A fun trip to Goolang Creek in NSW, and a chance for less experience members to build their whitewater skills. The trip is being led by some of club members who are undergoing leader training under the supervision of an instructor.
Duration : 6th & 7th of October (departing on the 5th)
Discipline: whitewater
Program of activity – Whitewater leader training trip. – 5th-7th October
A few members are heading down to Goolang Creek in NSW to do our river leader training. To do so, we need a group of paddlers to coach and demonstrate our river leading skills with.
This is an excellent opportunity for people new to whitewater or less experienced paddlers to increase their skills and learn new techniques. Paddlers of pretty much any level are welcome.
Training is facilitated by Rob Delderfield from Nymboida canoe center, plus those of us doing the river leader training.
We will be staying in the camp site at Nymboida canoe centre (on Goolang creek – see link to map on their home page), there is camping or cabins available. Camping will be approx $8 a night from memory, cabins are not too expensive either. Definitely a good idea if it rains a lot!
This training trip is made possible due to a 2012 Queensland Government Grant (Department of Communities) to improve club leadership depth. The grant was part of the department’s Sport and Recreation Inclusion Program (Club support category).
Timings:
Meet: UQ boat shed at 6:30 PM on Friday the 5th.
Hopefully we will manage to get the trailer packed before that – once we have a better idea of numbers. The journey is at least five hours so the earlier we can get away the better. We will be aiming to leave Sunday after lunch, arriving back in Brisbane late Sunday evening.
Timings for the actual training will be announced later once there is a program of events from the guys down there.
Costs:
- Camping: $16
- Wear and Tear contribution: $20
- Fuel: Dependent on Drivers, but we will be contributing some money to whoever tows the trailer, probably about $10. As a guesstimate, I used $120 of fuel for the round trip last time, split among 3 or 4 people that shouldn’t be too bad.
Equipment: The club can provide enough boats, decks, PFDs, Helmets and paddles.
You will need:
- Camping Gear
- Food
- Beer, substitutes such as wine, whiskey and cider may be permitted (but don’t overdo it!
- Some clothing for the water: Thermals, Boardies, Rash vest and old shoes should do it. Bring spares if possible
- Warm clothes for on (wet) and off (dry) the water, it gets cold down there.
The campsite has toilets, running water and some limited hot showers. We will probably try taking over a corner with a barbecue etc that we can all base ourselves around.
It wouldn’t hurt to bring some firewood etc as almost every piece of wood not nailed down will already have been used.
Food: For this section I have stolen a list Breck made up for a previous trip.
Meals people need to cater for:
- Breakfast Sat morning
- Lunch Sat
- Dinner Sat
- Breakfast Sun
- Light lunch Sun
Dinner Friday night and Dinner Sunday (depending on time) will be purchased while travelling. If travelling at a different time please allow for any extra meals as required. You may of course pre pack dinner for Friday night as long as it is something which does not require reheating etc.
Food: Please plan to cook using gas or fuel stoves as we have been there in the past when there is no firewood available or it is too wet to use the fire.
If we can we will use the fires, they have wood fire barbeques with hot plates and grills.
You will need to bring tongs, scrapers oil etc as none of it is supplied.
It is up to you if you cook or eat cold meals. I will personally be cooking breakfasts and dinners 🙂
You can drink alcohol there as well but keep in mind the nearest bottle shop which is definitely open is back in Grafton 35km away.
Allow for all food to stay in an esky and remember we will only have so much room.
If you are bringing meat, I suggest you consider freezing it or at least the second and third day’s meat to assist with ice and help it last. There are fridges, microwaves, kettles and gas barbecue’s up at the cabins but they are for cabin use and usually busy. We don’t use them unless we have no choice as we don’t want to annoy the camp manager.
Examples for food:
- Breakfasts:
- cereal or bread/toast with peanut butter etc.
- Bacon and eggs.
- French Toast (always easy when camping, Google will sort you out on this one)
- Lunch:
- Sandwiches or wraps.
- I don’t suggest anything you have to cook beyond maybe boiling some water for noodles.
- Wraps are healthy and easy to make and take up less space than a loaf of bread.
- Dinner:
- Go crazy here if you wish.
- We can even have a competition of who has the best dinner (some friends of mine have done this before. It got out of hand but proved what you can do when camping)
- Stir Fry’s are easy, you can get pre-cooked rice and noodles which you just have to heat up.
- Pasta (vegetarian or meat)
- Sausages and bread/hotdogs
- Salad
- Tin Food (Easy as long as you don’t burn yourself)
- Meat and Veg (any vege’s you can boil like peas and corn are easy).
- I don’t suggest any meats which require a lot of cutting as you will be eating out of your lap etc
Registration: Please register your interest soon with Niall (whitewater rep).
Feel free to contact me if you want more information.
I would appreciate if you can indicate if you have or require transport, if you can tow the trailer, and if you have roofracks.
