22 May 2012 Exploring the Upper Shoalhaven

A nice pool on the Shoalhaven River

Map: Snowball 1:25000

Getting There

This walk was organised and led by Linda G as an irregular CBC Tuesday walk:

Tuesday 22 May - Exploring the Upper Shoalhaven - M/R,X. A gently undulating walk with varied vegetation and a river which is pretty and has a pristine catchment, but is not spectacular. Two hours drive, to Krawarree Road & then east on Currambene Road (note, not the same as Curranbene Creek Road) aiming to leave the cars at the swamp at approx 37 800E, 21 100S. A kilometre of fire trail, then down a gently-sloping grassy valley to the Shoalhaven, then 3 to 5 km down the Shoalhaven and back up another side valley, returning to the cars by firetrail. Possibly an optional climb of one of the hills for a view, which would add a 150 metre ascent and descent. The leader has not done this route before but has walked nearby. Expect scrub & tussocky grass, some rocky ground and maybe swampy ground. 19 kilometres if we find the terrain fast, fewer if it’s slow and we skip the hill climb. Map: Snowball. Leader: Linda G.

10 of us met at Spotlight in Queanbeyan and drove in 3 cars via the Captains Flat Road through Captains Flat, over Parkers Gap and down to the Krawarree Rd. There we turned South (right), past the Berlang Camping Area (the track to The Big Hole and Marble Arch) and, after a little searching, left (East) onto Currambene Rd. This we followed for perhaps a kilometre until a swampy patch stopped us. We returned, then up a side track to a farm house, where Linda negotiated access for us - this was truly an eXploratory walk! We were directed back to and through the swampy patch and drove a further kilometre along the goat track before stopping.

Photographs

You can access all photographs here.

Walk

Track map: thumbnail is active - click for a larger picture

Track

A wander first further along the fire trail through private property and E-ish to the Deua National Park boundary via open going and a few bits of light timber. Morning tea just inside the boundary. A pleasant stroll through light timber with a few heavier patches when crossing drainage lines. We finally came to the Shoalhaven River and managed to cross dry foot via rocks and tea-tree. Lunch on lovely rock slabs beside the river.

We wandered a further 2.9km upstream until we hit the first of the dreaded nana - Allocasuarina nana (Dwarf She Oak) - which covered many of the nearby hills. Silly me, having not been to the area before - the pale green on the topo map is not light timber, just check it out via Google Earth!

We re-crossed the river, had some good going up a side creek, tackled a bit of nana coming around the 900+m knoll, then finally onto an unmarked vehicle track which got us off the hill. It began to trend in the wrong direction, so Linda took pretty much a B-line through light timber, open tussocky grassland and a final bit of fire trail back to the cars.

We came home via Braidwood, a bit longer but easier driving.

A 12hr day door-to-door.

Thanks Linda, a great walk in a totally new area for me. And thanks to David, Eric, Eric, Ian, Ken, Max, Peter and Phillip.

Distance: 18.4km Climb:300m. Time: 10.05am - 4.35pm (6hrs 30mins), including 45mins of breaks.
Grading: L/M; M(11)

KMZ file for Google Earth/Maps: Exploring the Upper Shoalhaven

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This page last updated 30Aug22