Trip Reports | North Coast

Forster Tuncurry

Wallis Lake and Smiths Lake

4-5 March 2021

By STEPHANIE FORSMANN

We set out for a weekend trip with the Club early March to Forster Tuncurry—about 3-4 hours north of Sydney.

On the Thursday night after Melissa fixed her Pittarak, Simon had a beer and we all had a bit of a chit-chat, we packed the trailer with the boats ready for our weekend away. Some paddlers were already in the lake district, some left Sydney early on Friday, and some got caught in the Sydney Friday night traffic jam.

The National Parks campsite was right next to a stunning beach, which had the most glowing sunrise on Saturday morning.

We managed to meet with all the keen paddlers in Tuncurry to paddle towards Wallis Island through all these interesting oyster farms. The wind was getting a bit feistier and the decision was made not to go around the island this time.

Forster Weekend on beach

After some fish and chips—the oysters were already sold out—and much needed coffee and gelato, we met again near the sailing club for a leisurely afternoon paddle.

The weather had turned and by the time we were on the lake it was bucketing down with rain. But wet is wet—so who cares? It was very atmospheric.

Our youngest team member, Lizzie, had to work very hard to paddle Simon around.

It didn’t stop raining, but that didn’t stop us having a nice social evening with yummy meals and funny stories. By Sunday morning, the weather had cleared and after a quick visit to the beach, we packed up the camping site and headed to Smiths Lake for a bit of a paddle.

After a lovely lunch in the park and a coffee from the nice café right next to the lake, we made our way back to Sydney.

Simon liked the idea of getting another Clubhouse near the lakes and promised to have a word with our Treasurer! Thank you to Simon for organising the trip overall and the camping. Thanks to Melissa for sorting out the finances—and thanks everyone for coming and sending through all these great photos!

Forster Tuncurry 2021-03-04
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