From: Torrumbarry Weir
To: Perricoota
Distance: 52km
Total Distance Travelled: 949km
Distance to Go: 1576km

I woke up this morning to the peaceful sound of rain pattering on the tarp. It was not heavy and it was nice just lying there listening to the rain while snug in my sleeping bag. I was glad that I put the tarp up over my tent last night because it meant the tent was still dry and also I was going to be able to organise my gear under shelter.

I wanted to be on the water right on sunrise because I had 50+ kilometres to paddle today and I would need as much of the day as possible to achieve it. I also had a 500m walk through the caravan park around the weir to the boat ramp.

The paddle today was very enjoyable. There was a little bit more flow because of the small amount of water they are releasing out of the Torrumbarry Weir. Today’s section of the river was very remote and I did not see a single person or sign of civilisation all day. I didn’t even bother looking at a map, because the river is remote, windy and bush on both sides for 100km between Torrumbarry and Barham (which I get to tomorrow). I had no planned campsite, so I just paddled until I had done more than 50km.

The rain was very light and only lasted for the morning. After lunch the sun poked its head out for about 20 minutes and then it clouded over again. There was a bit of a head wind but it wasn’t too bad.

I had an interesting thing happen this afternoon, which was certainly a first for me. I fell asleep while paddling. It was a bit like falling asleep while driving. I was on a long stretch of wide river and I was tired after a long day of paddling. I remember closing my eyes and next thing I know I woke up again. It was only a micro sleep and I was still paddling, but it was a very weird experience. I nearly did it a couple more times after that. In the past (and over the last couple of days) I have experienced trance like mindsets while paddling for long periods, but this was definitely the first time I have actually paddled myself to sleep.

After I had hit the 50km mark, I started looking for a suitable campsite. I soon found a muddy bank with some rough stairs carved into it and decided to have a look. It took me up to a narrow peninsula with a decent enough campsite. Since it is the day after the long weekend, there is a bit of rubbish around which is not great, but the upside was that the previous campers had left some chopped firewood behind. I had not planned to have a fire tonight, but I managed to get my booties wet and muddy getting out of my kayak, so I decided to wash them and use a fire to dry them out.

So tomorrow is another long day of paddling, with another 52km down to Barham. I have a campsite booked at the Barham Caravan park, so I should be able to grab a pub meal and a beer after a couple of long days on the water.

From: Emu Bend
To: Torrumbarry Weir
Distance: 46km
Total Distance Travelled: 901km
Distance to Go: 1628km

Today was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but it was still a very enjoyable day of paddling.

When I arrived last night, there were a couple of shipping pallets sitting on the mud that I was able to use to get out of the boat and then drag the boat over the mud. To get all the gear back into the boat and to get the boat back into the water was not as easy. So I had to spend the first 30 mins this morning extending the mud bridge to the water’s edge. I had to add a pile of leaves and bark to close the gap between the pallets and the water. It was a bit of work, but it paid off in the end because I managed to keep my gear and my feet (and legs) clean.

Today’s section of the river really had 2 parts. The first part was closer to civilisation and had a lot of campsites along the Victorian side. Being that it is the last day of a long weekend, there was a lot of activity on the river and the river banks. I had a number of speed boats rocket by me and I saw my first jet ski. In the afternoon the river entered the second part, which was much more remote parkland and it became a lot more peaceful. This was until I got closer to Torrumbarry Weir, when there we quite a few trail bikes riding around in the bush.

The paddling today was pretty slow, especially as I got closer to Weir, because the river became wide and very lake like. As a result, there was absolutely no flow and I was only paddling between 6.5kmh and 7.5kmh. This is about 1-2kmh slower than the day before, which doesn’t sound like much but it does start to add up over the day.

After about 7.5 hours of paddling (with a short lunch break) I got to the weir at around 3.30pm. It was a short walk with the trolly to the caravan park where I am camping tonight. As I was starting my walk, a friendly guy pulled up and offered to get his trailer to help me, however he quickly realised I had wheels and I only had 100m to walk to the caravan park.

I am hoping that there is a bit of flow on the other side of the weir because tomorrow and the next day I need to do 52km per day. I am going to try and get on the water tomorrow before sunrise to give myself plenty of time to cover the distance and to find a campsite. There is also a cold front coming through the area sometime in the next 2 days, so I am expecting it to be pretty wet as well.

