Source to Sea Blog

Road well travelled

With restrictions starting to lift, I was finally able to head out and continue the Condamine. This was simply a walk along the Condamine River and Spring Creek roads from the first crossing to the source near Brett Rd. A rather uneventful 25 km walk taking care avoiding the higher than normal traffic flow as others also escaped the big smoke for a taste of the country.

Watching the floods provided some hope of returning to the Condamine. The storm that caused the rain to fall on the northern rivers had overflown the borders and was also falling on the Darlings Down. The Condamine was in flood. However with flows up around the 100 cumecs mark, I waited for these to subside. Wednesday next week should be about perfect.

Mostly packed and ready to go Monday and I heard the news that I didn't want to hear. There was a local Brisbane lockdown due to covid. While I could have made it to Warwick by 6pm legally, I followed the health instructions to stay put. Even with the early lifting Thursday afternoon, I wasn't able to organise a start in time and by Monday the flow was too low. I had missed my chance....

A fortnight later, the forecast rain the weekend fell in the upper Condamine, enough to paddle. A smaller fall at Toowoomba made a smaller intermediate flow too. Nearly a month after the floods, I set out again.

I finally started at 5pm and had an hrs paddle, just enough time to clear Warwick. It felt great to be back on the river. Unlike the last time at the Victoria Rd bridge, the water was fairly high but well lower than the recent flood marks that were a few metres higher.

Cold night, maybe I need my winter weight bag. Single digit temperatures are a bit cold for this Queensland lad. That’s sub-50°F for any American readers.

Good days paddling with a taste of things to come. Three log jams, two fallen trees, two weirs, a road and a low bridge required portages, some required me to drag the kayak up steep muddy banks. I still managed a good 70 km.

I had a lot of water dragons, turtles and birds for company.

It was rather ironic looking back and noting I could remember all of the times I had to exit the boat to portage. Little did I know what was ahead...

Filtering issues and I gave up and boiled the water instead. Easier, but slower and using up my white gas.

Really cold night again. Nearly too cold even with all my spare thermals on. Maybe I need some pogs to keep my hands warm while paddling first thing in the morning too.

I spooked a small mob of Roos mid morning and they twice crossed the river ahead of me. It's the first time I've seen swimming roos in the wild.

I somehow managed to lose my sunglasses on one of the on-water protages. That made for a nasty afternoon paddle into the sun.

A side trip to Cecil Plains store, which is at the far side of the town. It ended up being a long detour to buy the replacement sunglasses, particularly after the two portages for the weir and old low bridge.

While I started at the rear of the flow I think I'm starting to push ahead of the flow with the odd grounding on shallow sandy patches.

Mostly under the influence of weirs or still pools for most of the day. There were very few free flowing sections.

More of the same today, making landfall beside the shooting range 8 km from Chinchilla. I jogged the first 4 k in bare feet to ensure I made it in time. A fleece blanket and additional food.

It was fairly late by the time I got back to the river so I bivvyed by the river rather than pushing down to the camp at the weir. I was still undecided but there seems to be enough flow to continue.

A gentle couple of hours paddling and birdwatching to the weir. Seeing the flow there will determine my next move. There seemed to be enough water and I decided to bite the bullet and continue.

Just a km or two downstream I was really wondering if I should reconsider. A short rapid section required a portage (no water) and then I had a km of constant log jams. It was so bad you had to consider if it was worth getting back into the kayak or to simply walk the kayak to the next jam.

By lunch I was having to haul the kayak down the riffles between pools. I was getting plenty of practise getting in and out of the kayak! I also discovered an unexpected hazard exiting these small riffles, quicksand! The recent floods had deposited a large volume of sand that was still settling at the top of the ponds. The first time I sank all the way up to my chest, only arresting myself by grabbing onto the kayak. These soft sand sections have become common.

The river rose 10cm overnight, enough to make paddling the riffles possible again, at least for the first couple of hours till lunch.

Log jams are commonplace with the low flow. Maybe 40 today though it felt much higher than that. That isn't counting the fallen trees or logs that you could slip under or over without getting out of the kayak.

Couple rocky sections of mud rock required careful portages to avoid cheese grating the boat. With a decent flow these would make for easy Grade I / II rapids but likely wash out in high flows.

The stretch between Chinchilla and Condamine made me really consider if I should stop or continue. I figured there was a following flow above me in a couple days so I lent towards the latter.

About 90% of the day seemed to be on flat weir or pool water. This was probably a good thing as I would have been crossing the gap between the two flows. Unbeknownst to me, the flow I caught at Warwick would eventually fail to reach the lower Balonne so today's paddle was rather critical in making it down to St George.

