The put in at Allan Howard reserve requires permission from the newcastle land rover club, please respect their wishes. 4wd is required to get to the Allan howarth reserve. This trip could be cut in half by doing only the lower half, putting in at the ford where basin road has a ford over the river.
 
Although fast and continuous the there aren't many features to cause more difficult rapids.  The major hazards are wood as the high rainfall required could flush new wood down, and the continuous nature which would make rescuing more difficult. Any grade 3 paddler with a solid roll should be fine.
 
Above the ford are two rapids where some boulders create more features and at 1.6m on the gauge these were 3-. Just below the ford there is at present a portage due to a restriction with some trees across it. A bit further down this is the one bigger rapid of the run. A solid grade 3 at the level we did it, and with more water could become harder. It is characterised by some rather large squarish boulders that cause the river to become channelised and flow between them.
 
About half way between the ford and the bridge you reach the 'slide' section of the run. At low or non existent water flows there is a very low gradient bedrock slide here, at paddleable flows it just appears as a long continuous grade 2+/3- rapid, with some interesting water hydraulics.
 
Below this the going is pretty easy however watch out for fences across the river. Take out at the bridge, make sure you check whether its safe to paddle under the bridge.
Check out the video of this section to get a good idea for what it involves: https://youtu.be/Ojvx7FFY750