The Blicks River in this area is called ‘Main Water’ by the local farmers. The 6km section from Goddards Road to Marengo Road has not had a recorded descent although it has likely been paddled by local farmers. When it is runnable there are too many other fun sections in the area to paddle. Based on the gradient (4m/km), it likely consists of grade II rapids with some fences. Who knows though… it might be a fun run. 
A committing, serious, long section that is one of the best, hard sections in this guide including many hefty, runnable drops. 
After seeing a few descents in the late 1990s, this run faded into obscurity for the next two decades. This was partly attributed to the previous guidebook describing the section as requiring about 12 portages with some of the larger rapids being impossible to portage. Times have changed though and the section is now considered one of the best, hard trips on the plateau. The trip should only be attempted by small, fast, highly experienced parties. 
After a 4km, relaxing warm-up, the river gradually steepens. There are many large drops in the following steep valley, all of which can be run under the right conditions, including the classic ‘Dead Dingo Falls,’ a 9m drop approximately 8km into the trip. It is possible to paddle the section as a grade IV with about half a dozen portages and running many drops up to about 5m but some of the portages involve difficult downclimbing and seal launching and may be more hazardous than running the rapids! There is also a lot of challenging, continuous Grade III+ paddling in between the bigger features. At about the 15km mark, the river gradient decreases but the continuous nature of the rapids remains.
It is possible to paddle the top 16km section of the trip or the lower 8km section of the trip (which is an awesome, shorter, more moderate trip) through private property access. Please ask the local paddling community for further details regarding access and do not enter private property without permission. The last 8km section above Dundurrabin offers excellent, technical paddling with rapids generally of a grade III+ standard. The most notable rapid of this section is the 200m long, granitic, three stage, grade IV Dundurrabin Falls, which is about 1km above the Dundurrabin bridge and is one of the best rapids in this guide although it has some distinct hazards. This lower section can handle more water than the upper section due to the more open nature of the valley. 
Popularity:★★
Quality:★★★★★
Reliability:★★
Grade:IV+ with several grade V
Length24km
Elevation and average gradient1,060m at put-in, 650m at take-out, 17m/km average but don’t be deceived by this statistic. The steeper sections are over 40m/km which are some of the steepest paddleable sections in this book.
Paddling time:A long, tiring day.
Gauge and level:There is a gauge on the bridge at the put-in. The minimum level on this gauge is 0.15m. 0.3 is a nice level and it would likely get very pushy with higher flows due to the narrow canyons in places. Water levels are hard to predict remotely but as a rough guide, the Guy Fawkes@Ebor electronic gauge should be over 0.9m, Clouds Ck@Clouds electronic gauge over 1.5m, Nymboida@Nymboida electronic gauge around 3.5m.
If you are planning on just paddling the lower portion of this run via private property access (see below), less water is required. The level can be visually assessed from the Dundurrabin bridge. The rapids above and below the bridge provide a fairly good indication of what the levels would be like for that portion of the trip.
Put-in:The bridge where Marengo Road crosses the river, approximately 7km north of Hernani. 
Take-out:The bridge where Armidale Road crosses the river at Dundurrabin. It is best to paddle about 300m past the bridge and drag the boats about 100m up the hill to ‘Fahey Park’ rest area. 
Shuttle:Easy 2WD, approximately 30 minutes each way via Armidale Road.
Maps:The Nymbo Map 13 Upper Blicks River
Hernani 1:25,000
Marengo 1:25,000
Dundurrabin 1:25,000