From: Echuca
To: Emu Bend
Distance: 36km
Distance to Go: 1679km

It was great to be back on the water today. I had been hanging out in Echuca/Moama for nearly a week, enjoying some time on a houseboat with the family and waiting for the Victorian lockdown to end. So now that Victoria has opened itself up to me, I have been able to paddle again with a new positive spirit.

Before I get to today’s paddle, I will tell you about some of the highlights of my time in Echuca and Moama.

Firstly, the big highlight was that the weather was terrible last week. It was raining, really windy and cold. Why was this a highlight? Well… because I was on a houseboat with heating and not in my tent or on the water. The weather has now all moved through and it has become perfect again.

The other great thing that happened was that I had dinner with a local paddler, Peter Phillips. Peter has done the Murray paddle twice and is an expert on all aspects of the river. He tries to have dinner with all the Murray River expeditioners as they pass through Echuca. He has an in-depth knowledge of the river’s ecology and is currently doing his PHD on the Murray. So it was great to pick his brain and to chat about the river. He also gave me a whole lot of tips about how to cross the famously treacherous Lake Alexandrina at the end of the river. It was a really good night and thanks Peter buying me a steak!

So this morning I left from Moama Beach at around 8am and enjoyed paddling past all the paddle steamers in Echuca while the river was quiet (being a Sunday morning). Even though we had chugged our way along today’s stretch of the river in the houseboat last week, paddling it today was really enjoyable. I think that it had a lot to do with the fact that I am feeling a lot more positive now that the borders are open and the fact that there was no wind all day also helped.

I had planned to camp at a campsite in the Benarca region of the Murray Valley National Park (NSW) tonight. We had scoped out the campsite last week, when we were on the houseboat, and when I arrived today it looked perfect. However, it was really strange that it was empty of campers considering that it was a long weekend. I decided to check the National Parks website and found that the entire Benarca part of the National Park was closed for a few weeks while they remove dangerous trees. So I jumped back into my boat and paddled a few hundred metres down the river where I found a good spot on the Victorian side of the river. Having no border restrictions makes life so much easier.

While I was setting up my tent, I saw a man with his dog approaching on a quad bike. When he pulled up he introduced himself as Kevin and was very friendly. He lived just outside the parklands I am camped in and he offered to bring me some water if I needed any (which I didn’t). He then he offered to get me a beer if I wanted one. I politely declined because I am trying to have a few days without drinking after a fairly boozy week in Echuca/Moama. We had a great chat about the river and my plans for the paddle.

After a quick dinner of ravioli, I had to make a hasty retreat to my tent because a cloud of large mosquitoes had descended on me.

Tomorrow I am paddling about 40km down to Torrumbarry Weir. You have to walk around the weir, but it is not very far and I am staying the night at the caravan park next to the weir.

Day 24
From: Picnic Point
To: Bama (Murray Valley NP)
Distance: 50km
Distance to Go: 1734km

Today was a lovely day. The paddling was very enjoyable and the weather was fantastic (almost too hot).

Last night, after a nice dinner at the Timbercutter Cafe/Bar, I joined a nice couple of families from Echuca for a couple of beers around their campfire in the caravan park. It was nice to have some company and they were very friendly folk. While I was at dinner, they had googled “Andrew Murray River Kayak” and found my blog. So they had already stalked me and knew lots about my adventure so far. Feeling the effects of a couple of wines at dinner and a couple of beers by the fire, I decided to retire to my tent (at the other end of the park) and get some rest. There was a large group of caravaners just near my tent, with a big bonfire, playing loud 80s Aussie rock, so I opted for the earplugs and hurried myself in the sleeping bag.

I awoke to a rather warm (10 degrees is now warm) morning and was on the water by 8am. I had 45km to paddle today to a campsite called “Williams” in the Bama section of the Murray Valley National Park. The paddle was great because for most of the day I was surrounded by National Park on both sides of the river.

There were a lot of people in small boats (tinnies) fishing amongst the fallen trees. I have noticed that the majority of fisher people in this area are very unsociable. Most of them don’t even acknowledge me as I paddle by, let alone say hello.

