Clarrie Hall Dam

The shoreline of the dam on Doon Doon Creek is lined with yellow waterlillies, and their dinnerplate sized green lily pads, but amongst the yellow flowers is a much less common (here at least) blue waterlilly. The small village of Uki is three kilometres away, one kilometre out to the Kyogle Road, and two kilometres east towards Murwillumbah. (15 kms away from Uki). The public boat ramp for Clarrie Hall Dam is around the other, upstream, side of the dam, at Crams Farm at the end of Doon Doon Road. If you are prepared to carry your canoe or other non-motorised boat 60 metres down to the water, you can launch at the dam end. There is a safety exclusion area near the dam wall and spillway, marked by a line of buoys in the water, but you can comply with that limitation, and still access the water. The small car park area here sees regular traffic of fishermen launching canoes, kayaks and sit-on-tops, and the dam has a good reputation for Bass fishing. A NSW Fishing Licence is required to fish here. The southern launch site at Crams Farm puts you on the water surrounded by open flat grazing pastures, and the dam has some wide reaches. Down at the dam wall, the water is closed in by heavy forest, and some small drowned gullies that are lined with rainforest vegetation. The canoe paddler can venture up these arms of the dam, and at high water levels, even find the rain forest creeks that flow out of the hills.

Stegleitz

Russel Island

Swan Bay

The distance from the launch point near the dam wall (centre top of the photo, below) down to the creek entering on the right, is about one kilometre, so this area of the dam is easy access even to occasional paddlers. If the dam water level is below 61.7 metres (that means about 20cm over the spillway) you will not get access to some of the upper parts of those side creeks, and the BOM rainfall and river data webpages are the place to check on that. ( http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/flood/rain_river.shtml ) with the information available as a subset for the Tweed, Brunswick, Richmond Wilsons, Clarence rivers. At lower water levels there are still many quiet side arms to explore. A day with low wind is recommended for the photographer who wants to capture the yellow water lillies on a mirrored water. Mt Warning is a backdrop for photos taken looking back to the dam wall. There is no camping or evening access to the dam, but you can camp at Midginbil Hill or Mt Warning Rainforest Park (search those terms for information). The village of Uki is a good coffee stop, and I have included a photo of the originally steam driven, half a tonne butter churn, at the Buttery in Uki, as I like to share that kind of thing. The next few pages are photographs taken on the water.

image below: Clarrie Hall dam near the dam wall. the road in, is evident as a pale line finishing right of the dam wall, and one hundred metres past it. There is a locked gate at 60 metres short of the water.

Stegleitz

Russel Island

Swan Bay

above: butter churn, Uki

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

Russel Island

Swan Bay

right: creek entering the dam

right: side creek on the dam

Atkinsons Dam is located less than 15 kilometres from the small town of Lowood, near

Wivenhoe Dam, so is easily accessible to Brisbane residents. The dam is the powerboat playground for the area, and gets visitors for waterskiing, wake boarding, and jet skies. On the last day of 2011 when I visited, the wind was quite strong, and the powerboats were towing children on tubes. For about five years the dam was bone dry, and the fishing has probably not recovered that much, despite restocking. The satellite photograph below was taken in April 2010, and shows the dam at full levels. Amazing. isnt it, that the blue green algae that occurs in these dams that get agricultural fertilizer runoff, shows from outer space?

Stegleitz
right: Water levels. Note that 2002 to 2006 level was 0%.

Russel Island

Swan Bay

If you have a sat nav system in your car, you should not have any problems finding the dam, but I ended up taking the scenic route through the little town of Coominya, after going through Lowood, so I have put up a map. Lowood itself is six kilometres west of the road to Esk, turning west just north of Fernvale, next to the Fernvale school.

There are a couple of boat launch ramps around the dam, the easiest being the one just west of the dam wall, visibile as a long straight white line on the top right of the dam, in the photograph above. The ramp is at a privately owned camping ground, but entry for day use is free. On the southern side of the dam is the Glengarry Boys Brigade camp, a Scout Grounds, and a scientific reserve (no access) for vegetation regeneration research. That scientific area (there is a sign on Watsons Road, completely faded) is the dense bush and trees visble across the dam from the Atkinson Dam Waterfront Caravan Park.

