awildland: Nymboida River - messing about in boats

Saturday 4 May 2013

Nymboida River - messing about in boats

"Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING - absolutely nothing - half so

much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

Nymboida River - Platypus Flat to the Cod Hole

The rapids: KBs Shute, Eggbeater, Malleys, Lucifer's Leap, Rock Bar, Finke's Drop, Devil's Cauldron, Elkhorn's Passage, Bucket Breaker, The Elbow.

Wedgetails along the river valley: rummaging through still air for a decent thermal.

Sun, reflecting off the wind rippled surface of deep pools, makes dragon skin patterns on the rock.

The singing river oaks. The fallen stags.

Nymboida River - Platypus Flat to the Cod Hole

Nymboida River - The Shute - Cod Hole to The Junction

The Nymboida River cuts through the heart of Nymboi-Binderay National Park. More info at the NPWS website here http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks/parkHome.aspx?id=N0109. The name of the Park comes from the local Gumbaynggirr language. 'Nymboi' is their name for the river itself, while 'Binderay' means river, literally 'the Nymboi River'. There are several recorded Aboriginal cultural sites within and surrounding the boundaries of the park, ranging from ceremonial and mythological sites to open campsites and scarred trees.

In February 2013, two back-to-back severe flood and storm events, just weeks apart, dramatically changed the river, most noticeably at the two main camp areas of Platypus Flat and the Cod Hole where NPWS shelters, picnic tables and information signs have been damaged and a swathe of riverside vegetation has been swept away. The second of these flood events was the largest flood since 1975 with the automated river gauge, downstream at Nymboida township, peaking at a massive 14m. Gravel banks and races have been altered along the length of the river and flood debris can now be seen hanging high in the trees along the rocky banks.

Finke's Drop - Nymboida River - Platypus Flat to the Cod Hole

Nymboida River - Platypus Flat to the Cod Hole

"Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats...In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all..."

-Kenneth Grahame, Wind in the Willows