Kangaroo River Rapids

Ahh, Kangaroo Valley! Time for a relaxing weekend away camping with friends, lazing in the sun, drinking wine and eating cheese... right? Wrong. As well as all of that, we decided to bring the kayaks and hit the Kangaroo River.

It is a beautiful, but maybe slightly chilly, day in the valley as we pack up our campsite at Bendeela, say goodbye to our friends, and hit the road. We've previously kayaked part of the Kangaroo River near the famous single-lane bridge, but that's where the tour group takes you and we were looking for a bit more of an adventure.

After a bit of map searching the night before, Nick and I think we've found a spot further upstream where a road crosses the river, so we should be able to get safely and easily into the water without having to cross any private property. This location makes it a cool 14km trip back to Bendeela today, but its all downstream and the water is flowing quickly enough that the rapids add a bit of extra challenge!

We quickly get the hang of keeping the boat upright over the rapids, though with the water mostly only knee depth, its not exactly a serious issue when we don't. We hit a slight snag where a large tree is down completely across the river, facing us with a lengthy portage of carrying heavy kayaks across the land. Thankfully I find a small gap to the side where we can get the kayaks under the tree, and its all smooth (rough) sailing from here.

Halfway through our trip we decide to stop for a break and jump off some rocks into suitably deep water. All this climbing and jumping leaves us with a roaring appetite so we scramble up the rocks to the Kangaroo Valley township where we grab some lunch, then its back on the boats.

As we approach Bendeela, where we've strategically left one of our cars, we notice that Nick & Naomi's inflatable kayak is a little saggy. After repeated attempts at reinflation it becomes clear that there is a leak and its not going to get any better than this until we can patch it back on land, so we pick up the pace.

Thankfully we were quite close by now and we make it without any issue, but we did pose the question of whether or not you could fit 4 people on our 2.5 person sea kayak... And in case you're wondering, the answer is yes.