I saw a lot of kangaroos today and also say a wild brumby (horse) in the National Park. I had seen some horses the day before and was talking to the folks about them last night. They informed me that they were indeed wild horse.

Around lunchtime I only had about 10km to go to the campsite, so I decided to just eat some snacks in the boat and push on to the campsite. I got to the planned spot (Williams) only to find that it was on top of a 7m cliff and there was no way I was going to get up there. I knew there were some more campsites about 5km further along the river, so I decided to paddle on (despite my stomach rumbling), only to find that the NSW bank of the river was either deep mud or high cliffs (or both).

Finally, after about 5km, I came around a bend and found a spot where there was a campfire still smoking from people who had vacated the spot earlier in the day. It drives me nuts when I find campfires that have not been put out properly. The bank looked pretty muddy, but I was at that point where I just wanted to stop and the campsite looked pretty good. Stepping onto the bank I promptly sank up to my shins, but after a few squelchy steps I got up onto more solid mud. I was able to then gather some bark and logs to build a bridge across the mud and get my gear out. The campsite was indeed excellent and I was able to easily resurrect the fire very quickly.

Tomorrow I paddle to Echuca/Moama, where I am going to be meeting up with Kath, Mum and Dad, and we are getting a houseboat for a few days. It was going to be a short day tomorrow (only 30km), but since I did an extra 5km today, it will be even shorter (5km). So I will probably get there late morning and can pick up the houseboat before the others arrive.

Day 25
From: Bama
To: Moama
Distance: 25km
Distance to Go: 1713km

I have decided to merge these two days of paddling together in one blog post because the paddle to Echuca/Moana was fairly short (3 hours and 25km).

This morning was not very cold but there was a pretty strong wind blowing in the trees above the campsite. Fortunately the campsite was very protected by a small hill, so it was very pleasant. I was dreading having to wade through the mud to get all the gear back in the boat, but after placing a few more strategically placed logs on my mud bridge, it ended up being pretty straight forward. I got into the boat with dry feet and little mud to speak of.

The river was pretty windy today, which was good and bad. Since the river was so wiggly, it meant that half the paddle was with a very strong headwind and the other half had a nice tailwind.

The highlight of the short paddle was joining of the Goulburn River. The Goulburn is Victoria’s longest river (654km) and flows all the way from the Victorian Alps and Lake Eildon. I had heard from various folks along the river that they were letting a bit of water down the Goulburn at the moment and I was hopeful that make the river flow a bit faster. However as I approached the river it did not look like it was flowing that much. In fact, all that happened was the river became wider and deeper, but I actually slowed down. Before I got to the Goulburn I was averaging about 9.5kmh, but afterwards I was averaging about 8.5kmh (7kmh with the headwind).

At around 11am I turned the final bend and pulled up on Moama Beach. The family are going to meet me there later and the houseboat company are going to bring our houseboat (from the Victoria side) to the beach for us. With a couple of hours to kill, I have semi-hidden my gear on the beach and walked into Moama to do some laundry and have a restful lunch and coffee.

I am now having a 4 day break with the family, sitting on the houseboat, drinking beer and editing the next video. We are also waiting to see what will happen with the Victoria/NSW border situation.

From: Honeymoon Bend
To: Mathoura (Picnic Point)
Distance: 45km
Distance to Go: 1788km

This morning was cold. As I was lying in my sleeping back I looked at the weather on my phone and saw that it was -4 degrees. It took all my will power (and the need for the bathroom) to get up and start packing things. It actually wasn’t too bad as I was packing because I was moving and keeping warm. The kayak and paddle were both covered in a layer of ice, which made it somewhat unpleasant to pack things and to get the gear organised.

Once I was on the river I was nice and warm. Even though I had my neoprene gloves on, my fingertips were the only things that were cold. I had about 45km to paddle today to Picnic Point and because it was so cold I decided not to stop. I was toasty warm in my boat and it was too cold to get out for lunch. So after 5.5 hours of paddling I made it to the Murraybank Caravan Park at Mathoura/Picnic Point.

Mathoura, or otherwise known as Picnic Point, is not really a town. It is basically two caravan parks , a lot of holiday cabins and one pub/cafe. The caravan park I am staying at is absolutely packed being that it is a Saturday and it is also full of Victorian caravan folk that escaped Victoria before the lockdown.

