Donnelly River
Donnelly River covers a fair size area of the South West region of Western Australia. Nearby a former timber mill town is now a heritage holiday destination. The access point to the Donnelly River boat ramp is about 300 km from Perth and 50 km beyond Nannup, towards Pemberton in the D’Entrecasteaux National Park. The Donnelly River flows into the Southern Ocean.
So it’s the lead-up to Easter 2015, and I wonder what exciting adventure can be had with minimal planning and a short lead time. I built a fibreglass kayak 40 years ago in my teen years. I remember how wonderful it was to paddle about the Queanbeyan River in NSW and the Cooma area. In the late 1970s, I purchased a Canadian canoe to paddle the massive flood waters running through Leonora, WA. However, that was a long time ago!
The Kayak
Looking around on GumTree, I saw a kayak for sale, less than 12 months old, for a very reasonable price. About 1/3 of the new price. So I then began looking for rivers in the South West that I could go for a ‘paddle’. The Donnelly River looked like a perfect match. A 24-kilometre round trip from the boat landing at Carey Brook to the Southern Ocean.
So I purchased the kayak, ready to go with a carbon fibre paddle, deluxe padded seat and waterproof stowage ports. I packed up the yak with everything for an overnight trip. I kept things to the bare minimum, 3 x 1.5 litres of bottled water, a sleeping bag, a single lightweight tent, and a propane bushwalking stove. Also, my headlamp, waterproofs, a light fishing rod, tackle box, food and, of course, a small bottle of Scotch.
I’m certainly not the fittest specimen these days. As I headed out from the landing, I wondered about paddling 12 km and the return trip. From the boat landing, the river is relatively narrow, and many trees have fallen into the river (I suspect bank erosion from power craft contributes to this).
There are very few places along the river you can pull into as the bush and trees crowd the river’s edge. A small sandy bank a few kilometres down is one spot (stopped there on the way back), but otherwise, the paddle is all the way!
I camped on the mouth and had the whole place to myself. How often can you do that on an Easter weekend? I caught one small bream, but I watched guys pull in several salmon from the beach. I’ll be back.
Return Trip
Well, I did return a few weeks later, this time in my 16-foot run-about. I camped on the beach again, but his time had my surf rod and caught two good-sized salmon. I filleted them on the beach and packed them in ice, ready for the trip home. A good few kilos of meat out of two fish and the biggest thrill I’ve ever had beach fishing. On arriving home, I made a fish curry, which was fantastic. Looking forward to catching up and eating some more.
Walpole isn’t too far away, but here are a couple of other exciting things to do if you are not up to the paddling challenge: