SNAKE ISLAND KAYAK - 2 APRIL 2016

Just before the bridge at the Hawkesbury River heading towards Sydney , one can look down onto Mooney Mooney Creek. In the centre of the creek is a small island. I've looked at that island a few times thinking how pretty it looked in such a tranquil setting. Contrastingly, it is named Snake Island.

I parked at Mooney Mooney boat ramp and launched towards Snake Island. The morning was tranquil and the sun had just risen.

It was a nice paddle 'battling'  the currents under the Hawkesbury bridges, well, not really a battle but it was a little turbulent. There are three bridges - two for the motor way and one for the local traffic on the old Pacific Highway.

Passing the bridges, I paddled turned off the Hawkesbury River and into Mooney Mooney Creek. Mangroves, houses, cliffs and fishing type businesses dotted the shoreline.

I reached a point where I turned towards Snake Island. The island was small and an easy paddle around. There was a small sandy beach where I landed and explored the shoreline of the island. It was nice placing my sole imprint into the sand as I walked. I didn't venture inland as it was steep, rocky, no paths, thick with vegetation and probably covered in snakes. I worked at Milson Island which is not far from here and it had lots of snakes so I figured this place would as well.

Leaving Snake Island (I didn't see any snakes), I paddled to the east side of the Creek and followed it towards the Hawkesbury River and Spectacle Island. I had paddled around Spectacle Island before. It is very interesting with some small sandy beaches, mangroves, thick varied vegetation, mudflats and rocks. A large hill dominates the centre of the island with sandstone cliffs tumbling downwards towards the relatively flat shoreline.

I landed on Spectacle Island and walked along the shoreline of rocks and sand.

I continued onwards towards the bridges and the parking artea. On the way, I got stuck on the mudflats. I thought it was only a short distant to deeper water but it took ages pushing very slowly through the shallow water by hand. Still, it was good exercise. :)

A pleasant 8.61 km kayak with interesting features like bridges and two islands.

CENTRAL COAST - SPECTACLE ISLAND - KAYAK - 21 april 2014

We drove to Mooney Mooney Creek car park near Peat Island. There were a lot of cars parked there. The car park had a lot of huge pot holes and there was a sign saying there were going to be parking charges soon.

After checking out the tides and a launching spot, we launched. The water was a little turbulent around the bridge area. Going under the bridge, we had driven across many times was cool.


After the bridge, there was a strong current until we reached shallower water out of the boat channel.


We paddled to Spectacle Island and along the mangrove area. Eventually, the mangroves decreased as we reached the island proper. We came ashore on a sandy area and walked around a bit. The island looked very steep and would harbor heaps of snakes so we stuck to the little beach.

We continued around the island. There were - small beaches, oyster farms, flat tidal rocks and an inlet into the mangroves. At the end of the inlet, there were four abandoned boats in various stages of rot.


We paddled back and used the boating channel to drift back to the bridge. the current there was pulling us along at about 3km/h.


A good kayak. I usually don't like more open water kayaks but the island shoreline diversity, bridges and currents made it an interesting paddle.


distance - 4.72km
time - 2h 7m