Maiden Voyage

My New Alpacka packraft had arrived and it was time to take it out for a run. The major rivers were too high I thought. Digi Dave suggested a paddle up the Woronora River. That sounded like a good plan.

Rain (yet again….) was forecast. But Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day. At least at first. There was a storm later on in the afternoon. If anything, the morning was too bright and sunny. I had not anticipated the forecast being wrong and had neglected to take sunscreen and a hat – so I did get a bit sunburnt. 

Digi Dave

We set off from under the bridge at Bangor. Digi Dave was in his sea kayak and I was in the Alpacka. The packraft went very well. It was quite stable and easy to paddle. Although not nearly as fast as a kayak, I was still able to maintain a reasonable speed. And some of the paddling was against the tide and wind.

At first we passed a lot of houses. Then, it was more bush with the occasional shack. In many places there where sighs where shacks had been. Old stonework walls, old bits of pier, old hewn steps. Interesting history.

We paddled upstream to a nice beach where we stopped for lunch.  Then it was not too far upstream to the ford at old Illawarra Rd.

We paddled to a little below the ford and then walked up another 50m or so (so perhaps 50m downstream of the ford) and at that spot, on a rocky outcrop, Digi Dave pointed out the site of an old flour mill.

This was built in the 1820s, by John Lucas (who the suburb of Lucas Heights is probably named after). In the high water not much was visible.

We could see two sections where the sandstone slab had been chiselled out for the supports for the water wheel. No sign of any building work remained. Some history of the mill can be found on this site and in this pdf (see page 23) from the Sutherland Shire Historical Society.

Digi Dave pointing out where the water wheel braces would have been

Then it was the paddle downstream. At first assisted by the current but later against the tide and a headwind. But it was pleasant going – even when the rain started. Back at the carpark, it was easy to deflate the packraft and pack it back into my daypack. A successful maiden voyage and an interesting day.