Swan Bay

The dam is in flat open country, and a high wave can be pushed up by the wind, but the shoreline at the Caravan Park lakefront is very user friendly, and children should be able to canoe close to shore with minimal risk. I . have seen tranquil water sunset photographs on Flickr, so at times there is the opportunity for a quiet canoe paddle. The dam dimensions are roughly 4.0 kilometres east west, and 1.8 kilometres north south at the widest. It is only one kilometre across at the narrowest. There seems to be a restriction of 15 powerboats operating on the dam at any one time, and skiers and wakeboarders must travel anticlockwise. The dam is big enough that canoeists can soon be out of hearing if they find the powerboats too noisy. Paddle during the week, out of school holiday times, and the skiers, who are hard working family people, will be absent, as will the children.

above: overnight campers on the long weekend, New Year 2012. The dam wall is visible to the far left.

below: looking across the wide part of the dam (1.8km) to the southern shore

Swan Bay

There are occasionally blue-green algae warnings for the dam, and the waters closed to recreational use. Once upon a time, up to 1970, this site was Atkinsons Lagoon, a naturally occuring waterhole and marshland. There is still a string of lagoons stretching from Gatton (Lake Clarendon) down to Coominya. The Scouts webpage about the dam has this to say about the wildlife ... As the water levels rise and drop after dry and wet years, Lake Atkinson and Seven Mile lagoon go from flood water to totally dry. Glossy Ibis, Avocets and Stilts and Dotterels appreciate the drying margins and when the lakes are flush ducks, such as Pink-eared Ducks are in their hundred. Cotton Pygmy-Geese occur in Lake Atkinson regularly and Freckled and Blue-billed Duck have been recorded in Seven Mile Lagoon. A group of Ground Cuckoo-shrikes have take up residence on Boyce Road. They are often near the pink caravan close to Watson Road. Banded Lapwing are often seen if you go east on Watson Road from the Boyce Road junction. images below: day use area, New Year (top) and below, campers. The shoreline is user friendly

Swan Bay

Crossing a river with a pack

It is not difficult to prepare yourself for crossing deep water with a backpack, and to keep the pack and its contents dry. Most walking tracks avoid crossing rivers except at bridges, and Park authorities will often provide the bridge in National Parks, and route the track to, and across the bridge. A notable exception to this is the walking track from Harrys Hut to Campsite 3 in the southern Cooloola National Park, where the Noosa River must be crossed immediately east of the Harrys Hut camping grounds. As this part of the river is still tidal, the walker must decide whether they want to swim across with their pack, and chance an encounter with marine wildlife. The same goes for high tide crossings of saltwater creeks on the east coast of Hinchinbrook Island, where the concern is not bullsharks, but saltwater crocodiles. When you plan a walk that doesnt follow a known track, or cuts across country, you may find it convenient, or distance saving, to cut actross the arm of a lake or dam, or cross a river, so here are some notes on the simple system that works. Be aware that swimming in unfamiliar water can lead to encounters with submerged logs, branches and so on. I once did a lake crossing on Moreton Island and found that a good name for the reeds growing in deeper water was razor reeds.

