Thomson River Environmental Flow Kayaking

****EDIT 6/4/23: Against all expectations there has been a release announced which has a peak flow on the weekend of 21/4. Please attend the trip meeting on 11/4 to confirm a place.

****Edit 27/3/23: This trip is looking increasingly unlikely. The most recent announcement from the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority at the start of March was that there was no releases planned. If nothing else is announced by April 3rd then this trip will likely be cancelled altogether.

The Thomson River usually does an environmental release sometime around mid-end of April which makes it one of the best whitewater rivers in the state for progressing beyond Yarra trips.

The exact dates for the release have yet to be announced, but watch this space. 

The best section is Brunton's Bridge to Cowwar Weir. It's about 30km of paddling, so either a very long day, or an overnighter.

To kayak this section, you should be comfortable paddling whitewater for more than a couple of hours with overnight food and sleeping kit in drybags in your stern, and be capable of self rescue in the case of a capsize.

Expected costs for the trip are gear hire of $30 with a $50 deposit, plus fuel costs (TBD).

Attendance at the meeting two Tuesdays before the trip is mandatory.

There will be a rafting trip running concurrently for this section too. If you cannot kayak at this level, please consider signing up to rafting instead.