Reillys Weir

A long rocky section made for a slow start. It would have been trivial with a decent flow.

Progress seemed to improve from here. Mostly uneventful day other than a family of dingos seen on the banks and an interesting portage down the fish ramp at Reillys Weir.

Crossing the streams

Flow dropped 10cm overnight. That was confirmation that I have now crossed the flow and I was onto the very tail end of the previous flood. Now there was only one real main concern that was the Beardmore dam. Well the dam and how much water the irrigators were taking. I hadn't been able to check online to see the river levels since Chinchilla and I had no idea of what was happening.

There were significant log jams around Dogwood Creek confluence and the first couple km on the Balonne.

I should have stopped early on one of the rather nice beaches around 4:30pm but I pushed on till 5pm. This ended up being a particularly bad mistake. After crossing a partially submerged log for the millionth time, the load shifted right as I executed a long left hand sweep to clear the log. Suddenly I was in the water along with my "splash proof" camera and other unsecured items from my deck / cockpit. By the time I collected everything up and gotten things onto the shore, I realised I didn't have my paddle. I figured it must have been caught in a small eddy and had gotten stuck underwater on something. I spent 15 minutes unsuccessfully searching the deep muddy waters in failing light before giving up and setting up camp in the twilight.

The Chase

I'm unsure what made me do one final paddle check in the morning, but I saw it floating upstream of the log that tipped me. It must have been caught in rubbish stuck in a circulating eddy under the log and had finally broken free overnight.

Rest of the day was fairly std with many log jams albeit I provided some truckies with a side show clearing a small log jam under a low bridge to avoid a portage over the road as well as playing chase with a small flock of plumed whistling duck (Dendrocygna eytoni). I chased the same flock of five birds for close to 3 hours. Every time I got close, they would just fly around the first bend before landing. As I caught up, they would repeat the process.

A couple hours of paddling and I was at Surat, the starting point one year earlier. I had phone coverage but no internet so I was still in the dark of what was happening downstream.

The unmarked Surat Weir looks nasty in a low flow with concrete pillars that seem to be designed to trap objects in the eddy. I was rather glad I didn't try and boof over it the first time down!

I got concerned with the number of log jams under the weir, I hope this doesn't become the norm. I tried not to consider this too much, it was becoming a common theme seen a few times now, after a weir or section of rapids there was often a section like this. These conditions were in stark contrast to the cruisy paddle I had last year where I didn't have to face a single log jam.

I finished the day with one of the more unusual campsites after I discovered a small sand bank that was just big enough for the tent while portaging around a fallen tree.

Another slow day battling log jams. Disheartened to see how much the only large irrigator on the stretch was still sucking out of the river. It almost seemed like 1/3 of the water was being sucked out.

Nearly two hard days paddling and I was only just past the first campsite from last year's trip. That felt a bit demoralising...

I was only a few km from the long reach of the dam, but I still had to face a couple of difficult log jams to get there. From the Lakes upper reach it was easy paddling without any issues.

I pushed hard to make it all the way to the dam in the moonlight, maybe some of the nicest paddling of the leg to date. I bivvyed on the upstream side of the dam, still without internet to know what was happening downstream.

Up early and was a bit horrified to see that there was no release at all from the dam. Well, some slight leakage wetting the concrete. After 15 solid days pushing hard down to St George to hopefully manage the Culgoa had been ruined by the irrigation storage schedule.

To rub salt into the wounds, no flow at the dam also meant the next 5 km downstream would be effectively impassable as it was mostly shallow riffles and rocky sections. This forced a 7km road portage from the dam down to the Carnarvon Highway where you can get access to the river again where it is banked up from the Jack Taylor Weir at St George.

A rather uneventful paddle down to St George with the exception of a swimming snake sighting and a couple of well behaved and friendly boaters.

Joys of winging it

I arrived early in Walgett with minimal information about the river access nor a confirmed storage option for my car. First task was to scout out the Namoi River to see if I could access the Barwon from Walgett.

All of the small side roads shown by Google Maps were either restricted access or driveways through private land. Talking to a local cop, I was told of a small weir in the Namoi before the Barwon and I decided to do an exploratory paddle from Walgett since there was no sign of any flow in the river. I didn't want to risk a dry section with my very heavily laden kayak. With the Barwon so high, the reported weir was nowhere to be seen and the pathway to the Barwon was clear. A nice 10 km warm-up!

