Narara Creek

LOCATION: NARARA CREEK FROM GOSFORD WATERFRONT
LENGTH: 10km

This is a more interesting paddle than it might seem to locals. It has a variety of water from open to lagoon and creek, and takes in views (often filtered) of Gosford's main sporting fields:

• Gosford pool
• <insert sponsor name> Stadium, aka Grahame Park
• Adcock Park - netball, baseball, cycling, and when we went past, roller hockey
• The Entertainment Grounds, aka Gosford Racecourse
• Gosford golf course

It also passes under a low bridge that carries some of the busiest traffic in the region and it's interesting seeing the town from this viewpoint. We didn't go all the way up the creek but could have, with more time.

We started from the beach beside the yacht club ...

 Past the pool with this temporary fantastic obstacle course out on the "bay". The stadium is just visible in the background ...

 Over to the rail bridge ...

 And under it. Next time we'll wait for a train to go over ...

 A good spot to fish for Mulloway and maybe the odd flathead apparently!

Then out in to the lagoon heading towards West Gosford and Point Clare. The brick buildings are the retirement village behind the RSL.

 Up the creek with a paddle. At this point Adcock Park is on the right, visible through the trees.

 We spotted this family padding up ahead approaching the bridge where they turned back.

 Past the bridge, near McDonalds the creek stays pretty wide

Here the race course is on the right, the caller's box visible.

 This looks like the main water supply to Gosford ...

Now we pass the golf course ...

With a handy refreshment facility for golfers (and kayakers?) ...

For the first time I brought a sponge to bail out ...

This looks like a fishing pontoon made from two old boats ...

We saw lots of pelicans thermaling and cruising ...

Heading back there was a train ...

And the old bridge pylons ...

Mooney Mooney Creek

Location: Mooney Mooney Creek
Length: 6km

This is a very nice paddle - mostly protected from wind due to high ground and/or trees on each side. Also lots of shade from the trees as it was a hot day. The launch point is accessible off the Old Pacific Highway not far down from Somersby, near the bridge.

We launched just north of the old highway bridge and south of the freeway "big dipper" bridg, paddling upstream as far was we could, about 50 minutes at at leisurely pace, then 40 minutes back. Part of the Great North Walk follows the creek here and we had walked this part of the track previously.

Going under the bridge is interesting - seeing it from that perspective.
Along the way we saw some other kayakers, lush ferny groves and tall timbers. Plenty of fish were jumping and we got a real buzz seeing a big (but young?) sea eagle perched in a big old dead tree, watching us closely as we cruised by.

At launch the water looked dirty and uninviting but by the time we reached the "end" it was quite clean and unseasonably warm so we had a refreshing dip and them some morning tea on the rocks. Lots of little fish were swimming around us as we cooled off in the water and they even fed off a few crumbs we threw to them.

 

Wamberal Lagoon

Location: Wamberal Lagoon
Distance: 4.4km

The lagoon is surprisingly large, with a nice feel of remoteness and abundant birdlife. We also explored up Forresters Creek which also surprised us with how far we could paddle up.