Lock1

Tea time for the pelicans at lock 1. I stopped just short of it at a caravan park. Last stretch was hard into wind. Day off tomorrow

Track me

For new readers, my locations are plotted on the we page below at half hour intervals wile I am rowing.


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http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0Td96oYC5yElpJeQBDu7FPq7LD7OIOxfW


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Morgan

Caudo winery, on the way to Morgan, an Morgan wharf. Stopped at the marina here and dinner at the pub.

I passed the winery at about 7am so a bit early. However, a little further on, some nice folk on a houseboat offered me a cup of tea and I passed a bit of time with them.

Lock 2

Lock 2 by lunchtime.

Google Earth path: Murray Stops.kmz

An experiment. Below is a link to a shared kmz (compressed Google Earth file) which contains a path whose turning points are the locations of my stops along the river. You maybe able to click on it, or at least copy and paste it into your browser and some representation of it should pop up in Google Maps. Try it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-NI2NTHouAzTk0zcE8yQTk1MzQ/view?usp=sharing

You might note that I followed the wiggly river and not this exact path. This isn't a flying trip.

Back on deck

Hi All,

I am back in action after a brief stay in Westmead Hospital for heart tune-up.

This morning we went to see the closing ceremony of the Sri Chinmoy Peace Run.
These were the runners we met in Renmark and it was good to see them again after their
successful run. The ceremony also included the unveiling of a fine bronze of Sri Chinmoy in contemplative pose appropriate for this beautiful and peaceful spot an the edge of
Yarralumla bay. For more detail in the images in these posts, just double click (or tap once)
on the image.

For more about the peace run and the aims of the movement, take a look at
http://www.peacerun.org/au/

I hope to be back on the river at Waikerie towards the end of the week.

Support crew

The October 20th blog entry "loungeabouts" included a photo of two of my support crew, Marg (wife) and Gerhard Reubel. The photo was taken by the third member, Joy, and I include her photo here. Joy was solo support as I entered the remote section after Mildura/Wentworth and actually managed to find me a couple of times out there. Thanks mate.

Peace Run.

A lot of folk think I am nuts to do this rowing trip, but in Renmark I met a group doing something I find more remarkable and harder. Take a look at
http://www.peacerun.org/au/
These people stayed at the same hotel we did in Renmark, and I chatted to them at breakfast. They are running from Uluru to Canberra, via Adelaide and the Murray Valley. This is a long way, hot, dry and, in my opinion, the Sturt highway section is scary and not fun. Good luck to them. I hope to be in Canberra when they finish.

Waikerie hotel

The fine hotel - good restaurant, friendly staff
Www.waikeriehotel.com

Water in the river

Irrigation permits groves of oranges, nut, vines

Waikerie

Some photos around Waikerie, including the riverfront where the grass slopes into the water and you can drag a rowboat ashore easily.

Waikerie

Celebrating arrival at Waikerie. Photo by Rachel, who happend to be sitting on the river bank. Upper and Lower Murray flags.

The river, locks, weirs

A few people have asked me "why locks on a river?". For the benefit of anyone reading this blog from outside Australia, I will attempt to explain. Any river nerds can please excuse small inaccuracies, as I believe the basic explanation here is correct.

You probably think a river is something with water in it. This is mostly not true here in inland Australia. Very few (any?) of them flow naturally all the time. Even the Murray has run dry. It starts in the Snowies and runs through 2400 kms of what is (or was) basically desert or near desert. Sturt just got lucky when he first went down the Murrumbidgee and the Murray.

We stopped a week or so back at Border Cliffs, which is the first civilisation/supplies (you do pass locks on the way down) after Wentworth and is 188 kms down the river from it. Situated there is the old customs house which, pre federation, the SA government set up to tax river traffic, which was extensive at the time. However, just a little later, the great drought struck and the river dried up completely. After 2 years, they abandoned the customs post and attempt at duties collection and it was never reinstated due federation. The constitution says no restrictions on trade between the states.

The Darling has supported paddle steamer traffic, and a couple of them are still to be found high and dry and miles from the river, where they ended up in flood times. So that is the other feature of the rivers. Feast or famine. Droughts and flooding rains, in the words of Dorothea Mackellar ( http://www.dorotheamackellar.com.au/archive/mycountry.htm ) The Paroo, when it flows, runs out of Queensland and wanders around before ending in a swamp most times. But in a huge wet, it gets to the Darling. The Lachlan fades into a swamp after staggering about over half of NSW, and did so even in the time of Sturt because his progress on land was blocked by the towering reeds in the dried up swamp where it might enter the Murrumbidgee in a big wet, so he put their boat in the water and went down the Murrumbidgee that way.

