Meanderings: The Nicholson River

After several relaxing days fishing and sitting out the rain on the Tambo river we decided it was time to head out and about a mile around the corner to try our luck with the Nicholson River. Again, the Creeks and Harbours guide book said that the entrance was only 1.6m deep, but according to a recent bathymetric survey we found here the depth should be only slightly shallower than the mouth of the Tambo River - as long as we stuck close to the starboard channel markers.

We waited for the rain to clear and headed back out of the Tambo, and were relieved to find that the lake levels hadn't changed appreciably since we came in. We managed a brief sail under Genoa to the channel markers for the entrance to the Mitchel and Nicholson rivers

My kind of channel marker! who needs charts when the channel markers have direction signs? This marks the start of the channel to the Mitchel and Nicholson rivers.

At the mouth of the Nicholson we went very cautiously - although it is hard to decide what this actually means. I didn't mind running aground (gently) in sand or mud in the Tamar River on a rising tide as you would soon be free, however on the lakes there is no tide, so if you can't pull yourself back off again you are stuck. If there is wind or a current pushing you on to the shoal then this is a real possibility.

We've checked our depth sounder (don't ask how, but it involves running aground in the Tamar) and it is accurate - so we decided that at 2.2m depth we would back right off and get speed over ground down below 2 knots. We told ourselves that at 2.0m we would stop and back out. At the moment we draw close to 1.9m.

Well, entering the Nicholson we saw consistent depths of 2.1m so we coasted over these with little bursts of throttle - you do have to maintain some speed, otherwise the wind just pushes you wherever it is going, so 1.5 to 2 knots is about the minimum in practice. Anyway, 2.1 was the minimum we saw, and we made sure we recorded our inward track so we could follow it back out again. Before long we were inside and depths had increased to a much more comfortable 3m.

Over the shallow part (note the depth is now up to 2.9m) - close to where we anchored for the night near the entrance of the Nicholson River.

At that point the rain decided to return so we decided to simply drop the anchor and stop for lunch and, as it rained all afternoon, for the night. We were close to one bank, and I didn't want to wander all over the river, so we anchored with the shortest rode I have ever used - 10m on the bow roller - and had a very comfortable, dead silent and pitch black, night.

The following morning dawned fine but with a band of rain approaching on the radar, so we wasted no time upping anchor and motoring up to Nicholson over breakfast. We tied up at the jetty as the rain started pelting down.

Tied up to the jetty at Nicholson.

Fortunately the rain only lasted a couple of hours so we managed to get out and sample the truly spectacular pies home made and sold at the Nicholson General Store. Forget the "Australia's best pies" sold by the bakery in Queenscliff, the Nicholson pies are in another league entirely. They are made by "the missus" according to the man who served me and are very simply the best meat pies I have ever had - by a long shot. Don't dream of passing through Nicholson with out trying one - although, don't be late as they make one batch per day and when they are gone they are gone.

After enjoying our pies we headed off back down the river as we wanted to spend the night at Metung in order to attend the ANZAC day Dawn Service the following morning. There wasn't a breath of wind as we motored back down the river and across Lake King. This is the stuff postcards are made of, so I took a few photos and even recorded a movie which I've put on YouTube to capture the stunning stillness. Conditions remained like this all the way back to Metung. Hope you like the photos...