Murray River Paddle 2016 Day 49 & 50 Rest Day then Blanchetown to Walker's Flat

 

Day 49 & 50: 212km Walker's Flat 4th Dec 2016

Blanchetown Hotel - Ski Club - Expeditioners - Flood wave attenuation - Floodplain - Fisheries - Cliffs - Cockatoos - Rain - Shacks - Gorge - Travellers

Rest Day then Blanchetown to Walkers Flat

Sometimes the unexpected happens. I found myself a guest at the ski club table at the Blanchetown hotel. Rob and Sally, my neighbors at the caravan park, had invited me to join their family for dinner. Rob told me that in South Australia there has only recently been limits set on how much water can be pumped from aquifers for irrigation and that the underground streams that run through the limestone beneath the farms are beginning to run dry. No wonder with so many centre pivots and few controls. Rob and Sally are from Mt Gambier. They come to the lower Murray to ski because the river is wide and it's not crowded, and because the ski club has great programs for kids.

Earlier in the afternoon, I met Warren, a Murray Expeditioner from 1991 - before there were mobile phones. He would find a payphone in towns he passed through to let his wife know all was ok. He couldn't look up the weather, or use google maps... Although it was not all that long ago, much has changed.

Warren gave me a hand to carry things down to the boat and at 8:30 I was off, ready for the Lock opening time. Barry, the lock master saw me coming and had the gates open by the time I was there. He said the peak was predicted to arrive in a few weeks, but that by the time the water reached Blanchetown only about 80,000 megalitres a day was expected, the rest being used by irrigation pumps, or absorbed into the flood plains. Barry was upset about the Murray cod deaths from blackwater upstream and asked why more water could not be released from the Darling (Menindee Lake) to provide a safe place for the fish to shelter in until the black water passes. We talked about investing in the health of the river. Barry told me that there is only one fisheries officer for all of the South Australian rivers. That person is expected to patrol the whole of the South Australian Murray, the Onkaparinga and the Torrens rivers.

The weather was calm when I left the caravan park, but by the time I left the lock chamber it had begun to drizzle. The drizzle stayed with me. By the afternoon, it had turned into a soaking rain. I pulled out my wet weather gear and continued on, toasty warm, despite everything around me being so wet. I had looked forward to the predicted 38 deg C and strong Northerly winds. It would have been the first time I would have had a day of tailwinds in the whole trip. Neither happened. The overcast skies kept the temperature down and the wind continued gusting from the southwest - straight into my face. Waves crashed over the front deck slamming into my water bottles, my second line of defence.

The cliffs downstream from Blanchetown are the biggest on the Murray and where the river runs alongside them, they have vertical faces. Big Bend is made up of two curves, one curving west and one curving east. Each runs for about 5 kilometers and both were filled with cockatoos. The cockatoos occupied small hollows and when I approached flew noisily into the air. At first I thought that they were after minerals from the cliff face, but on looking more closely, I saw that they were in pairs. They appear to be nesting in the rock rather than tree hollows. The cliffs do not have the thick sandstone layers that those upstream have, making them harder and more resistant to erosion.

Once the rain cleared for the last hour or so of today's eight hour paddle, the colors had a new crispness and depth. It was as though someone had hit the enhance button. When the sun broke through the clouds, it became steamy and hot. I shed my rain jacket and applied sunscreen. People began to get out into the water again. A ski boat zoomed past, followed by a traditional clinker hulled river launch. Interestingly the rear waves from the older boat went on for kilometers. I think it had something to do with the hull design.

Farms and properties along the river continued to be developed as shack areas. These holiday homes are called shacks because their original purpose was as places to fish and hunt from to help city people out during the depression years. The right to maintain a 'shack' is written in law. A few original shacks remain, little more than corrugated iron bush huts, but most shacks are a far cry in both design and purpose. Newer shacks are usually 2 story, with verandas and lounges from which to enjoy the river. Many modify the bank using terraces and retaining walls. All have removed the understory vegetation and replaced it with lawn.

On this section of the river, the ancient Murray Gorge, through which the current Murray flows is very narrow, little more than a kilometer. Old river beds form billabongs running parallel to the river, resulting in a rich and varied habitat for both animal and plant life, all the time contrasted by the arid hills beyond. Bends run for up to 10 kilometers and the river is wide. It doesn't take much for the wind to whip up waves to test a weary paddler.

