The day has come for us to set off on our adventurer to paddle down the Murray River. We are at the point where the Swampy Plans River and Indi River (otherwise known as the Murray River) come together to form the Murray River.
After many months of preparation, and many thanks to Sarg for organing the boats and building a boat trailer, we finally hit the water. The morning is overcast with rain showers about, a great day for paddling, as we thought. The Upper Murray is beautiful with the narrow fast flowing river and mountain scenery. We are all excited to experience this part of the river.
Shortly after our first stop at Towong we discover that the low river level will create some challenges for our sea kayaks as we hit the first shallow waters, small rapids and fast shoots. We soon learn how to read these sections of the river the hard way. Sarg will have some boat repair work to complete over Christmas :-(. We enjoyed the new boats that we quickly turned into old boats.
Nearing Tintaldra we are hit with the first storm of the day. We were a bit slow to get the raincoats on and by the time we got to Tintaldra for lunch we were very wet. We pulled up under the Tintaldra bridge, which was at least dry, and met our good wives for lunch. The rain eased off so we hit the water again for the paddle to Walwa.
This part of the river had more rapids and rocks than the morning section. Thomo got stuck in a willow on one of the bends, but thankfully Tony came through after him, grabbed the front of his boat and yanked him out as he went past. Not really sure what Thomo's plan B was. Almost at last light we arrive at Walwa. 9 hours 15 minutes of paddling – a huge day for our first day out.
After dinner at the Jingellic pub we head back to the Upper Murray Resort to crash into bed. Sarg, and Tony decided to stay at the caravan park. A shame it rained all night. Sorry boys.
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