In the southern highlands of NSW, the
Shoalhaven River runs through a 500 metre deep gorge as it winds its
way eastward and seaward to the Pacific Ocean near Nowra. For much
of its length, the river runs through native bushland and has a wild
and remote feel. A number of trails travel down to the river from
the highlands, we chose to descend the Long Point trail from Talong,
mostly because our 30 year old guidebook described the Long Point
trail as well graded. Having experienced steep Australian trails –
the descent down Mount Solitary to the Kedumba River still fresh in
our minds – we opted for a slightly longer but better graded
approach.
The approach road ends at a spectacular
lookout, Long Point Lookout, where, deep below, the Shoalhaven River
is visible winding sinuously through the surrounding ridges and
hills. The excellent trail, follows a ridgeline south and descends
around the western side of Kingpin Mountain, a small pimple on the
end of Long Point Ridge, reaching the Shoalhaven River near the
confluence with Barber Creek (dry) and McCallums Flats.
The surrounding ridges are dry, but,
down in the river gorge, the environment is moist and teeming with
life. Huge eucalpyts, she-oaks, and palm trees overhang the river,
kangaroos bound off through the bush, lizards drop into the river and
birds screech overhead. We felt, as we often feel in Australia, as
if we had stepped back in time and were travelling through some
prehistoric forest. From a many trunked eucalpyt, a metre long
goanna watched us from a tree as we travelled upstream to a verdant
green shoreline heavily tracked by wombats and kangaroos.
Wandering north around the curve of the
river through the open forest of McCallums Flats, the ground is
covered with native flowers in a myriad of colours. A little further
along, at a bend in the river we found a sandy beach lined with
she-oaks and swam in the deep pool, crossing the river to crawl out
onto rocks on the far shore as the lizards do.
From sun-drenched to shivering – back
at ridge-top a gusty wind was blowing in the next moist system.
Goanna by the Shoalhaven
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