Russel Island

Swan Bay

The gear needed to accomplish your water crossing is a pack liner, a plastic tarpaulin, and some cord. The pack liner you use, should not be, in my opinion, the soft. easily torn black plastic garbage bag, but a stronger garden waste plastic bag, big enough to reach from top to bottom of a full sized pack and then be tied off. Woolworths sell a bag of three of them, orange coloured, for a little over a dollar. You should be using a pack liner already, as insurance against rain, and with the stronger plastic bag, the annoyance of the bag ripping as you pack and unpack the backpack, vanishes. The second item is the tarpaulin. It has to be big enough that when folded around the backpack, there are no seams near the waterline. We are talking about 3.0m x 3.0m or so, the kind that sells for about $4.00 at autoshops. A tarp like this is an asset on a walk. Superlight in weight, and, next to no size, carried on top of everything else in the pack, it can be used to sit on at every stop, to keep off leaches and ticks. Replace when it gets holes in it, or repair with some duct tape both sides. So, to the water crossing. Everything in the pack is in a waterproof plastic bag liner. In dry weather, there is no need to tie off the plastic bag, but for this, it is time to tie a simple overhand knot. Place the backpack on the tarp, and fold the tarp so the seams are on top, away from the water. Tie with cord. It is a good idea to do this next to the water, as a backpack without carrying straps, when wrapped up, is an awkward bundle. If you are not wearing sandals for your crossing, and you have your shoes in the wrapped bundle, and are going to swim across barefoot, take great care, as the weight of the packHall Dam wall above: butter churn, Uki below: Clarrie as you enter the water and leave it can easily lead to impalement by sticks etc. It is surprising how high the wrapped package floats in the water. You will push it across the water using a frog kick. If the journey is some distance, you will find you can rest by leaning on the pack.

Russel Island

pack liner

tieing off the bag liner

wrapping the backpack

all the edges are on top

Renewal on the Brisbane River

The summer floods of 2010 / 2011 were quickly forgotten by those people whose residences or businesses were not underwater. A couple of days of parts of Brisbane City being closed to vehicle traffic, then the river went back down, things dried out, and soon life was back to normal. Low lying suburbs affected by the rising flood waters are still recovering. One of the consequences of those rushing flood waters was the scouring out of public facilities next to the Brisbane River, such as boat launching ramps and pontoons, and playgrounds. Part of the problem is the hesitation to replace facilities that the river could then rise and repeat the same disappearing act with. The childrens playground at Colleges Crossing, on the Brisbane River at Karana Downs has not been replaced. The one new shelter shed near the boat ramp at Colleges looks like it has been designed to withstand a category 5 cyclone, with massive steel posts and tonnes of ugly concrete. Brisbane City Council has been working for over a year now on repairing and replacing facilities. The boat ramp on Meiers Road next to the Indooroopilly Golf course is still (January 2012) a work in progress, with the access road closed a kilometre away. (photo below of the washed out ramp)

above: butter churn, Uki

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

Russel Island

On the following pages the magazine looks at canoe launch and exit points that have been under repair, and also explores four small creeks that those launch points give access to. The launch points are Horace Window Reserve, Corinda, canoe pontoon Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp Jindalee boat ramp Richardson Park Goodna boat ramp The creeks are Moggill Creek Pullen Pullen Creek Wolston Creek Woogaroo creek opposite the river from the Jindalee boat ramp 4 km upstream from Jindalee boat ramp 4 km downstream from Richardson Park boat ramp next to Richardson Park boat ramp

This list is not exclusive. There are other launch places; the determined scrambler can probably launch from some residential roads that run close to the river, and there are hundereds of private jetties and pontoons on this stretch of the river. Make the most of the tides, they can run at a pace that when contrary, turn a short paddle into a hard slog. Dont get marooned up the top end of some of these small creeks by a falling tide. top: Brisbane River near Wolston Creek lower: Brisbane River, Fig Tree Pocket

Russel Island

Horace Window Reserve - Corinda

The Horace Window Reserve in Corinda is a pleasant river side park. By midway through 2011 the gardening works by City Council, at this park, had removed the effects of the floods, which had scoured some areas, and dumped river mud on others. In December 2011, and January 2012, other public works were carried out, to provide a canoe launch pontoon on the river. Here in the suburb of Corinda, the Brisbane River is lined with houses, set back from the banks. Opposite to the river from this particular reserve is the Lone Pine Sanctuary, but from the river, the shores appear only as tree lined greenery. The river here is still tidal, as it will be all the way up to Colleges Crossing. There is a rocky bar down at the waters edge at the Corinda Reserve, and the tide can flow strongly past it. Now that the launch facility is operational, there are canoe river paddles to consider that make use of the rivers tidal flow.

above: butter churn, Uki

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

Russel Island
above: Horace Window Reserve, Corinda below: view of above park from 500m upstream (Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp)

above: river view, upstream from the launch pontoon, Horace Window Reserve Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp is on the river corner, right, 500m upstream.

