
Murray Gates

The trips in the Canoeing Guide to NSW Rivers which have been transferred to the Waterways Guide. The trips and access point to NSW rivers were documents by a number of Canoe club members starting with the first guide book in the nineteen seventies and then the publication of the second guide book in the early nineteen nineties
The Canoeing Guide to NSW Rivers
In the first 8km the river is narrow, fast and boulder-strewn. Shortly after entering the Gates bigger drops are encountered, a number of which are grade 4. They become almost continuous such that description of individual rapids is difficult. The scenery is spectacular with steep hillsides dropping straight to the water at a slope of about 45 degrees. Shortly before Hermit Creek enters on the left about 3km downstream, there is a series of testing drops leading without pause straight into the long Hermit Creek rapid. The Creek may be flowing very strongly and create a great deal of turbulent swirling at the confluence. The rapid (a tricky grade 4) drops into a quiet pool but this cannot be determined from the top as it is not possible to see right down the rapid. There are many rapids of grade 3 standards and at least one grade 4 below Hermit Creek but the river slowly loses its power and the last rapid is about 2.5km above the pull-out point. This is a highly technical section of river but becomes somewhat less technical as the river level rises.