Paddling near Sydney, New South Wales

Sydney sits at the heart of one of Australia's most water-rich urban environments, with tidal estuaries, sheltered harbour arms, coastal bays and national-park waterways radiating in every direction. Paddlers here move between calm inner-city rivers like the Parramatta and Lane Cove, iconic harbour water beneath the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and wilder reaches on the Hawkesbury, Hacking and Cowan Creek systems inside national parks.