below: river view, at the launch pontoon, prior to construction

above: butter churn, Uki

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

From the Horace Window Reserve, Corinda, it is 6.7 kilometres downstream to the boat ramp at Simpsons Playground, Graceville Avenue, where the Oxley Creek joins the Brisbane River. The Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp is just across the river, on the other side of the river. Canoeists going upstream will pass the Seventeen Mile Rocks park one and a half kilometre upstream, on the same eastern side of the river. It is 6.4 kilometres upstream from the Horace Window Reserve, Corinda, to the boat ramp at Mt Ommaney Drive, Jindalee. The white painted rocks at Horace Window should help you pick it out from the many private pontoons. There is a very small set of steps you could use to step out of your boat, on the immediate downstream side of the white rocks.(photograph below, left), or, of course, the new BCC canoe pontoon 60 metres downstream.

above: butter churn, Uki

above: steps Horace Window Reserve, Corinda

above: before restoration

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

below: January, 2012 - first pile done.

Russel Island

above: February, three piles and the floating pontoon in position below: February, and the work will be completed when the aluminium walkway connects the pontoon to the concreted shore approach fittings. I ran out of time with the magazine deadline, and decided to use an almost completed photograph.

Fig Tree Pocket - Boat ramp

In the Brisbane suburb of Fig Tree Pocket, down Fig tree Pocket Road from the Centenary Motorway is a public boat ramp and park. Much used by waterskiers this boat ramp is 500 metres upstream from the Horace Window Reserve in Corinda, on the other side of the river. There used to be a sandy beach here on the corner, gone with the 2011 floods. There are quite a few trees out in the water now too. If you are canoeing from Fig Tree Pocket up river to the Jindalee boat ramp, its 5.5 km away. Jindalee boat ramp in the satellite photo below, is far left, on the eastern side of the river. Fig Tree Pocket ramp is about right of the yellow diamond, and down a little, on the right hand side.

above: butter churn, Uki

below: view of Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

Russel Island

Jindalee - Boat ramp

The boat ramp at Jindalee is one of the busiest on the middle section of the Brisbane River. It is on Mt Ommaney Drive, and has been refurbished after the 2011 floods. There is a 6 knot speed limit for power craft near boat ramps, but even so, be aware that you will be sharing the river with waterskiers, boats towing tubes, PWCs (Jet Skis etc) so if you dont like that, avoid the Jindalee ramp. Once you are away from the ramp, power traffic is much less, but this area of the river is a power boat playground. If you are crossing the river to Moggill Creek, immediately opposite, dont dawdle. below: Jindalee ramp on the corner, and Moggill Creek opposite

above: butter churn, Uki

below: view of Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

Russel Island

above: look past the right hand pontoon piling to see Moggill Creek entrance

above: Jindalee boat ramp park from Moggill Creekve:

Richardson Park, Goodna - boat ramp

This boat ramp is off Brisbane Terrace, in the suburb of Goodna. The Terrace passes the historic hotel, the Royal Mail, and the Wolston Lunatic Ayulum is just a stones throw away across Woogaroo Creek. So there you have it. You can launch a canoe at Richarson Park, and canoe Woogaroo Creek, paddling a fine line between madness and the demon drink. The E.A. Richardson Park is on Noel Kelly Drive off Brisbane Terrace, and the gates are closed between 9:00pm and 5:00am. This is a pretty place, the park sits high above the Brisbane River, and picnic bench seats overlook the water. Priors Pocket is across the river. The small lake in Priors Pocket is the result of sand mining in years gone by, and as you can see, in the satellite photograph, the lake is open to paddle into.

above: view from the park across the river to the Priors Pocket lake. There isnt that much room for cars down by the waters edge, so you will probably have to drop off your canoe, and move your car back up the hill. It is only a short walk back down. Woogaroo Creek joins the Brisbane river immediately on your right elbow as you launch. The roof of one of the Asylum buildings is visible downstream from the ramp, and a photograph of the river view of that building is on the following pages, as is a photograph of the historic Royal Mail hotel, looking, like Goodna after the floods, a little beat up.

Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum

above: Royal Mail hotel

below: the ramp at Richardson Park

above: downstream from Richardson Park ramp

below: sandy beach, Priors Pocket reach, Brisbane River

above: view from the park across the river to the Priors Pocket lake

Woogaroo Creek Goodna.

Woogaroo Creek is a small watercourse that joins the Brisbane River next to the boat ramp at the E.A. Richardson Park in Goodna, Ipswich. A caravan park upstream was inundated during the 2011 floods, and sewage washed into Woogaroo Creek, which probably explains the sign warning at the junction with the Brisbane River.. The creek is in a steep little gully, mostly less than 15 metres across, and can be paddled for a kilometre and a half upstream, at the top of the tide. . It is a pretty little creek that will look a great deal cleaner when stormwater runoff is regulated upstream. Wolston Golf Course shares the eastern bank of the creek, and the kangaroos of the Gailes and Wolston golf courses can be seen up on the greens from the creek below. Creekside trees reach across the water, and the canoeist paddles upstream under the overhead branches.

image below: Woogaroo Creek entrance to the left of the boat ramp, E.A. Richardson Park

Woogaroo Creek

above: Brisbane Terrace bridge, Woogaroo Ck

below: looking to the Brisbane River from Woogaroo Ck

Moggill Creek
Moggill Creek is canoeable for the short length that is tidal. It joins the Brisbane River opposite the Jindalee boat ramp, 170 metres across the river. There is a short paddle of 1.4 kilometres up to the Rafting Ground Reserve next to Moggill Road. On the paddle upstream to the Reserve is a large diameter water pipe (1.5m?) that crosses above the creek, encountered 100 metres before the Reserve, and a small very steep boat ramp. It is possible to go another 1 kilometre upstream, past the ramp, on a full tide, in a loop around the Reserve.

above: butter churn, Uki

below: view of Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

Russel Island

left: closeup of the road into Rafting Ground Reserve and the water pipe crossing Moggill Creek. The boat ramp is right of the middle of the pipe.

above: water pipe near the Rafting Ground reserve

below: looking upstream Moggill Creek from the Brisbane River

above: the Rafting Ground reserve ramp

below: Moggill Creek near the Rafting Ground Reserve bamboo.

Pullen Pullen Creek

Pullen Pullen Creek is 4.0 kilometres upstream from Jindalee boat ramp, on the right side, facing upstream. Notice in the satellite photograph, below, Pullen Pullen Creek as the thin creek line joining the Brisbane River, in the middle of the image, from the left. Stoneworks as an erosion control measure are a pointer to the creek entrance (upper photograph).

Pullen Pullen Creek is canoeable for almost two kilometres upstream from its confluence with the Brisbane River. In the last two hundred metres or so, being the section past the very large residence built right above the creek, the creek narrows down to three metres or so wide. If you have a long seakayak or canadian canoe, you may not be able to turn around. Eventually a log jam and a small shallow rapid marks the limit of upstream progress. Very pretty in this last part.

above: pathway from Lofts Road to near the river

below: a reasonable launch siteve:

above: log jam on the upper section, and below, looking back downstream from above location.

Wolston Creek
Pullen Pullen Creek is about 4.0 kilometres upstream from the Jindalee boat ramp, on the western bank side of the river, and Wolston Creek is about 7.0 kilometres upriver from Jindalee. The canoeist should be looking to explore these tributary creeks on a rising tide (about an hour or so before the top of the tide). Run up the river with the tide, go up the creek, and return downriver with a falling tide. Centenary Rowing Club has a pontoon (photo below) 6.3 km upstream from the Jindalee boat ramp, but this is not a public facility. I have put a photo in here, so you can use it as a are we there yet? marker, when going up to Wolston Creek (another 650 metres). To the right of the rowing shells in this photo, is a storage shed. In January 2011 there was flood debris on the roof. The entrance to Wolston creek is almost invisible until very close, as it enters the Brisbane River at a slight angle.

