Paddling in Gulaga National Park

Gulaga National Park sits on the New South Wales south coast, roughly 15 kilometres south of Narooma, where a heavily forested volcanic mountain drops toward a coastal lake system.

The paddling here is flatwater — calm, tidal, and shaped by the estuary and lake that form the park's eastern edge. This is not a whitewater park; the draw is the water itself, the birdlife overhead, and the weight of country you're moving through.

Wallaga Lake is the anchor. The lake sits within the park's former Wallaga Lake National Park boundary, and a circumnavigation of its main body runs roughly 20 kilometres — a solid half-day or full-day paddle depending on conditions and how long you linger.

The launch point is on the west side of Wallaga Lake Bridge on Wallaga Lake Road at Akolele, where a small reserve with toilets makes for a straightforward put-in.

The NSW Government also notes that boats can be hired from Regatta Point or Beauty Point for those who don't bring their own. One rule matters here and it is firm: landing on Merriman Island is prohibited.

The island, named to honour Umbarra — one of the last tribal leaders of the Yuin people — was the first site declared an Aboriginal Place under the 1974 National Parks and Wildlife Act. Paddle past it, not onto it. The lake rewards quiet movement.

Black swans, sea eagles, and waterbirds are commonly seen, and the forested foothills of Gulaga rising behind the shoreline give the paddle a scale that open coastal lakes often lack.

Wind can build across an exposed lake of this size, so an early start is worth the effort. Gulaga is Yuin Country, handed back to its traditional owners in 2006.

Paddling Wallaga Lake means travelling through living cultural landscape — the kind of place where how you move matters as much as where you go.