I am currently sitting by the river outside the Timbercutter Redgum Cafe Bar, waiting for it to open at 5.30pm, so I can have some dinner and some drinks. I have also been invited by some friendly people at the caravan to swing by for a beer afterwards. So I might post this blog now because I may not get a chance later tonight.

From: Woperana
To: Honeymoon Bend
Distance: 45km
Distance to Go: 1824km

Knowing that today was going to potentially be a long day, I woke up early (around 5am) and started getting things packed up. I wanted to be on the water early to allow enough time to paddle the planned 48km and allow enough time to find a campsite.

As I was packing the last of my things it started to rain. Not heavily but just enough to start getting things damp. So I quickly carried everything down to the boat and packed them in the hatches. I have no problem with it raining while in the water because I am snug and dry in my boat and Gortex jacket. However packing gear in the rain always sucks. As I was pushing off the shore I was treated to a lovely rainbow.

The paddle itself was pretty straight forward. I had a nice bit of speed, averaging about 9kmh until the headwind kicked in after the first hour of paddling. The headwind stayed all day, and while it was not really too strong, it became pretty annoying after a couple of hours.

I stopped on a small beach on the NSW side to have some lunch and quickly began to get cold. I realised one of the problems with Victoria being off limits is that the Victorian side of the river gets all the winter sun. The NSW side is permanently in the shade and cold.

After lunch I had another 20km to paddle and at around the 40km mark I started to look for a suitable campsite in the long stretch of the Murray Valley National Park. It started to get frustrating because there were heaps of perfect spots on the Victorian side and nothing on the NSW side. Eventually I found a muddy beach with an ok camping spot and I claimed it.

As I was unpacking my gear, I felt like I was in a bit of a humph mood. I think it was a combination of being tired, hungry (I didn’t eat much lunch because it was so cold) and the dwelling on the lockdown uncertainty. However, after eating half a packet of BBQ Shapes and a cup of tea, I got out of my funky mood and set about collecting firewood.

I now have a lovely fire and I am waiting to go to bed (it is only 6.45 so it is a bit early).

Tonight is going to be a cold one. They are forecasting -2 overnight. I have about 40km to paddle tomorrow to Picnic Point, where I am staying in a caravan park. There is a bar/cafe about 20 mins from the caravan park, so I can see myself ending up there.

From: 1904 Beach
To: Woperana
Distance: 35km
Distance to Go: 1869km

It rained a fair bit last night. Fortunately the tarp that I put up over the tent worked really well and the tent was completely dry this morning. I did have to get up at around 10.30pm to adjust the tarp slightly because it was pooling water and every now and then there would be a rush of water as it dumped it out on the the sand. I tried to put up with it for a while but it was very loud and very random, so I had to do something about it. After I adjusted it by lowering one of the sides, it worked perfectly and I had an uninterrupted sleep for the rest of the night.

Today’s paddle was very chilled. The water was pretty shallow in parts because the river has got considerably wider. The sun came out at around 9am, so the morning was very delightful and even got pretty warm. I was looking forward to getting to Tocumwal and having a leisurely bakery lunch in the park by the Big Murray Cod. Unfortunately as I approached Tocumwal, the clouds started coming over and the wind picked up, so it was not as pleasant as I had hoped.

I pulled up by the boat ramp in town and changed into my “city clothes” (I.e. I put a pair of pants on over my thermals and board shorts) and got all my valuables out of the boat to take with me. I then walked the 200m up to the main road. The only thing I needed from the supermarket was some more methylated spirits for my stove, so I popped into the IGA. I then visited to the bakery and got myself some lunch and a coffee. Being that it was not such a nice day and that I had left my boat by the boat ramp, I decided to head back to the boat and ate my lunch on the edge of the river by the boat ramp.

It didn’t take long to start getting cold, so I packed all the gear back into the boat and started paddling again. I only had about another 15km to go to get to the planned campsite at Woperana in the Murray Valley National Park, which meant I could take it pretty easy. I arrived at camp at around 2.30pm and found it too be a lovely campsite with a nice view of the water and enough firewood for me to have a decent campfire.

