Marina service
Clarence River Council Wharves (Maclean, Ulmarra, South Grafton)
About
Clarence River Council Wharves (Maclean, Ulmarra, South Grafton) at a glance
Network of council pontoon wharves along the Clarence River at Maclean, Iluka, Ulmarra and South Grafton allowing river cruisers to stop at valley towns; the river is navigable by vessels of about 4m draft to Grafton.
Service area: Clarence Valley
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- Clarence Valley Council
- Region
- Clarence Valley
- Water body
- Clarence River
- Berth types
- casual berthing
Facilities and services
- free 24-hour berthing
- 10-amp shore power
- potable water
- floating pontoons
- pub access
- council cruising guide
About Clarence River Council Wharves (Maclean, Ulmarra, South Grafton)
Rather than a single marina, this is a string of council pontoon wharves scattered along one of the great coastal rivers of New South Wales, letting cruising boats hop from town to town up the Clarence Valley. Clarence Valley Council, working with the state maritime authority and the local tourism body, has installed floating pontoons at Maclean, Ulmarra, Brushgrove and South Grafton, with further stopping points at Harwood, Lawrence and Iluka near the river mouth. The Clarence itself sets the tone: broad, slow and working, with sugar cane barges once loaded from riverside gantries and prawn trawlers still running out through the break in the training walls at Iluka. Each stop has its own personality. Maclean wears its Scottish heritage on every street pole and its pontoon sits below a tidy riverside park. Ulmarra, classified by the National Trust, is a beautifully preserved 19th-century river port where the pontoon lands you virtually at the door of the heritage-listed Commercial Hotel. Brushgrove's pontoon rests on the South Arm beside Cowper, a village of churches and farm gates. Grafton, famous for its jacarandas, marks the practical head of navigation for deeper vessels, with the river navigable to around 4 metres draft that far upstream. The clientele is a mix of coastal cruisers ducking in over the bar at Yamba, trailer-sailer families doing the river in stages, and local runabouts tying up for a pub lunch. What distinguishes the network is that it was purpose-built for slow river touring: free, unfussy, and deliberately placed beside pubs, parks and main streets rather than in gated compounds. It is river infrastructure as hospitality, and it suits a waterway that has always moved at walking pace.
Marina facilities
Facilities are deliberately simple, and that is the point. The showpiece is the 26-metre floating jetty at Maclean, installed through a partnership between the Clarence tourism body and Roads and Maritime, which carries standard 10-amp power points with circuit breakers and potable water, both free. Stays are capped at 24 hours, which keeps the berth turning over for the steady trickle of boats working up and down the river. Ulmarra's floating pontoon is smaller, comfortable for perhaps three vessels at once, and sits a short stroll from the hotel, a cafe, the Coldstream Art Gallery and a small cluster of shops; there is a public boat ramp nearby, though it is awkward for trailer sailers. Upstream and downstream stops follow the same pattern: a floating pontoon or short jetty, a lawn or park behind it, and a pub within sight. The 25-metre floating jetty below the Harwood Bridge serves the Harwood Hotel, while Iluka's pontoon gives access to the pub and the fish co-op near the river mouth. There is no fuel at these town wharves; diesel, unleaded and a chandlery are available at Yamba Marina near the entrance, so boats planning the upriver run should tank up before leaving the coast. Nor are there showers, laundry, pump-out or repairs along the council network; these are daytime and overnight stopping points, not service yards. Booking is neither required nor possible: berths are first come, first served, and in practice cruisers report often having pontoons to themselves outside holiday peaks. The council publishes a Clarence Cruising Guide covering pontoons, hazards, bridges and provisioning, available free by post, and council's fees and charges schedule governs any commercial use of the wharves.
Local sailing knowledge
The river rewards patience and a tide table. The entrance at Yamba is protected by training walls but carries a genuine bar about a mile offshore that stands up in east to south-easterly swell; locals run the leads in around the top of the tide, when the flood can add a useful push of two knots or more, remembering the roughly two-hour tidal overrun upriver. Once inside, depths of around 5 metres are common along the main channel and holding is excellent in three to six metres if you prefer anchoring mid-river to a pontoon. Chart 222 (Clarence River and Approaches) or current electronic charts are strongly recommended. The first real obstacle is the Harwood Bridge carrying the Pacific Highway: boats with more than about 8.5 metres of air draft must telephone a day ahead to arrange a lift, and the bridge can handle masts to around 35 metres. Two free vehicular cable ferries still operate upstream and must be timed rather than rushed; wait for the yellow light to stop flashing and the cables to sink before passing. Beyond Maclean the water turns progressively fresher, the banks greener, and traffic thins to cattle, cockatoos and the occasional kayaker. Provisioning follows the pubs: the Harwood Hotel, Maclean's riverside eateries, Ulmarra's Commercial Hotel with its beer garden over the water, and Grafton's shops at the top of the run. Woodford Island, which the river wraps around, is claimed locally as the largest inland island in the world. Summer means Jacaranda Festival crowds in Grafton in late October; any month means prawns, school prawns and more prawns at the co-ops near the mouth.