Day 16, Tooleybuc - River Track Narrung, 27 Oct

It’s depressing on the river this morning, the water level’s way below it’s regular height and the banks are high, so I can’t see anything on the land around me. There’s also no wildlife around here, I stopped to listen hard but there was nothing, not even birdsong! Thankfully I eventually pass some people camping, living and fishing on the riverside to say hello to. Meet Pan a few hours into the day but there’s no clean exit point so I carry on. When I get hungry there’s still nowhere to get out so I drift along, eating on the kayak. There’s no room for plates and a glass of wine on here but I can think of worse ways to dine!

In the afternoon, the river’s as still as a lake for the entire journey, it doesn’t let up at all and my shoulders ache. I must be approaching a choke which is preventing good river flow. I stopped to take pictures and a video of some more carp. There were 20 or so chomping at the bank, breaking down huge chunks of earth there, they really widen the river and make a mess of the water. They sounded like vacuum cleaners, biting and sucking to get their food!

Arrive at camp quite early and settle down for some much-needed snacks before taking a power nap – my body just needs a break! There’s a fair bit of rain this evening but we manage to eat a great steak cooked over the campfire and go to bed well-nourished again! Before I turn in I put a stick in the bank to measure any water level change overnight.

Distance paddled: 57 km

Day 15, Speewa Punt – Tooleybuc, 26 Oct

A smooth day, no dramas, there was a section full of snags but I managed to negotiate them without any trouble. Just before I reached Tooleybuc I came across half a dozen bottom-feeding fish, I’d say around two feet long and 5kg each, must have been those carp that mess the water by rooting around the river bed and throwing up all the rubbish that settles down there. I watched them do their thing for ten minutes then left them to it and finished my day’s paddling.

Thanks to Mal at Tooleybuc Caravan Park for donating a site to us!

Day 14, Caelli Lane - Speewa Punt, 25 Oct

Another good paddling day and I get to our caravan park well ahead of time, I can’t see Pan as I pass, he couldn’t check in to our site just yet, so I plough ahead. Took a shortcut and found myself suddenly tearing through this rapid-like section 200m long and 30m wide, had to be alert and nimble - a nice exhilarating change of pace from the normal drifting! I pass Speewa Island and Pan ends up picking me up at Speewa Punt, where there’s a cable ferry that carries cars across the river two at a time.

After an interview and some photos with the Swan Hill Guardian, we meet the Swan Hill Lions Club at the RSL Club for a good feed - thanks to Greg Cruickshank and the rest of the Lions Club for their help and donation and to the RSL club and it’s members for contributing greatly to our kayak raffle.

Thanks to BIG4 Swan Hill Riverside holiday park for donating the site to us – right at the water’s edge where the Little Murray River meets my Mighty Murray River - perfect!

Day 13, Barham - Caelli Lane, 24 Oct

A good temperature today, the morning really stimulated the senses, house wood fire fumes and cool crisp air on the nose and sawmill saws vibrating in my ears. A busy but peaceful atmosphere - it’s great to be alive! Pan slept in, so I left him to rest and carried my kayak the 20 yards from our site at the Barham Caravan and Tourist Park to the boat launch right in front of it.

The river was winding loads through Guttrum State Forest and around Murrabit but I felt like I was paddling well so in the afternoon I kept at it to get as far downstream as possible and ended up covering a good distance. We camp by the river in the Loddon Floodway area.

Distance paddled: 90 km

Updated itinerary

Hi

Please note my updated itinerary. Apologies to all that I missed at Barham due to our error in planning. The final week will probably change a little so that I can arrive in the early afternoon in Murray Bridge on Sunday 17 November.

Thanks,

Tony

Location                                     km         Expected Date

OCTOBER 2013

Hume Weir to Albury                    50           12 Oct

Albury to Howlong                        60           13
Howlong to Corowa                      48           14

Corowa to Bundalong                    58           15  Lunch

Corowa to Yarrawonga                  75           15  Evening

Yarrawonga to Cobram                 65           16

Cobram to Tocumwal                    148          17/18/19

Tocumwal to Barmah                    65           19

Barmah to Echuca                        48           19/20
Echuca to Barham                        182          21/22/23
Barham to Swan Hill                     110          24/25
Swan Hill to Nayh                         46           26 lunch time approx.

