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.

Murray River Paddle 2016 Day 22 Nyah to Tooleybuc Nov 6

MRP 2016 Day 22 Nyah to Tooleybuc Nov 6

Nyah to Tooleybuc

Just downstream of Nyah. The camping area is mostly hidden behind the town levees, however these campers are enjoying the proximity of the waterfront with the raised river.

Days that begin with an invitation to a cuppa are good days. Helen and Doug from Harcourt offered a coffee and a hand with the boat afterwards. Helen had competed in the Murray Marathon in 1990 with a team from the girl guides. She was in a leaders boat. It had a crocodile on the front as a mascot. Once you’ve done the marathon its hard to get out of your blood. They are such powerful experiences and anyone who has completed one becomes an ally.

Sunlight through the river redgums in the morning light.

I decided to only paddle to Tooleybuc today because with the Wakool high, I wanted all my wits about me when approaching that river which is apparently peaking now. It seems that I have caught up with flood waters. I hope only that with the wider river channel downstream of that junction, that the floodwaters would not be as dramatic. Gauges said that the river was at 11m, which is 9m higher than usual. That’s pretty high and well over any low banks. I am using a 1956 flood map to determine safe areas to camp. Mostly they are where the stations are. Those early settlers knew how to read the landscape.

Old river red gum with branches trailing in the water. They provide both shade and nutrients for life along the river.

The water that is coming down through the Wakool is the water that moved North through the Barmah-Millewa Forest. It comes from the big rain event that began all the flooding 5 weeks ago. The one I delayed my paddle for. Now I have caught up with it because it slowed down in the forest. There is said to be be black water amongst it, because this high river got to sections of the forest that have not been inundated for a long time. The water absorbs the tannin from leaves and bark, giving it the dark colour, and organic matter, which feeds the river food chain, but in excess leads to microbial population explosions which take oxygen from the water. It is this lack of oxygen which kills the biggest fish. We have been lucky that the temperature has not been too high. This will have slowed the growth of the microorganisms. The windy weather also helps, because it aerates the water. I’ll be able to report on it tomorrow.

Old and new, showing the increase in scale and investment that has happened all along the Murray continuing to this day.

Pump to vineyards and orchards at Koraleigh, just downstream of Wood Wood.

Large pumps running to the vineyards of Piangil

Today’s stretch took me into sheep grazing country. I enjoy the sight of them relaxing on the banks. Saltbush became more common, as did some typical weeds of the dry country like box thorn and asparagus fern. Small pumps are being replaced by much larger professional looking ones, which extend right into the river on floating pontoons. The operations they support are large scale, but may actually use less water per tonne of produce than the traditional family farm.

Elaborate fishing shack built in traditional style.

River red gum branch trailing in water showing buds shortly before flowering.

Sheep resting beneath an old gum.

On the banks I saw examples of bush furniture and all manner of weekend accommodation, from corrugated iron huts to building that could pas as real homes. The Barbie boats are art works. Each an expression of the personality of the owner. Often put together with little money using scrap and old furniture, a bought one would just not be the same. The same could be said for a skate half pipe I saw, built from 44 gallon drums and bits of old pallets covered in a layer of cement. What at first looked like rubbish to me was actually a bastion of creativity and perseverance.

Reed bed inundated on meander point.

For the most part, the trees on today’s stretch were very healthy and there was little bank collapse. Perhaps this has to do with the lack of wake boats in the area, or perhaps the soil has a higher clay content. I noted when the river was low that the banks were often bare, however had a steady angle from bottom to top. They weren’t stepped like they have become at Echuca. In some places most of the trees had died. Often these were near to intensive farming operations and I wondered if this could have been caused by localised salinity, or whether fungicides had killed off the tree’s mycorrhiza (cooperative fungi which help plants extract water and nutrient from the soil) - like the alga which give corals their colours, but also feed them. I saw many trees that had much wider trunks than the branches that extended from them. Given their habit of dropping limbs when stressed, the trunks are a better gauge of the age of a tree than the limbs and overall size. Some of the quite small trees had trunks over a metre and a half in diameter and flood marks at the height of a 1870 scale flood, several metres above the current level.

Timber offcuts, left behind by sleeper cutters.

This coppiced tree looked a bit like a hand reaching up from below the ground.

I stopped for lunch at a place which had been previously logged and cleared. There were large piles of offcuts lying around, including the kind of slabs that were used further up the river by people to build walls on their bush shacks. The stumps had been dug out of the ground and pushed into piles - presumably with the idea of burning them sometime. There was a rudimentary irrigation channel. A clue to the owner’s intentions. For some reason it had been allowed to regenerate and now amongst all the piles of fallen branches and off cuts, forest was regenerating. Land being allowed to regenerate by farmers along river banks is more common than you might think and represents hope for the future. Just as i was returning to my boat a mob of around 100 kangaroos of all ages passed through, clearing the timber with ease, the line stretched out over 300 metres. The last and youngest keen not to be left behind, particularly with a stranger around.

Lush vegetation on the meander around Murphy's island, which is gradually being abandoned by the Murray.

I love it when swallows fly around my boat, but they are so fast its hard to capture them on film. To get this shot I used a still from a video.

Paddling around Murphy’s island the bush was particularly pretty. The current all but stopped, because most of the water was rushing through a short cut the river was building to the West of the main channel. Like Beveridge Island, the passage was lush and full of wildlife - well worth the four extra kilometres and less dangerous than the snaggy cutting.

With names like ‘Gallows Bend’ and ‘Devils Elbow” and annotations like ‘wreck of the Allewein’ and ‘Pevensy burnt here’ I was expecting some pretty hairy currents, but for the most part the river moved at a steady 4 to 5km/hr - a good speed when you are travelling downstream. Perhaps the most surprising thing was being able to look over the banks. It was like paddling down the narrows. Being at eye level with the cows, sheep and kangaroos, and being able to look into the towns, not just hear them was a real change. I saw why people were so often on the banks in these areas, they lived just beyond them. In Tooleybuc I was able to run the boat up onto the bank in the park across the road from the caravan park and carry my gear without any issues into the grounds, where, able to begin my evening post early, I am about to have a refreshing shower and head into town for a counter meal at the pub (thanks Mike Bremers :).

Coming into Tooleybuc I met a man touring on his motor bike. Living the dream, he yelled out. He had always wanted to paddle the length of the river. I advised him to go in summer when the water level was lower, because it is easier to find camping spots, but then I said, all you need to do is find a boat, pick your pace and do it your way.

Tooleybuc Bridge

Tooleybuc Bridge-keepers Cottage. The windows in the chimney were so that he could keep an eye on the river, even when he was keeping warm by the fire. The building is keep as a legacy of their service to the town.

In Nyah this morning a local told of some young lads, who thinking there must be an easier way purchased a piece of plywood. Fixed it between their canoes and attached an electric motor. They decided to change their system when they reached Nyah, because the battery ran out too quickly and went back to Swan Hill and got a bike, hooked this up to the electric motor and continued on. I wonder if I will hear what happened next as I travel down the river, following the Murray on its never-ending journey to the sea. Tomorrow I make for high ground near one of the stations about half way to Boundary Bend. I have to be on my guard with all that high water. Right now though, its time for that counter meal.

The pub closes early and “there are no meals on a Sunday”… I second the words from the last loyal customer out the door “our hearts are broken”… however he pointed me to the Sporting club where I had a tasty roast of the day. Not quite the same though. Overland Corner can’t come soon enough… but perhaps, if I try very hard, I might find another good counter meal before that…