Having confirmed the starting point was feasible, I headed out to the showgrounds where I expected to find somewhere to park the car for a couple of months. What I found was a rather dodgy old bloke wanting nearly $20 a day with no cover nor security. I definitely wasn't going to pay this guy over $1,000 just to park in a paddock for two months! I stopped at a diner for lunch and the lady suggested I try one of the local businesses and thankfully he was willing to allow me to store the car in his yard. He suggested a box of Great Northern beer in exchange for the parking so I talked him up to two boxes to make sure it was worth his while. Parking sorted, I packed the kayak and started the rather long walk to the river. I hadn't realised how far the river was and it was a fair workout dragging the kayak 2.5 km through the centre of town to get to the river.

Flow and height were good but they were a long way below the high flow mark from the recent flood. I decided to head directly to the river rather than to pull the kayak up and over the bridge to the boat ramp. I did regret that as I had to drag the kayak through mud that was over a foot deep by the time I made it to the river.

I repaddled down to the Barwon with a rather sedate pace being fully loaded in still water. It was good to get onto the flowing Barwon. With all of the delays, I didn't make it too far down, about 12.5 km as the crows fly. I did make it past the Walgett Weir that was just submerged enough to paddle over with a bit of caution. The river was fairly quiet with just two fishermen seen, trying their luck on the retreating floodwaters. Even with the high flow, it was a bit of a struggle to make it up the muddy bank to make camp for the night. I was still maybe 5 m below the tops of the banks and the flood water level was still shown on the river gum trunks, close to the very top of the bank.

The flow at Danger Bridge was 7,400 ML/day, 6.3 m.

Micies

I had initially started with my 3-season gear weeks earlier, and definitely felt the cold on the Condamine. I was definitely much warmer overnight with my winter sleeping bag and 4-season tent, toasty even.

The river was fairly typical of the other major inland rivers. Tall dirt banks that were mostly lined with River Gums though a number of Box and Bottlebrushes were also present. Wildlife wasn't overly abundant but I still had a few sightings. One of the few wallabies I saw had a rather undignified swim after slipping on the river bank. I also saw the first feral pig that was swimming effortlessly across one of the side channels of the river.

Surprise visit during the night with mice running around that was slightly concerned after having had some food in the tent. Thankfully no damage occurred overnight. In the morning I did find three mice sleeping under the tent, and more in the kayak where I hadn't fully secured the hatches. They got into a packet of dried pasta that made a bit of a mess. This was just a taste of what those had to face during the mouse plague that was sweeping across the countryside. The following night I heard a couple but no more mouse encounters to be had until Goolwa at the coast.

The next couple of days blurred together as I paddled down to Bre (Brewarrina). With no maps other than my GPS it was difficult to estimate distances and progress as the river snaked it's way down the basin.

On the 2 May, the flow at Danger Bridge was 6,500 ML/day, 5.95 m.

On the evening of the 3 May, the flow at Geehe (downstream of the Macquarie confluence) was 10,500 ML/day, 6.8 m. This fell to 9,400 ML/day, 6.5 m overnight.

Chasing the flood... again

The weir at Bre was flowing fast and made for an interesting portage as I tried to get out on the town side beside the fish ramp. Steep banks, deep flowing water and weeds repelled my efforts. Eventually I ended up dragging the kayak over the muddy rocks that separated the main channel and the fish ramp much to the amusement of a few onlookers. It is probably best to use the far side with a high water level.

The weir had about a metres drop at 2.95 m (9,000 ML/day), so the river level would need to be above 4 m to paddle over.

I stopped for some snacks and additional water, though first I had to wade through a long section of thick mud that completely covered the boat ramp. It was at Bre where I discovered that Telstra's subsidiary Belong doesn't have the same coverage. I assume it is due to the lack of competition that Telstra doesn't allow Belong customers access to much of the basin. It is a bit rough that the national telco provider doesn't provide an affordable option for many of the poorest communities in the country. This trend continued down the basin where coverage was limited to small sections around Walgett, Bourke, Tilpa, Poocaria and Wentworth. From there coverage was fairly consistently down the Murray with the exception of lock seven and eight. While I couldn't connect, I could see where there was coverage and anyone with Telstra should get regular coverage with a number of remote sections without any coverage.

Below Bre was the first time on the trip it felt that I was really catching up with the flood waters. The flow seemed to be increasing slightly and using the maps I determined I was getting close to 8-9 kph. I made good time to the confluence with the Culgoa where the Darling officially started and decided to make camp for the night. The water level was 10.5 m and 20,000 ML/day and all coming from the Barwon river. The confluence was barely recognizable compared to my first trip down the Culgoa where the level was only slightly lower at 8.35 m (11,000 ML/day).