Nayh to Tooeybuc                        31           26  late afternoon

Tooeybuc to Boundary bend           91           27/28

Boundary bend to Robinvale           89           29

Robinvale to Euston                      4             30

Euston to Wemen                         49           30

Wemen to Colignan                      74            31
 

NOVEMBER 2013

Colignan to Mildura                       97           1/2 Nov

Mildura to Wentworth                    55           3

Wentworth to Neds Corner            110          4/5 

Neds Corner to Murtho                  79           6/7

Murtho to Renmark                      68           8

Renmark to Lyrup                        30           9

Lyrup to Berri                              42           10

Berri to Loxton                            37           11

Loxton to Cobdogla                       46           12

Cobdogla to Waikerie                    59           13

Waikerie to Cadell                        52           14

Cadell to Morgan                          12          14

Morgan to Blanchtown                   43           15

Blanchtown to Swan Reach            31           15

Swan Reach to Nildottie                 20           16

Nildottie to Purnong                      37           16

Purnong to Younghusband              20           17

Younghusband to Mannum             18           17

Mannum to Willow Banks               30           17

Willow Banks to Murray Bridge       12           17 FINISH Sunday

 

Day 12, Sand Bar Bend – Barham, 23 Oct

 

I’m naming today 'Four Seasons Day', because the weather seemed to go through an annual cycle three times over. Temperature-wise, it was comfortable throughout so a good day for paddling.

 

 

Said hello to a roo drinking at the bank. Tired after a days paddling, I was excited to finish when I rounded a bend and thought I saw Barham on the horizon, only to see a river distance sign saying ‘1534’, the remaining kilometres to the mouth of the river, which meant another 10km for me to arrive at Barham – bummer! Well, I dug in and slogged out the remainder, pulling up right in front of the caravan, in a site donated to us by the nice folks at Barham Caravan and Tourist Park – thanks heaps, guys!

 

 

Distance paddled: 68 km

Day 11, Bail Road – Slaughter House Bend, 22 Oct

 

 

Start the day by paddling 20km to Torrumbarry Weir, hopefully there’ll be some flow pushing me along on the other side! It was strange passing through the lock, gliding between the gates, sinking down five meters while the lock water fell and going through the second gate to move on to the next section of river. I felt like a king entering a huge fort or a character out of The Lord of the Rings when I passed through those gates!

The river around here isn’t as nice as further up around Yarrawonga and those towns. At one point there was a cormorant diving for fish and I chased it for a while – those things need a long strip to take off once their feathers are all wet. Serves me right for messing with nature - I ran into some snags and almost got my rudder caught up while following that bird!

 

Another cloudy one today and actually got some rain while paddling, but thankfully it was just a cool, refreshing shower. It was good to have Pan in the Land Cruiser leading the way today, River Track in Gunbower Island State Forest runs alongside the Murray downstream from the weir. After a hard day’s slog, we had a drive back along the track, an emu running across our path, coming to rest at Torrumbarry Weir Holiday Park right next to the weir – thanks to Peter for donating the site to us!

Distance paddled: 59 km

Day 10, Echuca – Bail Road, 21 Oct

 

 
Today I saw something moving along the surface of the water in the distance and was surprised when I got closer to see that it was a kangaroo swimming across! I stopped and watched it struggle on. When it got to the other bank, it just flopped out onto the mud gasping, it spent so much energy crossing. Roos – not designed for swimming!

Other than that, a fairly quiet day, had some frustrations struggling with phone reception and not finding Pan for some distance - was so hungry by the time we met up at the end point! There was no flow to the river at all so I had to work all the way, and whenever I rested for a moment to have a drink break, it would take some effort to get moving again. Thankfully it was overcast so I didn’t have the sun baking me and draining excess energy! Caught some more nice paddle steamers and houseboats and met a fisherman who swears by using mozzarella cheese for bait!