Coming into Walkers Flat I found a spot next to a German couple, Carsten and Christiana, who have been traveling the world in their expedition grade camper for 4 years. Over a few beers I told them things I thought would interest of the Murray and listened to their stories of South America, Asia, Antarctica and Australia.

Tomorrow I make for Younghusband, after making time to resupply at the Walkers Creek Shop. All the time I am getting closer to the sea. Not many more days now.

Murray River Paddle 2016 Day 27 Robinvale to Tammit Station Nov 11

Robinvale to Wemen

Paddling out of Robinvale caravan park was a bit surreal. I had to dodge the electricity poles that the caravans normally plug their extension cords into, watch out for fences and pick a course into the current through the garden. Once out it was through the bridge and down the wide, high river. The current was flowing well and there was no sign of the predicted light winds, providing the same glassy surface I had been blessed with he last few days. I passed Euston, older but much small than Robinvale, perhaps because NSW in the early days of settlement allowed Victoria to get a head start on them. Melbourne was much closer, but it meant that all the wheat, sheep and wool went to Melbourne rather than Sydney. 

Towards the end of the paddle steamer days, both states competed to get rail to even the most distant communities, but by then one of the twin towns along the Murray had begun to dominate. It was usually the Victorian one. An interesting legacy from those times is that most NSW towns have Victorian area codes. Phone numbers in Deniliquin, 80km North of the border, begin with 03. Euston club looked really welcoming, especially as I could paddle right up to the green lawns leading to its entrance. It looked as if they designed that way, to be welcoming to river people. However, I had only just begun. There was no stopping now.

On quite a few days i have thought, I can take it easy today, there is a good strong current out there, only to find that large segments of the day had dead water. Although there were some tight bends and quite a few places where the river flowed along flood runners and anabranches through the forest, the current was good all day. There were no big anabranches, only cut-offs, short cuts the river had made when the meanders near one another. Its difficult to say how long it takes these meanders to become the main stream, but if they have a clay base it seems that it can take the best part of a life-time.

Around the corner from Euston is the Euston weir. When there is a high river, lock masters let down gates at the top of part of the weir to create what they call a navigation pass. This provides more depth for boats that want to pass over the weir. Because in most cases, the weir is still present beneath the water, water is higher on one side than the other, creating a ‘step’. Frank Tucker, in Oct 2016 Paddle Boat News, says that this system causes trouble for paddle steamers, especially when travelling upstream. To make it up the step, Captains have to approach the weir at full throttle, hoping to bounce up. If they do not have enough speed, or the current is too strong (and it really is quite strong now) then there is a danger that they will get stuck halfway, with the paddle wheel blades biting air. On the way downstream, the rudder can find itself in the air and the paddle steamer drifting sideways. Understandably with this deal of risk involved, it is not paddleboat captains favourite activity. In my kayak I was wary of undertows and so called the weir master, who directed me through the smoothest water. In a kayak it was like going down the smallest of slides. No drama, but better safe than sorry.

Euston weir is set into a high sedimentary rock face on one side. The other side is forest. If nervous about the weir, the lock master said, you can just paddle through the forest. The clay cliffs continue on for 2 kilometres. They have three clear layers, two red layers, with a yellow layer in between, each being about 4 meters thick. River Red Gum and River Myall, the wattle with the pen like leaves grow from its base and seem to be protecting it from the eroding force of the river current by slowing it down next to the cliff face. The vegetation was so effective at slowing the current, that it actually ran backwards close to the cliff. Where ever there are eddies and strong currents there are whirlpools, so breaking out into the current took some care. Ten kilometres later the cliff appear again, this time even more imposing. They make for great photos. I hope some of mine work out.

Red sands of the Mallee Cliffs. Old sand dunes, now being cut into by the river.

Tree martin nests. Safe on the face of a cliff. You can also find them under bridges or in large hollow trees. Preferred spots are over water.