Return to Bourke

The flow gave me a fast trip down to Bourke with a few significant shortcuts along the way. By the time I got to Nt Bourke, I was really close to the main flood waters and the tall banks seen last time were now fully submerged. I stopped at the Old Wharf and picked up some fresh supplies for the next leg. The drinking fountain beside the wharf seemed to be the only water source. There was barely any flow and it took nearly 30 minutes just to fill my dom bag. With fresh supplies, I headed down past the weir that was completely submerged. There wasn't even a ripple. I pulled into a small shortcut where I camped on the banks for the night. It was the first time that I didn't really have to contend with mud but I was rather close to the irrigation pumps at the weir that were a tad noisy. Falling water levels overnight nearly caused a portage as the shortcut taken as it was now fairly shallow. Lesson learnt, stick to the main river when camping!

Compared to my first trip, the river height was over 4 m higher at Bourke, from 5.2 m (9,300 ML/day) to 9.4 m (30,000 ML/day).

Riding the flood

Excellent progress was made down the river and like the day before, the Upper Louth Weir (Weir 19a) was completely submerged. It was refreshing to be able to paddle near the tops of the banks allowing one to see out across the landscape. There were a few flowing shortcuts that also assisted progress.

Overnight, the river fell by just 1 cm. I was very close to the main flood peak!

Destination Unknown

Up early and paddled down past a group of fishermen camping, they seemed surprised to see a paddler go by. Shortcut opinions were becoming more frequent, but lessons learnt from the Culgoa were still in the back of my mind and I carefully did my best to assess each before heading away from the main river. Before taking one, I would either be able to see the side branch reach the main river, or to ensure that the branch was flowing with at least 150 ML/day and in a direction that suggested it was heading back to the main river. Even with these precautions, I still had a couple detours that probably cost me more time than the savings made in the other shortcuts taken.

The first major detour took me away from the main river and onto a rather large billabong. It was a rather beautiful oasis that snaked through a sparse forest of grey box and thankfully back towards the main river where a 50 m portage was required to bridge the gap. The second major detour appeared to be a distributary that had no intention in heading back to the main river. The fast flowing stream was a real struggle to back-paddle, so I made the call to portage nearly 500 m back towards the river.

Finally arriving in Louth I popped up to check out the town and meet up with the fishermen that I had seen early in the morning. After a chat, I got some additional water and took off down the river.

Spiky friends

Happy Campers

I passed Trilby Station early the next day, much to the interest of many campers that lined the banks. Any conversations were short lived as the current pulled me downstream.

Failing to learn from my mistakes, I continued to attempt shortcuts as I made my way to Tilpa. Those across flooded flats rarely seemed to gain much time and it was the flowing channels that had the most risk yet most reward. I think I chanced my arm a few too many times and lost out overall.

Later in the day at Tilpa, I happened to meet one of the more exuberant camping couples from Trilby Station that were heading down towards Wilcannia. After a chat and my water supplies topped up (gratis from the pub's personal supply), I carried on.

Starry starry nights

Wanting to get to Wilcanna at a decent time the following day, I decided to push fairly hard. Come sunset, I put on some Radiohead and pushed into twilight. As the light from civil twilight faded away, I was having second thoughts about paddling in the pitch black of night. As luck would have it, the song Exit Music (for a Film) started to play and motivated me to push on.

Breathe, keep breathing,
Don't lose your nerve

It was possibly a bit foolish paddling into the night on a flooded and unknown river but I was relatively confident, even with batteries slowly failing in my touch. I only had about 5 m visibility with that, so I turned it off and used only starlight for assistance.

It was fairly surreal paddling in near darkness. With absolutely no moonlight I had to follow the shadows on the water. The lighter areas on the river were those that reflected the night sky on the water and the darker areas were the shadows created from the vegetation on the shoreline.

Where the flood waters escape

I was expecting much more localised flooding around Wilcannia, but there were only a few flowing shortcuts. It really didn't seem to live up to its name that supposedly means "a gap in the bank where the flood waters escape".

Both camping grounds were filled with Grey Nomads and the town was undergoing a bit of a facelift. It felt like any other relatively poor country town and not one that lived up to the stories you hear about it.

With the high flows, the weir was under water and that also made a quick stop for water and supplies relatively easy.

For the first time on the trip, I was getting condensation issues. I had to stop around midday to allow the tent to dry. As the night time temperatures dropped into the lower single digit numbers, this seemed to become a more common issue and I was having to stop almost daily to dry the tent in the lower Murray. People suggested that camping on dry leaves would help prevent this, but sand, soil, grass and leaves all seemed to have a similar outcome.

