Georges River
Lambeth Reserve to Chipping Norton Lake
10 April 2023
By JP COLLINS
A great day exploring the Georges River and Chipping Norton Lake with fifteen paddlers from the River Canoe Club, with over 27 kilometres paddled on a lovely autumn day.
Many thanks John Ward for organising this great outing. It’s an excellent destination for the Club, only 25 minutes from the Clubhouse down the M5 Motorway, and a long stretch of flat water to build stamina over longer distances than the Cooks River but still on protected water.
We started out at Lambeth Reserve and headed north to Chipping Norton Lake, where we stopped for lunch before returning. Some incredibly fast speedboats raced by, almost fully out of the water (and quite possibly going faster than the 8 knot limit…).
Passing the Bankstown Airport en route is always fun for a bit of vintage planespotting as well. The suburbs alongside the river offer plenty of scenic views, along with some great bridges, including the iconic East Hills Footbridge.
Kathy Williams writes: Isn’t it great to get in and amongst nature and wild animals. Just a heads-up that you have to watch them friendly swans. In another group I was with at Canberra a few weeks ago, a couple of our members were repeatedly attacked by a black swan—paddlers possibly unknowingly too close to the swans youngins or breeding area, or maybe the swan was just having a bad day and fed up with us tourists…
Gary Luke writes: Some historical notes of interest. The map below illustrates the path of Georges River before sandmining and conversion to Chipping Norton Lake, with a few of the earliest land grant holders. You may also be interested in this 1975 planning document for turning the industrial sand mining area into a recreational lake.
