The Mighty Clarence River
05 October 2017
The Mighty Clarence River 6/10/2018
“One of the dominant features of the Clarence Valley region is the mighty Clarence River, a river of adventure. With 100 charted islands it is the second largest river in Australia with over 400km of pristine water from source to sea (Clarence sailing & cruising guide)”.
After a well rested night anchored in Iluka Bay/Clarence River, a plan was made. It was decided to motor up the river to Grafton and then on returning down the river we would stop off and anchor so as to explore the different townships along the way.
Our trip up to Grafton took a couple of days, hay, you can do it in a day but we were in no hurry so took our time. From Iluka we motored up to Harwood where we had booked the required lifting of the Harwood Bridge for us to go under as Kestrel’s height is 14m. The Harwood Bridge clearance above mean high water springs is 8.5m closed and 36.5m open. Booking requires 24hrs notice, we were lucking another yacht had booked the opening so this worked out good for us. We also had two cable ferry crossings to navigate and two overhead power cables to clear. This was all done with great precision by Captain Gerd.
Continuing upstream we first anchored at Brushgrove. On waking in the morning it was most spectacular as we were surrounded by fog. On clearing slowly, I got some great pictures (check out gallery). From here we motored up to Ulmarra, in which we docked on the pontoon and spent a night here. We met some friends Rick & Kate and had lunch at the pub. Great spot as it edged on the river bank of the Clarence.
After our night in Ulmarra we motored up to Grafton, this is as far upstream as we can go as the Grafton Bridge doesn’t lift. We spent several days here exploring the township, topping up our supplies of fresh produce, collecting mail and our usual visit to the local laundromat. We had a night on land with Rick and Kate, thank you both for your hospitality. From here we motored downstream to Ulmarra and spent a couple of night anchored and explored the small township with its galleries, antique, brick-a-brack shops, cafes and local pub. It has the best second hand book shop I’ve ever seen. If you’re a book lover, this is a must see. I’m not a book lover, but I was impressed.
From Ulmarra we motored to Maclean spending several nights anchored here, known as the Scottish township with 200 tartan decorated power poles. Once on land exploring we mastered to hill climb to the lookout. Good workout with the reward of lovely views.
Motoring further downstream we continued to Iluka. While anchored in Iluka Bay we explored onshore and enjoyed walking the World Heritage listed Rainforest Walking Track to Iluka Bluff lookout, more photos. We decided not to anchor in Yamba and to remain anchored in Iluka Bay, to visit Yamba it was just a short dinghy trip across the channel. This we did a couple of times, exploring the township and taking full advantage of both The Historical Hill walk & Flat walk. We had breakfast at the local Yamba markets and later on the same day we attended The Food Festival, which just happened to be at lunch time, so Flamen Kuchen (French/German cheese & onion pizza) & beer for lunch it was. I must say nowhere as good as the one we had in Germany as it was made to suit the aussie palate.
We have very much enjoyed our time on The Mighty Clarence River and the tranquillity it offers with many great photo opportunities to capture. We didn’t sail any of the river due to a certain path needing to be adhered to as there were many shallow parts in the river, and we would have been tacking every five minutes, which is no fun. The Clarence Valley Council has done a great job of making the river user friendly for boaties. Along the way most if not all small townships had public pontoons, allowing 24hrs stop over, some of which have power and water available. I made great use of our inflatable kayak on the river. On lifting anchor from Iluka we are heading to Sydney with several stop off points planned along the way, with our first anchorage being Coffs harbour.