Final days

The last couple of days above the Menindee Lakes were rather uneventful with just myself and the birds for company. I stopped on dusk the first night as I was worried about it becoming harder to find a campsite as I neared the lakes. As luck would have it, the site was home to a million ants and with multiple nests everywhere. Thankfully it was late enough and I didn't have too much hassle from them.

The following day I didn't feel like I was close enough to Menindee to make it there before lunchtime, so I pushed into the night again. It's always best to aim for an early supply run in small towns, especially on a Sunday! While I did have a thin crescent moon, it didn't provide much additional light. The cold forced me off the waters just as I closed in on Lake Wetherell. Probably a good place to stop!

Menindee Lakes

Even as the river spread out into the shallow plains of Lake Wetherell, there was still a decent current along the original river channel. It is difficult to say if staying in the flowing channel would be faster than cutting across, albeit you get a different paddling experience on the flooded plains compared to the river.

Of the few shortcuts taken, I had to wade through a few shallow sections, especially at the start of a traverse of the northern shoreline as I got near the entrance of Tandure Lake.

I finally encountered a couple boats as I neared Main Weir. It felt a bit strange having to share the river again. I pulled up the rather steep banks on the left side of the weir. Just after struggling to drag the kayak up, I noticed what I think was a tinnie being launched from the opposite side. That could be an easier portage if there is a boat ramp there, especially if the lake is low.

As I made my way under the weir, my heart sank when I saw that there was no water being released from the weir. I contemplated what this meant for a couple minutes and decided to press on, even if it did mean potentially long dry portages. I've come too far just to stop at the lakes!

I paddled the still water past a number of fishermen and it was early afternoon by the time I made it to the main town. Thankfully the shop was still open and I was able to stock up on some fresh food and treats.

I was rather relieved to see an inflow from Lake Menindee that must have been close to around 500 ML/day. Soon after this I made it to the flowing Weir 32 late in the day and chatted to a couple fishermen who were camped by the weir for a while before pushing on to find a campsite for the night.

I found a spot right at the 1,050 km mark, giving me a nice even average of exactly 105 km per day. With the benefit of hindsight, I was maybe about 10 days ahead of the ultimate trip down the lower Darling. Within two days of making it to Menindee, the MDBA started releasing more water and by the 28th May this had peaked at around 4,000 ML/day. In saying that, I would have been behind the flood all of the way to Menindee, so I probably timed it fairly well overall.

Kinchega National Park

The park was deserted downstream of the main camping areas and there were plenty of emus and kangaroos running around. Feels slightly claustrophobic being back in a small creek with high dirt banks again. I definitely prefer the high flows! The paddling was relatively easy without many strainers nor shallow sections. Short flowing sections quickly gave way to longer deeper still sections. In a few places the reeds nearly choked the river.

The Great Darling Anabranch

I tried the wet suit for the first time today. It was a bit warmer, but it did get hot and uncomfortable to wear in the heat of the day.

The river felt more devoid of wildlife today, other than for herds of goats. These seem to eat just about everything within reach.

Most of the Red Gums were fairly old along the river, noticeably more so than those upstream. There was no regrowth and with no competition, the remaining gums were fairly old and twisted. This is probably due to farming practices that seem to rely a lot on goats. The river health itself and lack of water in the inland billabongs are definitely big issues of the controlled river and it was sad to see the additional strain on the landscape. Some sections are thick with river gum seedlings and young trees, but these are few and far between.

The Great Darling Anabranch was high and dry and probably hasn't seen water from the lower Darling flowing into it for decades. Any water in that system will almost certainly come from Lake Cawndilla and only when the Menindee Lakes are filled.

Pushing past Pooncarie

Started to push longer days going well past twilight and into the night. This was still mostly by starlight, though the moon occasionally helped. I've set a target of above 80 km per day to aim for completing the Darling in 16 days.

The banks were fairly bare looking still and minimal wildlife still. There was a slight increase in the number of ducks as I got further down the river that suggested a slightly healthier section of the river.

I reached Pooncarie early on the 20th and had some long chats with the campers. It was surprising to see the camping ground was fairly full. Stopped to check out the store that was really nothing more than a small roadhouse with a limited section of food. Definitely covers all the bases, just very limited choices.

Slightly difficult portage at the Pooncarie weir, having to drag the kayak up the high steep banks. I missed being able to paddle over these...

There was a partially removed weir or control a bit further downstream that was paddleable although two abandoned kayaks caught in the small rapids felt a bit ominous. Thankfully I hit this and the two low bridges during the day to easily see the hazards.

Past the Burtundy Weir the following day and continued to push hard to close in on Wentworth. I was fairly knackered when I finally stopped at 9pm in complete darkness, but I had made great distance today. Only 74 km away from the Murray. The only question was will I make it there in daylight or starlight tomorrow?

