Nature's Realm

Kangaroo Valley, in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales, is a stunning getaway within easy reach of Sydney and Canberra.

- Gemma Chilton

Behind us vegetation spills from shady pockets of remnant rainforest into the water. I dip a paddle and watch the whirlpools spin away from it, as the double canoe I’m sharing with my husband glides atop the water’s surface.

It’s a late morning in June and the water body we’re exploring is Lake Yarrunga, at Kangaroo Valley in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales. This humanmade lake was formed where the Kangaroo and Shoalhaven rivers merge, when Tallowa Dam was completed in 1976 as part of the water supply and hydroelectric power generation Shoalhaven Scheme. Beyond its banks are the sprawling wilderness of Morton National Park and the rolling green hills of Kangaroo Valley. Upstream is the charming Kangaroo Valley village, where the waters of the Kangaroo River pass beneath the iconic sandstone of Hampden Bridge, which was built in the late 1890s.

In 1812, when British surveyor George Evans stood atop Cambewarra Mountain while exploring north of Jervis Bay, he’s said to have seen a view “no painter could beautify”. It was the first recorded European sighting of Kangaroo Valley, an area that had been occupied for millennia by the Wodi Wodi people, the traditional owners of this part of the Illawarra coast.

WE HIRED OUR CANOE from local operators Glyn and Jenny Stones of Kangaroo Valley Safaris, who have been facilitating the discovery by water of this part of the world since 1993. They used to visit Kangaroo Valley on horseriding holidays with their kids, during which they’d occasionally rent kayaks from the local caravan park – revealing a business opportunity that would eventually become their livelihood and a local institution. Eventually the Stones’ weekender house turned into their full-time home, and six canoes and largely word-of-mouth advertising turned into more than 180 craft and a thriving tourism operation.