Wolston Creek is on the eastern side of the river, where 20 metre high bluffs overlook the river. The creek usually has very little flow in it, and is only accessible due to the tidal movement of the Brisbane River. Canoeists can explore a narrow creek for about 2 kilometres or so, from the junction with the Brisbane River up to the road bridge on Wacol station Road. The tide will determine how far you can go. The creek has steep banks in its first kilometre up from the junction, and more open country adjacent in the second kilometre. The creek runs through the Wolston Creek Bushland Reserve. This is the site where BCC has committed to 2 Million Trees planting. A walking track through the reserve, from Tomkin Street, down to a picnic area next to the Brisbane River, traverses the park. (see map next page). Access to the creek from the walking path is not evident or easy; a lot of long grass over a metre high has to be negotiated. It was a surprise to canoe up Wolston creek and see the open landcape under the creekside trees, with almost no grass, just a carpet of leaves. As there are no houses for a kilometre or so from the creek, it has a serene and quiet feeling.

above: the creek entrance next to the power pylon

below: view from the creek to the Bisbane River

Walking track Wolston Creek Bushland Reserve

above: views of the park, Tomkin Street, bordering the Wolston Creek Bushland Reserve

above: view across the creek, and tree plantings

above left: the Brisbane River from the picnic area at the river end of the Wolston Creek walking track. above right: the Wacol Station Road bridge over Wolston Creek. As a launch or exit point the bridge is a muddy hole at any time other than very high tide on a large tide. The creek channel here is down to a metre or so in width, at high tide, and may be blocked by logs at any time after rain.

Rufous Night Heron

above: Wolston Creek

below: side stream on Wolston Creek

Staircase to the moon

There are a couple of places in Western Australia where the the moon rises across water on mud flats, and low tide shallow pools, creating an optical illusion of a series of steps up to the moon. One such place is Port Hedland. From Cooke Point, the phenomenon can be seen on 3 nights a month between March and October. As the full moon rises over the horizon, its rays hit pools of water that have been left by the receding tide. The Photographers Ephemeris, set for June 5 (lower image) shows the direction of moonrise. For about fifteen minutes the reflections create a beautiful illusion.

above: butter churn, Uki

below: view of Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp

below: Clarrie Hall Dam wall

Russel Island

below: view of Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp

above: sunrise across the tidal pools. All images copyright G. Rose, used with permission.

previous page: Staircase to the Moon

The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE) www.photoephemeris.com is a free download for PC and Mac, requiring the installation of Adobe Air [also free). Universal App for iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch available from the TPE site, as is Android version. The best viewing points are at Roebuck Bay in Broome, Cooke Point in Port Hedland, the Lookout at Cossack, Hearsons Cove near Karratha and Sunrise Beach in Onslow. Suggested dates for 2012 are:

MARCH APRIL

9th 7th 7th 5th 4th 3rd 1st 1st

6.40pm 6.04pm 6.35pm 6.20pm 6.06pm 6.47pm 6.23pm 6.48pm

MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER

10th 8th 8th 6th 5th 4th 2nd 2nd

7.27pm 6.57pm 7.38pm 7.24pm 7.07pm 7.41pm 7.14pm 7.38pm

11th 9th 9th 7th 6th 5th 3rd 3rd

8.17pm 7.54pm 8.40pm 8.25pm 8.05pm 8.33pm 8.05pm 8.29pm

Albert River Chardon Bridge Road

In the Spring 2010 magazine, an article on the Albert River featured a couple of photographs (below) of the low level bridge at Cedar Creek, the Chardon Bridge Road. A local reader has sent the magazine some photographs (following pages ) of the river from January 24 to January 27, 2012. The bridge re-opened to traffic on 1st February, 2012.

above: taken at 5pm 24.1.12, shortly after the bridge went under and white marker is a fair distance up the rise of the road below: this was taken at 5pm on 25.1.2012 and white marker still visible & water flowing very fast. (Ed.) Note that the image on previous page is looking from the other side of the river.

above: this photo was taken at 6am on 26.1.2012 , when the water over the above bridge was at its highest (approx 8m over bridge!) & white marker barely visible below: this photo taken at 6am on 27.1.12, water receding, white marker clearly visible and note debris