I finally got to paddle this river over the St. Patricks weekend. As expected it held water even when everything else was really low. There was only one bumpy rapid but the rest of it was good.
There isn't much gradient but I suspect it would fly along in higher levels. It's still grade 2 but I would love to see it with high water.
At the guide book start there was a cranky 'landowner' that said we couldn't get on there as it was his land while seeming fairly unsure the expent of his land. He conceded that fishermen could use 'his land' but not kayakers. So we got on about 200m upstream on river left.
The long start is about 11.2km, including the extra to avoid the cranky 'landowner'.
The river is plenty wide so trees shouldn't be an issue, but probably wise to look at the upstream side of the start bridge just to be sure.
We got out on river left here
https://goo.gl/maps/VRziBPibnQxDUxod8. Maybe in high flows it would be easier to catch an eddie on river right and walk around. Priory Paddocks on river right says it's private and no parking. Again have a look at the get out when you're doing shuttle.
Stick to the main road for the shuttle even if google maps says to go the shorter local roads.