Race to the finish line

Starting fairly early, I did some quick maths in my head as I got onto the water and realised I wouldn't likely be able to reach Wentworth by sunset. With a rough speed of 6kph I would only just make it to the supermarket before it closed at 7pm. Water was really backed up now from the Murray so I wasn't getting any assistance from the tiny flow.

After a couple hours on the river, I met a group of three paddlers making their morning coffee. One recognised me as the ETA guy, apparently she had used my site for planning their lower Darling trip. After a quick chat that also served as a bit of a rest, I charged on down the river.

I managed to make steady progress all day and soon my goal changed to aim for Wentworth at sunset. I only just made it. Paddling out onto the Murray in the setting sun felt like an incredibly fitting way to finish the Darling leg that I started only 16 days ago at sunrise over the Barwon.

I had a long chat with one of the local farmers that was taking his kids to the park and it was just beginning to get dark as I started paddling back up the Darling to get to the shops. With a fully laden kayak I paddled back down to the Murray where I camped on the VIC river bank.

Return to the Murray

I arrived fairly early to the weir the next day and I couldn't see an easy alternative way around it, other than the lock itself. As I waited for the lockmaster, another paddler paddled up. Paul was paddling the Murray and we paddled together for a couple of hours before parting ways.

After pushing long days on the Darling, I decided to make camp early. While this was primarily due to a complete lack of energy, it was also to have a hot camp shower. It felt so great to be clean again and spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun.

Double portage

I really didn't time my lock arrivals that well today. I pulled into lock 9 at lunch and portaged rather than waiting for an hour, and as luck would have it, I arrived at lock 8 at sunset after it had closed and done another portage to bypass it.

The river was fairly and found a nice camp on one of the deserted sandy beaches that are usually packed in summer.

Race to the border

I wasn't sure what woke me in the middle of the night, but I decided to check the news with the weak internet signal. There were covid-19 cases in Victoria and I was still a day or two from the SA border. Fik... Time for a border run!

I was packed and on the water by 3:30am and paddled for 3 hours in the moonlight before having a small rest at sunrise (maybe an hours' kip). Soon I was back on the water and had my head down again. It was nearing sunset as I finally made it to MacCabe Corner and I paddled a few extra km downstream and set up camp on the SA side of the river. With no reception, I hoped I had made it in on time and that I wasn't going to be turned around at lock 6. At least I didn't have to portage lock 7 today!

Perfect night for a paddle

No news was good news when I made it to lock 6. During the first national lockdown, police officers were manning the lock checking travellers. During the next lockdown, the lock masters would simply ask if you had the permit. Today, the guy didn't have a clue what was happening.

Approaching Renmark at dusk I decided to continue on to one of the nice beaches below lock 5. With a full blood moon and calm conditions, it was a great night to be paddling. I docked at the main wharf and walked across town to the supermarket.

It was darker as I left the mall, albeit the street lamps obscured what was happening above. It wasn't until I was walking past an old church and noticed what appeared to be an Isamic crescent moon that I finally realised what was happening. There was a lunar eclipse starting! By the time I returned to the kayak, the moon was completely dark. I was back to using starlight on a cloudy night...

Renmark weir was interesting. There was a gap beside the small boat ramp at the lock and I pulled out there. It wasn't until I strapped the trolly onto the kayak and started walking when I noticed I was behind a 2m fence with what looked like razor wire on top. I had to backtrack into the river and paddle upstream to find a spot to take out. This was where the strapping on the trolley decided to give out and everything collapsed onto the ground. I managed to make it movable with some spare decking line I had in my repair kit. It took close to an hour before I finally make it back into the river. Getting late, I only paddled a small way down before setting up camp on the river bank.

The long way around

Having done the Katarapko Creek shortcut the first time down the Murray, I decided to go past Loxton and to take a rest day at Whirlpool Bend, the "best beach" on the murray according to the lockmaster on lock 4.

Unsure of the exact location, I actually paddled past the bend and had to backtrack upstream to return to the main beach. With only a few gum trees, the beach is over 400 m across and 100 m wide. Plenty of space that would accommodate multiple campers although I had the entire bend to myself, and a couple emus that were wandering around. A great spot to take my first complete rest day of the trip.

After a day off the water I continued downstream. Loxton was a quaint little country town on the hill and a pleasant place to stop. About 10 km from the town, a houseboat decided to pull out directly in front of me forcing me to give way (unpowered craft have the right of way), but they were definitely on the learners licence underpowered outboards. I powered around them and kept pushing and managed to stay comfortably in front of them all the way to Loxton. It was a good way to keep up a fast pace!

