A Dam fine paddle

Clarrie Hall Dam does scenery like an extreme sport. Shadowed by the imposing peak of Wollumbin, surrounded by rolling green hills and pristine rainforest, edged with thousands of blue waterlilies and teeming with birdlife, it is an extraordinary setting for a Sunday paddle.

On 17 April, a group of 11 FNCCC kayakers paddled the 15km return journey from the boat ramp to the dam wall. We set off on a sunny morning through the charming but weed choked Waterlily Bay, skirting Afro Isle and the ominous Snake Island. A small detour into a tributary called Ugly Gully turned out to be surprisingly beautiful, with its overhanging forest offering welcome shade and the grey, twisted trunks of dead trees providing an eerie habitat for the abundance of water birds. Then it was onward, through a shimmering sun shower and across the dam’s wide expanses of water to our ultimate goal – the Clarrie Hall Dam wall.

The manmade lake was constructed across the Doon Doon Creek in 1984, and the 16,000-megalitre dam is now the Tweed Shire’s primary water supply, as well as a popular spot for bushwalking, fishing, boating and picnics. Paddling its clear waters, flanked by vistas of an ancient volcano formed millions of years ago, it is a place one could visit and explore many times over.

Where the Wilsons River is a bit like grandma’s house – old and musty but friendly, familiar and reassuringly safe – Clarrie Hall Dam is like an exciting new friend half your age: young, beautiful and a complete mystery, in whose presence anything could happen. Writing this short account of our paddle, with muscles aching at my office desk on a Monday morning, I can’t help but thinking what a charming and exciting diversion young Clarrie was. Even so, it will be nice to go back to grandma’s house this weekend.

Terra Sword