Jindabyne Dam to Werralong Road Ford

Published by: The Paddle NSW Inc. PO Box 6971 Silverwater NSW 2128 First published as a book "Canoeing Guide to New South Wales" in 1990 by NSW Canoe Association Incorporated Original Copyright NSW Canoe Association Incorporated 1990 Copyright PaddleNSW Inc. PO Box 6971 Silverwater NSW 2128 Email: admin@paddleNSW.org.au The information on this page and the printed book "Canoeing Guide to New South Wales" is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this page may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Paddle NSW Inc. All correspondence concerning the content of this guide should be addressed to the Paddle NSW Inc. ISBN O 646 00264 3 The "Canoeing Guide to New South Wales" was printed in Hong Kong by: United League Printing (Hong Kong) Ltd. , Film Separations by: D & S Brandish Print Consultants Typography by: Deblaere Typesetting Pty Ltd., Dee Why, NSW 2099
The Canoeing Guide to NSW Rivers
This section starts with one significant rapid (3+ rapid) in the first hundred meters that is hard to scout and a poor line can result in a close encounter with a bank of dead black berries. 7km of grade 1-2 flowing water fthen precedes a 4-5 km steep gorge. When you see the horizon drop off and series of rapids in front of you – the fun is about to start. There are numerous big multi-stage rapids, the first and last of which are probably the most significant. Scouting/portaging on the left is recommended. Many good rapids follow, there are often many options to choose from and the risks of each have to be weighed up. One rapid seems unlikely at first as the water sieves through many dead willows and rocks. (Hopefully after a few ‘floods’ - these will be removed. The best line we found was left side of the right channel. More big, bouncy, fun rapids follow, inspection is definitely recommended although all the rapids were runnable. There is a exit about 1-2km after the gorge at the low-water. Werralong road Ford. The next exit is at the Snowy Vineyard and Microbrewery a further 5km down river and the final exit at Dalgety after a few hours of pleasant flowing water. To my knowledge it has been run from 1000MLD where it rocky with narrow channels to 10 000MLD where it is big volume with huge holes and portages for most. It is a big gorge and it can handle a good amount of water. This is a “almost-never” run section since the building of the Jindabyne dam in the 60’s – but with the now promised water releases there is a good chance of it running at least once a year. The early in spring environmental releases. Exceptional willow and blackberry eradication work has been done in the river bed and there is evidence of the many dead bushes and trees along the way, only a few remain – and these are mainly large trees below the gorge on farmers properties. In future releases beware that this debris may cause straining hazards.