 

Distance paddled: 58 km

Day 9, Barmah – Echuca, 20 Oct

Pan’s notes - My first paddle!

Tony’s nephew is putting us up for the night in Echuca and he kindly came to get our wheels from Barmah so that I can paddle my first leg with Tony. We’ve got over 50km today, ‘an easy run’, he says – I’m not so sure!

Well, it was plain sailing, I don’t know what all the fuss is about, I could do this marathon no problem if I wasn’t driving! Actually, it was tough work. I was ok up until lunchtime about four hours in, when we had a basic meal – sardines and bread never tasted so good! And I got some extra protein from all the flies landing on my sandwich as I was shoveling it in!

After that I paddled as fast as possible sometimes because I just wanted to reach our end point and get out. I had to stop paddling quite often and just float along for some rest as I was getting really tired. I looked at Tony and marveled at how effortless he made it look - I think I was trying too hard, not working efficiently and wasting a lot of energy. There were points that we’d turn a corner and be facing a headwind, and we just had to dig deep to plough through those stretches so that they didn’t slow us down too much.

The landscape was similar throughout the journey – mainly banks a few metres high and gum trees galore. We passed by a long-necked turtle perched on a fallen tree but other than that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, just ducks and other common wildlife. It was a hot and thirsty day too - I got very hungry along the way.

There were a lot of houseboats, some plain but some more modern and most of them with joke names like Liquid Assets. There were some parties going on riverside and a lot of speedboats cruising around pulling kids on rings and people on boogie boards and skis. Most of them slowed down for us and kept clear so their wakes didn’t affect us too much, but there was one group of idiots that came straight for us like we were playing chicken but Tony stared them down and scared them off with one of his booming guttural river roars – nice one, fella!

All around Echuca were paddle steamers & houseboats, some of them glorious old relics. This morning they had a race where a bunch of folks run along the bank trying to beat a steamer. Also love the sound of the annual water-skiing competition they have around this area in February, I’d love to catch it next year, but I think I’d just watch safely from the banks! We were pretty jealous to see the tourists and locals having a leisurely drink on the boats and up at the pubs on the rickety old historic wharf, but they cheered us on and I was happy to be on the home straight. At one point we were paddling slowly and taking in the sights and there was a paddle steamer ahead which I thought was pulling in, but all of a sudden it blared it’s horn and I realized I was staring down the barrel of two four-metre water wheels – better get out of the way, and fast! The driver didn’t seem to care either, he just ploughed right ahead – well, I suppose we shouldn’t have been over that side. Almost chewed up by a paddle steamer – Tony cracked up and said he’d never seen me move so fast!

I was elated to see the town’s bridge, our end point at last! But then Tony delivered the bad news that we were now going to go further downstream and left down the Campaspe River, which runs past the end of his nephew’s house. Well, I hate to think how I looked right then but I wasn’t happy! Disheartened, I cracked on to the finish line and was relieved to get out onto the muddy bank that awaited us.

All in all, we covered around 65km – not bad for a day’s work and a first paddle. Tony congratulated me for my effort but I think he may have been flattering me a bit when he said I was a natural in the kayak! Thanks, buddy!

I was already in awe of this challenge Tony’s taking on, but now I have a new-found admiration of him, it’s no mean feat just doing a day’s paddling, so over a month of it every day without break is astonishing! I don’t know where the man gets his energy from… maybe it’s the peanut butter and sugar sandwiches that do the trick! This is a really impressive journey and good on him for all the planning and preparation work he put in, and the work he’s still doing, to raise money for the Australian Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.

A special thanks to Mozzi Boat Loaders ( http://www.mozzi.com.au/ ) for their generous donation to the foundation.

