Paddling in Currawinya National Park

Currawinya sits in the far southwest corner of Queensland, near the New South Wales border at Hungerford, where the arid outback holds something unexpected: permanent water.

The park's paddling is flatwater and slow-moving — lake surfaces and river reaches in a landscape that is otherwise dry and dusty for much of the year. This is not a whitewater destination. It is a place where the water itself is the event.

Lake Numalla is the primary paddling water in the park. Fed by floodwaters from the Paroo River, it holds freshwater and is generally permanent — unusual in this part of arid Queensland.

Canoes and kayaks are permitted on the lake, but motorised boats and jet-skis are not, which keeps the surface quiet.

That matters here: the lake and its surrounds are part of a Ramsar-listed wetland complex of international significance, and the waterbird populations it supports are genuinely large.

Paddling quietly across Numalla puts you in the middle of that, not watching from a distance. The Paroo River is also open to canoe and kayak travel.

Like the lake it feeds, it moves at the pace of the outback — unhurried, wide, and shaped by flood rather than gradient.

Lake Wyara, the saline lake separated from Numalla by a few kilometres of sand dunes, is not listed as a paddling water; its conditions vary dramatically and it regularly dries to a claypan.

All access roads to the park are unsealed and become impassable when wet, so timing matters well before you reach the water. A 4WD is recommended. Camping requires a permit, and the park is genuinely remote — carry what you need.

Swimming is permitted on Lake Numalla and the Paroo River alongside paddling. The rules here are light but firm: no motors, no jet-skis. The Ramsar listing is not background detail — it is the reason the water is worth paddling at all.