The Rare Pleasure Of An Early Row
The Sunday Age
Sunday March 10, 1996
THE ONLY sounds are pipping bird calls; the dominant movement, oars slicing the mirrored water surface. This is Brogo Dam, north of Bega, on the far south coast of NSW.
An early morning row across the dam is a rare pleasure. A gentle layer of mist lingers on the glassy surface, the surrounding Wadbilliga National Park bush sits tranquil and the only people in sight are on the canoe ahead.
Dave Thorsell's Wadbilliga Wilderness Canoe trips are the only ones of their kind operating there. The dam, once you leave the ramp and walled area, is more like a lake than a water catchment utility. Enclosed by bush against a backdrop of hills, it is bordered in part by sheer cliffs and acts as the watering hole to a variety of wildlife.
An eight-kilometre-an-hour speed limit keeps motorised boats to minimum and few other people use it, Mr Thorsell says.
Visitors have the option of two trips: a half-day row through the dam to Nelson's Creek or a full-day excursion to gorges at the end of the dam.
As he rows, he speaks of the history of the dam, and the flora and fauna: the Coast Myall wattle with its waxy blue leaves used by Aboriginals to make boomerangs, some native orchids gripping to a granite rockface, a stand of rare eucalypts.
The bare trunks of dead gums rise hauntingly out of Nelson's Creek ahead, a water dragon basking in the first burst of sun, skulks away.
Dave Thorsell is a not a seasoned bushie - he has pieced together a knowledge of the species he sees by talking to botanists and locals - and his previous experience of boats was a world away. He once worked on naval vessels, then drove tugs around Sydney Harbor.
He and his wife Sue, left the city seven years ago to buy a bush block near the dam and build a mudbrick house.
Mr Thorsell launched his canoe business in 1994 and says he has enjoyed good feedback ever since. High season is the three months to April and he hopes to extend the trips throughout the year, mostly with school groups.
Wadbilliga Wilderness Canoes. Telephone: (064) 927-328.
© 1996 The Sunday Age