One of the interesting observations today was the large number of people that have set up camp on the Victoria side of the river. There are families and large groups have set up large tent and caravan cities along the banks. I assume they are sitting out the lockdown in the caravans or have no fixed address. Or they are just hiding out while the lockdown is on. I think the border towns are pretty relaxed when it comes to checking up on people and where they are from or where they should be.

I have a pretty long day tomorrow. I need to do about 50km to get to the next section of the Murray Valley National Park on the NSW side of the river. There are no designated campsites in this part of the National Park, so I need to allow myself plenty of time to find somewhere suitable to pitch my tent. The restrictions for regional Victoria are meant to be easing up tonight at midnight. Unfortunately I have no internet at this campsite, so I don’t know what the latest is on this and I also don’t know what the NSW government’s position is about about people crossing the border from Victoria into NSW. The current position is that if you come from Victoria into NSW you have to go into a 7 day lockdown at your home. Hopefully they will ease this restriction for people coming from regional Victoria.

I have finished another audio book today. I have been mixing it up a bit and have listened to a variety of genres (ranging from deep to trash). They include:

• Havana Storm – Clive Cussler
• My Side of the Mountain – Jean Craighead George
• A Life on Our Planet – David Attenborough
• Yearbook – Seth Rogan

Well, the temperature is starting to drop now that the sun has gone down, so it is time to add another log to the fire and maybe make a cup of hot chocolate.

From: Near Barooga
To: 1904 Beach
Distance: 39km
Distance to Go: 1904km

I am back on the river! After my abrupt extraction from the river last week due to the Victorian snap lockdown, I am now back and paddling again.

For the last 5 days I have been hanging out at my parents place at Binalong (about 400km from the river) waiting for Victoria to work out what it was doing with the 7 day lock down. Kath and James (and the dog) came down for a few days and it was nice to be able to hang out with them. While I was there, I spent some time looking at the map and I worked out a way that I could paddle the next 6 days to Echuca/Moama without needing to camp or go onto the Victorian side of the river. This involved finding ways of splitting up the days so that I could camp in the Murray Valley National and Regional Parks, which are spread out along the NSW side of the river.

So last night, Mum, Dad and I drove back down to Barooga (the town near where I stopped last week) and spent the night at one of the local motels. They were pretty happy to have us there, because with the border being essentially closed and it being a border town, they had barely anyone staying there all week.

After an early breakfast at the nearby cafe, we drove the 15km upstream to the point that I got out of the water last week. At around 8.30am I was on the water and paddling again. The body took a while to warm up after nearly a week of not paddling. It was a very nice sunny morning without much in the way of wind. I only had around 39km to paddle today, so I just took my time and enjoyed being on the water again.

Around lunchtime, I made it to Cobram, which is a largish town on the Victorian side (across the river from Barooga). I obviously wasn’t able to get out to have a look, so I had to settle for a quick drone flight up to have a look from the air. While I was having my lunch I was able to watch the Victorian (acting) Premier’s press conference where he was announcing the plans for the lockdown. Currently the plan is that Melbourne is going to remained locked down for at least another week, however regional Victoria will start opening up again (with lots of restrictions) at midnight tomorrow night. None of this really impacts this week’s paddle to Echuca because I will continue to remain on the NSW side, however it will make life a lot easer when I have to paddle from Echuca to Swan Hill because I need to be able to restock with food at Swan Hill and there is nothing on the NSW side of the river. We just need to see what the NSW Premier says about any restrictions of people crossing the NSW/Victorian border but I am guessing it won’t be an issue, they will probably just stop people going to and from Melbourne.

After lunch, I continued down the river for a couple of hours and found my planned campsite in the Murray Valley National Park at a place called “1904 Beach”. It is called this because funnily enough it is where the 1904km marker is. It is a nice spot right on the edge of the water. It is going to rain tonight, so I have been able to set up a tarp over my tent to help keep things a bit dry.

Tomorrow is a really short day, with only 30km to paddle. It was the only way I could make the distances work so that I would have a National Park to camp in. I will be going past Tocumwal (home of the Big Murray Cod) around lunchtime, so if it isn’t raining I might stop off there for lunch and a look around.

I am now just sitting in the dark, by a small fire, feeling the lightest of rain drops falling on me and my laptop. I think I need to head into the tent before the rain gets heavier.