Walkers Flat to Mannum
The first part of my paddle today was rather short. I packed my boat, slid it down the steep bank into the water, found that I had a good ledge to stand on, hopped in and paddled to the Walkers Flat Shop. The shop was the real reason I camped there. It has been praised for its chips, its coffee, its ice-creams and its hamburgers, but really, it’s just really nice to experience a bit of civilisation. Covering my bases, I ordered a coffee and a hamburger (which although not really a breakfast food does have eggs, so it sort of counts). I also bought some biscuits, as my Anzac bikkies had run out about a week ago and a hat which said ‘Love the river - Walkers Flat’, which the shop owner had embroidered herself. Apart from food - which, let’s face it, is pretty important - the shop is a real hub of the community. The town history, and especially the story of the 1956 flood’ is told in photographs on the shop wall. There is a ‘buy, swap and sell’ notice-boards and a ‘community events board’ as well. Once a week, locals meet in the shop to share a glass of wine and some nibbles and once a month the owner provides meals for the community fundraisers in the local hall. All profits go to whatever local cause is being promoted. Outside on the lawn is a large, well maintained plaque to the ‘Ferry Dog’ who died on duty some time ago. His bowl is still under the plaque, for other dogs to drink from. I topped up my fresh water supplies and then pushed off.
Walker Flat is right in the middle of the Murray Gorge area and a large part of my day was spent paddling from cliff to cliff. The low areas in between usually included old passages of the river (visible as lagoons), river levees and floodplains. There is not much room for the river to move around, since the ancient river gorge walls are often less than a kilometre apart. The result is that the ‘valley’ floor is a place where multiple ecosystems meet and from which species can spread out to recolonise other areas following drought, or the likes. The lagoon landscape was probably the only thing stopping people from erecting more ’shacks’. Every bit of accessible ground is covered with these inland beach houses. Many will get wet feet with the rising flood waters.
Scattered amongst the mansions is the occasionally little old original home. They look as if they only has one room. Typically, everything is made of corrugated iron. wall, roof, and window shutters. I even found one which looked like a paddle steer, complete with round paddle boxes.
I am now just over 150 km from the sea. The river is getting wider. It has a lake feel about it. Even the smallest of winds drives rolling waves down the straight and around the corners. Many times today, it looked as if a paddle steamer was ahead of me. A steady southerly wind blew waves which broke over my bow. If not for the collection of water bottles I carry on the ‘for’ deck I would have been soaked. I had arranged them like a battering ram.
The river is widening and slowing down. I measured the current several times at 2 km/hr. The reason for the slow down is that we are almost at sea level. In its last 100km, the Murray only drops a few centimetres. Compared to normal flow for this are, 2 km is fast, normally it is around half a kilometre and hour. The slow current drops my overall speed, so I am finding that I have to spend more time on the water, or less time on breaks. In 8 hours of paddling today, I only had 10 minutes break. Originally I had planned to pull into Younghusband, however the caravan park is up on the side of a hill and looked a little neglected. The shop from which it is managed had a large ‘for sale’ sign too. I decided to move on, I had no desire to unpack my boat and carry every item up a hill. Eventually I made it to Mannum Caravan Park and enjoyed the best shower on the trip far, a magnum ice-cream and tuna and egg macaroni cheese on the Trangia.
In the morning I plan to go for a early walk to find a bakery in town and then push off. Haven’t decided where I’ll get to yet, but the closer I get to Lake Alexandrina, the more time and options I will have for that crossing.
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