I took Alex and Bec on their first tour of Mt Gambier's lakes and sink holes, before we returned to Piccaninnie Ponds to camp. We had the campsite to ourselves this time, or so we first thought, before the late night disturbances began. The pubs/nightclubs of Mt Gambier must have closed around 12-1am, as after that until dawn the car park near the beach was hoon central.

After a quick swim in Piccaninnie Ponds on Monday morning - well it was cold and Alex was a poopy head and didn't want to come for a swim so it's a pretty short one - and some yummy pancakes with Nutella, we returned to Adelaide. We stopped off at Bool Lagoon for a look-in, perhaps we could return here and camp for a weekend and do some bird watching, but despite the apparently recent photo on the RAA map, the lagoon was dry with no surface water. We wondered if it might fill a little in winter?

Download Google Earth KML file of the Glenelg River

Download kml file to view in Google Earth or adapt to use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit

Nelson Boat and Canoe Hire
Chris and Cheryl
(08) 8738 4048
www.nelsonboatandcanoehire.com.au
The canoe hire was $45 per day, and the kayak $40 per day, with a $40 drop off fee to Pines Landing - total cost $295. My car was securely stored in Nelson.

Stats	Glenelg River
	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
	6/3/2009	7/3/2009	8/3/2009
	Pines Landing to Skipworth Springs	Skipworth Springs to Lasletts	Lasletts to Nelson
Distance	20.3km	22.6km	14.8km
Start Time	9.58am	10.22am	9.35am
End Time	4.24pm	4.53pm	1.59pm
Moving Duration	4h2m	4h5m	2h51m
Stationary Duration	2h12m	2h25m	1h34m
Moving Average	5.0km/h	5.5km/h	5.2km/h
Overall Average	3.2km/h	3.5km/h	3.3km/h
Maximum Speed	8.1km/h	8.1km/h	7.7km/h
Oodometer	20.3km	42.8km	57.6km

Perfect Beaches, Perfect Campsite

It was Jude who gave us the tip. Butlers Beach. A privately owned campsite offering bush camping along 7km of spectacular coastline.

Hillocks Drive bush camping, Yorke Peninsula, Australia Day
Friday 23 January to Monday 26 January 2009
Alex, Bec and myself

After some google efforts we had it tracked down, Hillock Drive at Butlers Beach. We drove down after work on Friday night, Alex bought me tea to make up for the $9 I wasted on parking my car in the multi-level next to work to save time, I had return home to get something he couldn't bring from his camping list.

Having found the key that was left out for us, we explored what campsites we could easily see in the 10 o'clock darkness. We shortlisted, and settled on one behind a huge sand dune with small trees sheltering and shading the site. It was a winner. The next day when we spoke to the woman in the shop to pay our camp fees, she declared it was probably one of the best campsites. Yeah! And it was, lots of shade,
plenty of shelter from the wind.

On Saturday morning we explored and walked through the sand dunes down to the beach. It ended up being quite a walk as we tried to make a path through the dunes. Eventually, having given up on following others' footsteps, we found Salmon Beach. We had camped behind a headland, so from what we could see there was no easy route to the beach. The water was wild, but warm, so we decided to strip down to our underwear and go for a swim. It was really really good. Bec decided not to join us, but filmed us, then wandered off for a walk as we dried off.


Saturday afternoon we explored the coastline of Hillocks, there were a number of really cool beaches. We drove all the way to the end, only to discover later that beyond Gartrells Rocks it was 4WD only, yeah sure, it had been sandy and a challenge to drive through, but really, it was a private road. At Flat Rocks we discovered a series of shallow warm rockpools, and as we stood near the sea edge we were soaked by the extensive spray from crashing enormous waves.


Sunday we headed over to Edithburgh, going via a wind farm to see how huge those beasts really are. We found a sweet spot near Edithburgh that Alex had snorkelled at during a recent Easter family camping trip. It was low tide though, so we snorkelled under the Edithburgh jetty which was good. A cool breeze and deeper water meant the wetties were welcome. Some stuff to see, and other snorkelers too. Once we were out though, we saw a huge manta ray over a metre wide, if not one and a half metres wide.

After a woeful lunch in Edithburgh, we drove to Point Gilbert near Port Moorowie, which was very seaweedy. We had a discussion about the name Periwinkle Reef, Alex argued it was mentioned in the SA Tourism guide, a reckoned it wasn't. A bet was made, an Ice Coffee in it. I won, claiming my prize on Monday in Moonta.

With all the seaweed and yellow water, we decided to check out the third spot mentioned in the guide, Parsons Beach, north of Hardwicke Bay. Nope, looked the same. With all this dirt road driving, we had been around for long enough for the tide to change, so back to our initial spot that was no longer just ankle deep. Saw little, and it was cool, except one small and remarkably stationary ray thing, and
Alex allegedly saw a Guitar Shark.

After our swim Monday morning, we made pancakes, of which predictably the first didn't work, then packed up before heading out at 12noon to drive listening to the Hottest 100 up to Moonta Bay where we swam. The days had got hotter over the weekend, now for Aussie Day it was 35 degrees. Lots of people at Moonta Bay, a shallow but warm sea, in which the three of us played frisbee. Upon returning to our bag and towel, which we had left at a safe distance from the water's edge, or so we thought, they were about to be inundated. Listening to the countdown to 1 on the Hottest 100 we arrived back home at 6pm.