So keeping the Murray wet is a big deal, for irrigators all along the river and to guarantee a water supply to South Australia. The weirs, and a lot of careful attention to storage levels and flows, do this job. The locks permit boats to pass the weirs. There are also fish ladders.

If you are flying over inland Australia and see rivers on your chart, look for lines of trees (in contrast to scrubby stuff and red dirt) rather than actual water. In times of flood, look for lines of trees sticking up out of a great expanse of muddy water.

Pause in journey

I should explain this pause, after completeing 846kms of the river, for the benefit of anyone following this blog who isn't up on this heart issue.

A few years back I had the benefit of a procedure to fix atrial fibrillation at Westmead Hospital in Sydney. The procedure is called pulmonary vein isolation and works by creating an area of non conductive scar tissue inside the heart around the pulmonary veins, to stop bad signals sneaking in and making the atria jump before they should.

This fixed my AF for about two years, and then I got it again. This is, apparently, not uncommon, because the scarring may not be complete, and one heals up, so to speak. Thus the folks who do it say that one may need to come back for a second round. This is what I am doing but it just happens to fall in the middle of this rowing jaunt, which happens to also be a fund raiser for Westmead Medical Research Foundation ( https://give.everydayhero.com/au/wagga-to-the-murray-mouth ) as I realise this clever sort of technology does not come for free.

All being well, I will be back on the river towards the end of November.

We are leaving the boat and trailer and associated camping kit here in Waikerie. Andrew, the manager of the Waikerie Hotel/Motel has very kindly offered to store the kit in a secure undercover area, and this is just a great solution. Thanks Andrew!

I should also thank Richard Challis, of Renmark Rowing Club and Peter Lang of Waikerie Rowing club for helping to organise this - local knowledge, mafia of rowers, a fine thing.

While we were in Renmark, Richard, on my day off the river, got me back on the river with his club buddies in a 4 (pictured below). You get one oar each, and are expected to row in sync, which I managed to do. It makes me think about sticking a sliding seat and some riggers on my boat. Anyway, rowing with these guys was a great experience, and I loved every minute of it. They are also a fun social crowd. Richard and Helen also came and helped me put the boat back in the water on leaving.

Now, time for a decent dinner and a sleep in a proper bed without ants, buzzing things, and insomniac birdlife - such are the joys of camping by the river


Les

Great Yarra Reach

Great Yarra Reach, and below, Crooked Straight (from ashore).

With a headwind, these would be a problem, but I was lucky.

Breakfast

Just had breakfast and boiled the billy for a brew
while drifting along the Great Yarra Reach 16 k out of
Waikerie

Progress

Stopped at km 409. Passed lock 3. Big day 43k with some adverse winds. 29 k to Waikerie. Stuffed and gone to bed.

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Progress

Easy day today. Early start, 5.45 am, and an early finish, 2.30pm at Moorock after 38k. Light tail wind helped.

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Progress

Got to Thiele's Sandbar just short of Loxton. Retrieved by support crew to enjoy dinner at Loxton pub. 38k in adverse winds.

I tie the boat to a tree to make sure it doesn't get carried off by the wind, even though I have hauled it up on the beach. Just around the corner are white caps and a headwind I would not row against.

Back on the River.

Back on the river. Made it to a campsite at Berri, 40k. Eating at Indian restaurant in Berri. Something Sturt couldn't do.

Lock 5 this morning. Smooth and courteous as usual. Also, after lock 5, I was met at the Lyrup Ferry because I had asked "support" for some cordial to alter the plastic flavour of the water in my newly acquired camelback. The cordial was actually provided by Richard Challis, secretary of Renmark Rowing club, pictured here with his partner, Helen, and a thirsty version of me.

Shortly after this shot, we spotted an example of Hydromys Chrysogaster, the native water rat, surfacing and diving just offshore. He looked more the size of an otter than a rat, but ratlike.

Progress and fun

From the Border Cliffs into Renmark took me 2 days. 637 kms down to 566 kms. Both days featured wind wind wind. On the first day I got to around 604 and faced with another reach into wind with foam all over it, I had a look at the banks for campsite. It was a pretty poor area. Reeds and swamp, or a high bank? Eventually I found a clear bit on the reedy side and pulled in.