I managed to lose Tony’s photos of today when I was transferring them which I’m very annoyed about, so sorry there’s no pretty pictures to see…     : (

Day 8, Picnic Point – Barmah, 19 Oct

 

 

Continue my journey down the Murray River, currently where it separates Barmah National Park to the south from Millewa National Park to the north. Only a few km down I pass Picnic Point where Pan and I had planned to meet for lunch today! We couldn’t contact each other last night because reception was down, so I guess I’ll catch up with him at Barmah. Halfway to Barmah, the river passes between Moira Lake and Barmah Lake and as the river’s high it’s joined to the lakes, so I paddle through a vast, impressive area of water - it’s a bit rusty in colour but doesn’t smell dodgy!

I arrive in Barmah nice and early at 11am, and I suppose it was meant to be, because there’s a Murray Mini Marathon getting going under the bridge. Five canoe races started by an old powder rifle – I had to have a go on that and fired her off to start the last race – loud and smokey, thanks, guys! Laid into the gun’s butt are Red Cross Murray River Canoe Marathon medals awarded to the owner for accumulating miles over the years – they’ve covered some serious distance racing down here!

 

 

 

We park up at the Barmah Perch Caravan Park, the river is quite high around here and there’s a picnic table that looks like it’s floating in it! Meet the Nathalia Lions Club at the Barmah Hotel for a nice meal. Thanks to John the publican for donating bottles of wine to the raffle and to Max and the other Lions for their work and donation, had a great time talking to everyone and hearing about the area and their farming and other work.

 

 

Day 7, Tocumwal – Picnic Point, 18 Oct

 
Another cold night and a cold but pleasant misty morning. The day got hot and it was nice paddling, the only obstacle being a tight zig-zagging section. Saw an old steam train by the river, a hawk swooping down for ducklings and then about 20 roos all drinking on a beach (not XXXX Gold, but that would make a great advert!). I stopped and slowly went for my camera but one of them saw me before I could get it out and they all shot off.

 

Met Pan at Morgan’s Beach near Ulupna Island for a quick break. Damn, it’s hot in my paddling clothes today!

 

I have about 150km to cover today and tomorrow to reach Barmah, so I paddle hard and stop when I realize I’ve done 90km today – that’s good, I won’t have so long to travel tomorrow! I warm up some grub in my billy can, set up my camp and turn in.

 

Day 6, Cobram – Tocumwal, 17 October

It was a much milder morning but by the time I got on the water at 7am it was overcast and the wind was picking up, I didn’t much fancy fighting the wind again but I wanted to get going. There was a slight soreness in my shoulders but they do feel like they’re getting used to the punishment now so they should be good from now!

 
 

The river is slowing and there’s not as much meandering. It’s still windy and the waves were a foot high breaking over the kayak. It was a good run though, reached the end point quicker than expected, shame we missed each other at our planned location, Green Beach, for a break.

Tomorrow night I’ll be camping by the river by myself as there are no access points for Pan to meet me riverside. I’ve packed my kayak with a tent and food to see me through. I’ll have so much time on my hands as I won’t have to do all the work that useless pom is meant to be doing (only kidding!), so I reckon I’ll be able to finish recording my expedition anthem onto my phone, singing out loud to myself as I wade down my beloved river Murray!

 

Pan’s notes

Once Tony had set off this morning, I had a dip in the river, nice and sandy right to the middle of the stream and not quite as cold as I thought it’d be – a good refreshing wake-up call though! I was busy writing the blog for a while and I ended up arriving late to meet Tony for lunch at Green Beach - when I got there it was more difficult to drive through the parkland than expected. I took the plunge pulling the caravan through a big puddle and had some hairy moments taking it through 4WD territory, sending groceries in the caravan everywhere – carnage! Unfortunately I was too late by the time I found the right spot and Tony had passed by earlier.

I caught up with him at Tocumwal and all was fine, we parked up on Apex Beach, right next to a koala in a redgum. Tony said it was only about the fifth koala he’s seen in the wild so he was as happy to see it as I was, and it was funny to hear it grunting like a pig later on while we were eating over the campfire.

 

 

 

 

 

Met the nice folks at the Terminus Hotel, which has original stained glass windows and sketches on the walls, including a couple of walls mapping the river – a place full of character! Thanks for entering our raffle and helping us out, guys.