Most of the day the scenery alternated between River Red Gum Floodplain Forest and Black Box Woodland, some of which was grazed. However, just when you settle into a pattern the river throws a curved ball. Just beneath Tammit Station (1078 mark) is Danger Island (also know as Gell’s Island). A lot of things that are dramatic at low river are hardly noticeable at high river (like Euston Weir), but Danger Island is not one of them. Even though you can’t see the rocks which extend halfway across the river - real rocks, and sharp too, that could slice a kayak or tinny open just by looking at them - the swirls (sudden vertical upwellings or downwards movements) were shocking and to make things more dangerous, they would appear in apparently calm water. Using the map as a guide to what was beneath the water I gave it a wide berth and travelled through with speed, so as to have maximum steerage.

Lunch break

Old pumping equipment. Before the weirs, all irrigation was carried out by steam driven pumps along the river banks.

Not long after Tammit, I made camp in the shade of two Black Box trees. All around me thunder is rolling through the clouds and in the distance I can see downpours happening in isolated spots. Occasionally strong gusts of wind come through. I am eating cold tonight and enjoying the comfort and safety of my tent. Though I do hope the predicted large hailstones pass me by.

Tomorrow I will be paddling through Hattah National Park and the following day hope to arrive in Colignan, then Karadoc and arriving in Mildura on Tuesday.

High organic matter content has dropped the pH making the water silky smooth to touch. Like when soapy, rain water forms bubbles which sometimes last for many seconds on the surface.

Strong current sweeping past a tree trunk that would normally be on a river island, but now looks like it is mid channel.

Old shed at Tammit station

My choice of campsite has been chosen by others before me... signs of a midden.

Tammit Station dry irrigation channel

My camp for the night

In the evening I was hit by a powerful storm. It flattened whole areas of trees (and my tent), but I escaped without damage.

Link to original Facebook Post (with images)

Murray River Paddle 2016 Day 23 Tooleybuc to Narrung Station Nov 7

Tooleybuc to Narrung

Tooleybuc in the morning was busy with backpackers getting ready for work. I thought I was up early at six, but it turns out that 6 am is the standard time for the start of work in Tooleybuc. Country time doesn't run slow when it comes to getting a start to the day. When the sun rises, work starts and it doesn't stop till it sets.

As I packed up my tent, young Malaysian fellas donned their very Aussie looking fluro work shirt's and waited for a lift to their farm and as I carried my gear down to the river, minibus after minibus and old car after old car full of backpackers passed by.

From Tooleybuc to the Wakool Junction, the river runs almost due North and without the characteristic meanders of most of its journey to the sea. There must be some sort of geological reason for this: a clue might be found in the large parallel sand dunes which run along to the river towards Goodnight. The sandunes are around 15m high and according to Justin, a Narrung local, you have it made if you have them on your land. It's where the orange, almond, olives and grapes are planted. Justin informed me that most of Cobram Oil produce comes from here. The factory is in Cobram, but the trees are grown on red mallee soil.

The first black box have begun to appear on the edge of the river red gum is since generally appear to be in good health. During the day, their number increased until they occupied stands in both sides of the river.

From Tooleybuc onwards the Murray seems to be increasingly influenced by the high level of the Edward Wakool system. There is no noticeable current 10 km out of Tooleybuc and water has reached the top of the bank and is overflowing into the surrounding countryside.

About 12 km from the junction with the Wakool river, the first dead fish began to appear: first the smaller ones, I didn't expect this, then the larger ones. Given the lack of current I thought the northerly winds had pushed them up here, but perhaps they swam here but died of exhaustion.

I was prepared for swirling currents when I finally reached the Wakool Junction, but the river was calm. There were even signs of bank on the NSW side. What had I been worried about? I photographed the channel I had just left and compared it to the one I was about to enter. The curent picked up after the Wakool junctions. It was good to have that helping hand once more.

Fast flow through redgums aerating the oxygen starved river water.

At Narrung I found a quiet little spot under some black box and had just set about making dinner when farm ute pulled up and Justin (adjacent whose property I had camped( pulled up with an esky full of beer - to share! I did not return to my meal until much later - 3 cans, 4 fresh eggs, a farm tour, family introductions and an invitation to use their spare room should I ever come by again another time. Talk about country hospitality!

The sun set as I ate my dinner, warmed by the experience and sleepy after the beers, I crawled into my tent and allowed evening to fall.