That was about 6pm (SA time). Instead of sleeping on the bank, I reorganised the boat and rolled out a newly acquired swag. It worked pretty well. I made phone contact with Marg and also radio contact, for a tryout, and then knocked together a meal, of packet indian dahl and half a can of corned beef, the other half stowed for breakfast.

Sundown = head down, but I noted that the wind was still roaring in the trees and the slop coming around the bend was rocking the boat. Fine. Rock me to sleep, which it did. I woke up about 1 am and it was still windy. By 3 am it had stopped, and all was still. Birds and the thin grey light of dawn woke me at a bit before 6am and the lap lap noises told me that the wind was back, but not roaring at this time.

I rolled everything up, had a biscuit and got going. All good for a while. I even got along "Crooked Straight" a long east west reach below Headings Cliffs. I had been dreading trying to get down that in a westerly, but it was OK. The southerly coming over the cliffs was a bit moderated and was just a nuisance trying to weathercock the boat. I celebrated finishing that straight with corned beef breakfast, then back to rowing.

As the day went on, the wind got stronger. All the southerly reaches and corners were hard. A couple of times I got a bit of help on an easterly run. The final 8 kms into Renmark are south, and then southwest, and then south through tow, finally turning east to the boat ramp at the caravan park. When iI turned the corner onto the long south reach, it was difficult but not as bad as I expected. The reason was apparent further down. The beastly wind had gone round to sw, so I had the last couple of k straight into it.

Marg had organised a cheer squad on the terrace of the club, so that was a bit of fun, but the rowing was less than fun. 4 pm, so I had been rowing for around 10 hours and was starting to lose my sense of humour. Finally I got onto the eastern heading and with the wind in my tail feathers I shot along the last bit to the ramp, where Marg had now relocated with the car and trailer. I got onto the ramp and stumbled out of the boat. You cannot really hang around boat ramps so there is a bit of pressure to get stuff out of the boat and the boat on the trailer, but I was staggering around a bit. A chap turned up with shiny speedboat on a trailer. I chatted with him and he offered me a hand getting the boat out, which was very decent.

This young chap was very helpful and interested in the boat. We got it on the trailer and drove it out of his way and he reversed his outfit down the ramp, having first removed the ties and covers. As is common, he reversed the trailer into the water and then braked to let the boat float off. As is less common, he had not tethered it, so it started to drift away from the ramp. The ramp had concrete sides which would have been a metre above the water edge. Instead of wading after his boat, our man trotted along the ramp side, and as the boat went by, took a standing leap for the foredeck! Time slowed. It looked like the ideal situation to just hit the boat with your feet, kick it out into the stream, and fall backwards into the water, possibly cracking ones head on the concrete wall. But no! This guy was built to get airborne. He landed both feet firmly on the foredeck. The boat moved with his added momentum, but he kept upright and, while we cheered, he started the motor and got it under control. What a character. I have never seen a standing jump like it.

Somewhat cheered, we went off to park the boat and car and get sorted out for dinner at the lovely Renmark hotel.

Marg also made contact with the local rowing club, so we are off to see them now. Back on the river tomorrow morning. I expect it will be windy.

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That flag

I realise the quality of the images on this blog is pretty poor, so here is another shot of the interesting flag flying at all the locks. The blue bars represent the Murray and major tributaries. This was at lock 6.

Support crew

Support crew relaxing

Scenic

Headings Cliffs

Duke

Duke the dog. Very friendly. And like most dogs, happy to eat your dinner.

Border Cliffs Retreat

The garden of border cliffs retreat. Outlook is over orange groves and the river flood plain

I study "River Murry Pilot"

Emus

I meant to the right of
The dark tree, in front of
The silver stump, in the previous entry.

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Emus

If you look carefully at the edge of the water, left of the dark tree in the centre of the shot, emu and some chicks. I counted 4.

Progress

6am start and made it in to "Border
Cliffs Retreat" at the old customs house. Great place, on a farm doing wheat, oranges and grapes. Even a free bottle of their own red. Sleep in a bed tonight. So that was a decent run, around 40k, and I got on to the beach here at 2.30pm - greated by support crew (Marg) and Duke the dog.

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Progress

Stopped by wind 36 km from Border Cliffs House. Poor reception in this area

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