There were a fair number of campers downstream which was surprising after mostly having the river to myself. I camped on the banks just before Moorook towards the end of one of the longest straights on the river.

Frosty

Frosty start to the day created a thick blanket of fog on the river. Thankfully the river was deserted as there was hardly any visibility. Really not liking having to pack a wet tent every morning though.

I didn't make the lock in time, again, and had to portage... again. I don't actually think I'm losing any time but it is definitely harder to portage than sit in a lock!

I made it down to one of my favorite campsites from the first trip and decided to have another rest day to soak up the atmosphere of the river and towering cliffs.

Slow train

A fairly crusy day paddling past Waikerie. Only a single boat on the water that was in complete contrast to the craziness seen in summer. I only got a small way past Hogwash Bend when I decided to set up camp. While it wasn't the greatest campsite, a slightly overcast and drizly day was enough reason to call for another rest day. Definitely not feeling the need to motor through to the finish line!

Target practise

Thick fog greeted me as I paddled down the river that took a couple hours to clear. Fairly dull overcast conditions for most of the day. The river was still fairly quiet compared to the summer peak season.

Fairly overcast day but with no or minimal wind. Even though I was being very conservative with my electronics, I was struggling to keep things charged. My little solar system just wasn't big enough for the cloudy winter conditions. I was lucky to get a quarter phone charged every day.

I was greeted by another cloudy day with showers as I paddled past Blanchetown and Swan Reach. These small holiday towns on the river were ghost towns in winter. Pushing a longer day to camp at a known spot I was disappointed to find a couple drunk lads target shooting a small target parallel to the flow of the river. I hugged the bank for half an hour just in case a stray shot did come my way. I did wonder if the house that was ~500 m was getting a few holes in the weatherboards as it was in the direct line of fire. Thankfully they were just using 22s.

At dusk I pulled into the council camping ground at Nildottie to stay the night.

PS Murray Princess

There were an unusual number of houseboats compared to the rest of the river as I passed Bowhill. Maybe from Mannum? Still significantly less than peak season.

Dull cold days were rather uneventful as I retraced my way down, especially after leaving the last of the main cliffs. One of the highlights was to see the PS Murray Princess in full throttle go past my campsite. She is one of the larger paddlewheelers taking tourists up and down the murray and kicks up a fairly decent wake, especially directly behind the boat. Definitely give her a wide berth if you are not comfortable in the waves!

One significant difference along the river I started noticing was a significant spraying program on the willows that are a bad weed along the lower Murray. There is definitely less protection from the cross-winds in the sections that have been sprayed. Hopefully the local councils will replant river gums to help shelter the river and return it slightly back to its original state.

Gentle breath of yours my sails

The forecast was rather ominous for the days ahead. 40-50 kph tailwinds, swinging southerly into the evening and presisting for the next three or four days. That would make the lake interesting...

I got a slight push during the first couple hours as the wind slowly increased in strength and a rather strong and nasty cross wind apparching Murray Bridge, especially in the sections where the willows were sprayed. I stopped briefly at the Bunyip to get some water and the wind was getting extremely strong and gusty. I nearly decided to sit it out, but I was still a long way from Pomanda Island. If I didn't capsize, it would be fun. For the next 30 minutes I was riding waves over a metre high with fairly consistent near gailforce tailwind with occasionally stronger gusts that were causing a bit of havoc on the shoreline blowing away tarps and outdoor furniture.

Sadly, the wind swung to the north all too quickly and I was soon fighting through strong crosswinds all the way past Tailem and down to Wellington. I had just made it past the Wellington Ferry when there was a lull in the wind. It was already late in the day and I was still a long way from Lake Alexandrina. Within minutes a strong southerly headwind kicked into gear and was strong enough to quickly push me upstream if I stopped paddling for more than a stroke or two. It took nearly two hours to paddle to the lake and at that point I decided to do an emergency bivy on one of the small beaches just past Brinkley Homestead on the eastern shoreline as twilight faded.

Waiting for the wind to turn

Rain on and off all night and both my bivvy and sleeping bag are fairly wet by morning, though it isn't looking like a good day to try and dry them. I loosely pack the down sleeping bag and set off towards the point in a moderate southerly.

I barely made it to the opposite shoreline by the time the wind had picked up again. I wasn't planning to head directly across in these conditions, rather to hug the western shoreline to have a look. With 1 m choppy waves and a ferrous cold southerly, I decided to call it a day within 30 minutes of starting out. As luck would have it, there was a deserted sandy beach with reeds acting as a shelter to the prevailing winds.