A top weekend, pity Jude couldn't make it down as she got into her Groupie thing for Tour Down Under, but still a fab weekend. Not enough photos perhaps, but that was cos so much of the stuff we did was in the water, so not a bad weekend at all.

Should have packed the chocolate

A trial hike with our overnight packs - a first for Kate & Tim - in Innes National Park. Should have packed the chocolate, and another book.

A day hike on the Thomson-Pfitzner Plaster Trail Hike
and an overnight hike along the Gym Beach Hike

We left our car and big tent set up at Browns Beach, setting out on the 6-hour return (or 4-hour return depending on the sign or publication you read - it's 4-hours according to the park ranger) hike from near Browns Beach to Gym Beach. Only 5.5km, it took us 1h 06m to get there, and the following day 1h 09m to return. Our hike was 6km each way, a bloody easy hike, but fair go it was Kate & Tim's first pack hike. We could have hiked back along coast, over two headlands and Browns Beach, but we returned the way we came (hiking on sand with full packs can be hard!).



It wasn't particularly interesting, but then not much of Innes National Park is really that interesting for hiking. If you like bird-watching - perfect, that's what the park was created for, some bird that was believed extinct and discovered here in the 1960's. The hike was hot, with little shade, but what shade there was felt very cool. Gym Beach campsite was good, we set up camp on a site with close beach access, and near the nice non-smelly modern toilets with a rainwater tank. Better than our tent site was at Browns Beach - smelly, no STINKY, toilet, no rainwater, no shade, no separate tent sites, no close beach access, and no tree branch intent on scratching us all at least twice. Great if you love fishing though... wish I did :-/ No shade at Gyms Beach Campsite either, and a park table and bench like those in Lincoln NP wouldn't go astray, especially for hikers, but it was much better. Good beach, we sat upon some rocks as the waves crashed around us, watching the sun set and reading our books. Good fishing, and probably swimming and body surfing too. Funny how everyone empties off the beach for sunset, the best part of the beach day I think.





Should have packed chocolate, and another book. I finished reading my book too early... and Tim and Kate hadn't finished theirs yet, so we couldn't swap. After tea, Tim and I tried to find the Southern Cross in the night sky. I found the most convincing cross, then used the method in the "Dangerous Book for Boys" to find south... except it pointed in the direction where the sun set. Tim, using the sunset as a guide, found south, then determined to find the best cross to fit his 'south'. I don't think either of us actually found the 'Southern Cross'... but south we found.



On the Saturday - we arrived Friday night - we hiked the Thomson-Pfitzner Plaster Trail from Stenhouse Bay to Inneston, following an old railway alignment which transported gypsum from the mine at Inneston to the jetty at Stenhouse Bay. Not greatly interesting either. Followed a spur trail on the way there, which follows the contours of the land, this railway alignment being built later for steam locomotives (rather than the earlier horse-drawn trains). Inneston, a town built in the 1930's and abandoned in the 1970's, is little but ruins and some restored cottages, but quite interesting. Kate and Tim hadn't been to Innes before, but I had been here a couple of times before.



Also stopped by Ethel Beach, where the 1904 Ethel is wrecked on the beach, and the 1920's wreck of the Ferret lies off-shore.



A good weekend, we extended the long weekend by an extra day. It was Kate & Tim's first trip to Innes NP, my third I think. Pretty cool place, good fishing, surfing, camping and swimming. Swam at the rock pool on Shell Beach - was pretty cold. We were first there at high tide on Sunday, but watching the waves crash it we thought it might be too dangerous, as the waves sucked the water through the length of the rock pool. We returned Monday morning, having established when low tide was from my GPS unit's "Best fishing times" guide. We swam, well, Tim did, I just jumped in and got out I think - it was pretty cold. Afterwards, as we sat on the rocks in the sun, a huge voilent freak wave crashed through, much larger than the waves of the previous high-tide day, and washed right across the area we were sitting. Glad we weren't swimming at that time!



Missed a good hike opp though, Anne reckoned this was the pick of the Innes hikes - Royston Head. Saw a sign, planned to get there, but wasn't keen to go on a hike straight after our only weekend shower.

Royston Head Walk
4 km return, 2 hr return
Spectacular views of the rugged peninsula coast and blue ocean. There is a fantastic lookout point from the cliffs at Royston Head with a tranquil beach below.

Enjoyed the benefits of a long term investment. I think I was here last about 4 years ago, we had paid for shower tokens for Pondalowie, but some of them just gave us cold water. This time though, I don't know what we were thinking, we skipped the token purchase opting for cold shower by driving down to the Pondolowie campsite. After enduring a minute of cold water though, it was hot as, and without using a token! Yay!



View photos as full screen slideshow



Stats (Gyms Beach hike):

• Hike distance: 6.0km
  
• Trail distance: 5.5km
  
• Moving duration: 1h 09m
  
• Moving average: 5.2km/h