Paddling in Mimosa Rocks National Park

Mimosa Rocks National Park sits on the far south coast of New South Wales, stretching roughly 20 kilometres along the Sapphire Coast near Bega.

The paddling here is calm-water paddling — lagoons, inlets, and coastal lakes sheltered behind the headlands and beaches that define this stretch of coastline. There is no whitewater.

What the park holds is a series of quiet, protected waters that reward a patient pace. Nelson Lagoon is the water most directly associated with paddling in the park.

It's reached by an easy walk from the road, and the lagoon's sheltered character makes it well suited to kayaking, SUP, and birdwatching from the water.

Wapengo Lake and Middle Lagoon are among the other coastal lake and lagoon systems within the park's boundaries, each connected to the sea in the way these far-south-coast waters typically are — clear-entranced, tidal at the mouth, calm in the body.

The ocean is present throughout the park, and while it draws surfers to the exposed beaches, paddlers generally work the inlets and lagoons rather than the open coast.

The headlands and rock formations that give the park its name create a dramatic backdrop, but they also signal the kind of exposed swell that makes the ocean here a different proposition from the sheltered water inside.

Mimosa Rocks is a national park, and that shapes the experience on the water in ways worth knowing before you go. Fishing is an activity the park explicitly supports, but check with NSW National Parks for any conditions that apply within the park boundary.

Campgrounds are available for those who want more than a day trip, including sites accessible to motorhome and camper trailer setups — useful if you're carrying boats. The far south coast runs quietly.

These waters don't get the traffic of the more-visited NSW coast, and that's exactly the point of coming here.