I set up and made the most of the small windows of sun to dry out my gear and sleeping bag.

There was no improvement in the weather the next day and I stayed put. For tea I had my last main full meal and I was down to just a couple of meals that were really just the leftover emergency rations. One way or another, I will have to make a move tomorrow. With high winds still forecast, I didn't know which shoreline I would be heading to or even if I was to run back up the Murray to Wellington or Tailem Bend for additional supplies.

Be careful of Muldjewangk

Strong SW winds and stubbornness decided my route the following day. I'd be lucky to make 2-3 kph into the wind that ruled out a direct crossing and I didn't want to backpaddle to Wellington so that left two options, traversing the western or eastern shorelines. I would have 15 km crosswinds and 30 km headwinds going along the western shore and only 8 km crosswinds and hopefully a partially sheltered path along the eastern shore. I chose the latter.

It was a challenging paddle back across to the far eastern edge of the lake. Most waves were crashing across the deck, and the odd wave broke onto my shoulder. It wasn't really the height, but the period that makes the lake tricky, maybe about 1 second between the waves. It probably took the best part of 3 or 4 hours to reach what I hoped was the lee side for shelter, but I still had a moderate headwind as the wind was funnelled around the headland. Thankfully the wind slowly subsided late in the day and I managed to just make it to Narrung ferry campground at dusk.

Nearly 10 hours on the water to make less than 20 km, about a 30 km track around the lake. Last summer, it took just 3.5 hours to paddle between the same locations. If only I had a couple additional days of food and I could have waited another day...

Absolutely knackered, I set up camp and made the most of my leftover rations for dinner:

• 100g pasta
• 200g dehydrated spuds
• 150g couscous
• 1 muesli bar

I really need to make Goolwa tomorrow!

This reminds me of an old quote:

On particularly rough days when I'm sure I can't possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100% and that's pretty good.

Murray River Mouth

I was on the final crossing at Tauwitchere Barrage by the time the fog had lifted so just continued on directly to the Murray Mouth. There was a large family of seals on the ramp that weren't overly happy about jumping into the water to allow me to pass.

The Coorong was fairly high with the incoming high tide and quiet compared to summer. There were a couple commercial fishermen gill netting for mullet and a handful of recreational fishermen. I had a quick stop at the month before carrying on to Goolwa where I planned to meet Frank and the team from the Inland Rivers National Marathon Register (IRNMR).

With a delay at the Goolwa Barrage that was undergoing repairs, I lost the chance to first make it to the camping ground on the far side of Hindmarsh Island. I had hoped for a shower! So I stopped at the park near the Aquatic Club to both dry my gear and to have a rather refreshing swim as a quick wash. I definitely felt much cleaner by the time I got the photos taken with the IRNMR team!

Coorong

Grey skies but zero wind as I paddled back up past Clayton and towards Pt Sturt. Lake Alexandrina was a perfect mirror. I nearly kept paddling as I got to the Point, but decided against another crossing.

There were what looked like a number of semi-permanent campers at Point Sturt and there was a fair amount of rubbish lying around. I had planned to spend a night here, but being so early in the day I decided to head out to the Coorong instead.

I paddled down and through the reeds hiding the channel down to the Ewe Island Barrage. I portaged the kayak over the rock banks and paddled up into the Coorong. Even with the high tide, I had to take some care with following the navigational markers.

The Coorong has massive sand dunes and it is like playing in a large sandpit. Emus and Kangaroos are common as well as unique and unusual flora. It was a really nice way to finish the trip and definitely one of the highlights. You do get a small taste of the Coorong at Tauwitchere, but I would definitely recommend a night or two in deeper into the lagoon to get the full Coorong experience.

Limo Man

I bused back up to Broken Hill when I caught the red-eye bus to Dubbo and onto Walgett. My intention was to pop home for two nights and to return to SA where I would do a slow trip back to QLD kayaking various bays and rivers in Victoria and NSW. Oh how quickly plans go astray with covid...

While mowing the lawns I had a chat with the neighbour who had a mild case of Bronchitis. As luck would have it, I felt a mild cold coming on the next day. So off for the tests. By the time the results were in, the cluster in NSW was quickly growing and without any firm controls placed on Sydney I knew SA would be closing the border.

I gave SA a couple days to react and as I was about to leave, we had a series of lockdowns in QLD and SA and SA closed its borders with SE QLD.

Nearly three months on I am planning to return via the NT and anxiously waiting for word about the four QLD cases reported today. Thankfully SA didn't react and I was able to drive down. Long way down via the NT and a much faster trip back via the Strzelecki Track.