Bundeena to Shellharbour gps route
There is something special about travelling along some coastline I’ve never travelled before. Plain enjoyable. And if you do it in a way you’ve never done too, even more enjoyable.
I set myself the challenge of paddling from Bundeena to Currarong in 2 two days, consecutive, fully loaded kayaks, no onshore lunch stop. Simple enough concept.
But where do we overnight, what are our options for exit and who do I go with and how do I get back to Sydney from Currarong?
After some negotiations, I teamed up with Mark S, Richard B and Phil N for the paddle. John P agreed to provide the back haul and he organised his own Jervis Bay paddle to coincide with our paddle southwards.
Shellharbour to Culburra gps map
The paddle was a fair distance, some 127km.
Day one, we set out at 5am and paddled to Shellharbour, 78km to the south. We arrived around 5pm on an easy beach landing and humped our yaks up the beach into the caravan park.
Day two, we set out at 7am and paddled to Culburra, slightly shy of our plan but still 49km further south. We arrived around 4pm which was the cut off time arranged with John P. Although around 10km shy of the mark, the practicalities were such that John was kind enough to drive us but didn’t want to hang around forever. We all had to work on Monday.
Phil N took an early exit, Gibbon Bommie. He’d forgotton his medicine which was pretty crucial for him. That was rough justice for him to leave us, for sure.
We saw the sunrise, crusied the cliffs of the Royal National Park, explored sea caves (yes, we didn’t simply blast our way southwards, we explored and enjoyed the journey too), checked our the Sea Cliff Bridge up and close (Richard is an engineer and was in awe), and journed past various picturesque Woollongong beaches, lighthouse, sky divers, surfers, fishing villages and Port Kembla and we enjoyed the varying landscapes.
On the Sunday, we poked into the cove on tip of Bass Point, Bushrangers Bay, and paddled as far as we dared into Kiama Blowhole and across Shoalhaven Bight into a moderate headwind.
A trip to remember for sure.
When people have asked what it was like to paddle that far, I’ve always answered it is fine, you just need to get up early. Good company and distracting coastline all helps too
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