Pushed to get to literally the best camp between Barham and Swan Hill and found it empty. Enough time for a swim, cook tea, clean up and get into my tent before the front arrived. Hopefully it'll clear overnight.

3/3

Love the reaction I getting along the way. Passing a tinnie with 4 people.

"Where'd you start from?
"Goolwa
Confused looks
"Paddled up and on my way back down
All four simultaneously start applauding

2/3

Day 11 Swan Hill, 2 Nov
GPS 85.9 KM (total 891.8)
BM 1522–1433 (89 KM)

Partly cloudy & hot 36°C. Not too busy, mainly just the odd fisherman. Lots of roos, few wallabies & my first tiger sighting in the Riverina. Usually cool, this 1 looked angry

I just clocked 10,000 km, only took 208 days.

1/3

Day 10 Barham-Koondrook, 1 Nov
GPS 91.4 KM (total 805.9)
BM 1617–1522 (95 KM)

Sunny. Small flow assist below the weir. Pushed to Barham for water
River's a bit muddy to drink. Couple more young red-bellies & lots of wallabies. Campers eased but crazy busy again around Barham. Melbourne Cup week.

Day 9 Torrumbarry Weir, 31 Oct
GPS 63.1 KM (total 714.5)
BM 1687–1617 (70 KM)

Showers with some rain in the morning then cloudy with dry thunderstorms.

Fairly uneventful wet day in the weir reach. Few boats were mostly well behaved. Campers galore. Every OK spot was taken for most of the day.

Effectively lost the current now, even the ducklings are cruising up against the main flow. I think they're holding it back for a bigger release in 10 days time to allow a larger boat to come upstream. Sigh. Maybe some assist once I get past the weir.

2/2

Day 8 Wharparilla (DS Echuca), 30 Oct
GPS 66.2 KM (total 651.4)
BM 1756–1687 (69 KM)

Mostly sunny. River was quite bar for houseboats & paddle steamers @ Echuca. Nearly every campsite had at least 1 camper. Skipped an OK site only to find the next 10 busy, ending up with a poor site. Duh.

1/2

Day 7 Barmah, 29 Oct
GPS 100.9 KM (total 585.2)
BM 1861–1756 (105 KM) 

Sunny. Fairly quiet. Met 2 kayakers that I past before at Picnic Pt. Saw 3 red bellies swimming, 2 juveniles. They have that chilled but don't mess with me vibe. Good to do Barmah in a day. Good flow but low compared to before.

Flow's dropped. Easy to paddle US now. I think the level has increased slightly but the flow is less. It could be the choke holding water back? Hoping to push at least 1 or 2 more long days before expected decrease in distances around Echuca.

Not all SCs are created the same. Duh. 2 portages

2/2

Day 6 Tocumwal, 28 Oct
GPS 102.8 KM (total 484.3)
BM 1986–1861 (125 KM) 

Sunny. Lots of campers, 6 school canoe groups & 1 tinnie. Great platypus sighting; swum in front of the yak, then fairly quiet other than being a backup assist helping free some kids that got their canoe stuck in a snag.

1/2

Day 5 Yarrawonga, 27 Oct
GPS 105.1 KM (total 381.5)
BM 2125–1986 (139 KM) 

Sunny, fresh SW headwinds.

Long day. Took the cutting to Boiling Down Ck & around Snake Id, multiple SC on the lake finishing in the dark. Supplies & portage. Met Kevin who's doing 6 weeks down the river from Albury.

Nice spot 3 km downstream of Howlong. It has a sandy beach just around the corner too.

For some reason I think my camps will be significantly better on my return trip. 😉

Tent seems to be holding up OK.

Day 4 Howlong (Rest Day), 26 Oct

Just a camp day today. My body seems to be demanding a rest after 33 consecutive days of hard paddling.

Avoiding the rain was a bonus! Absolutely bucketed down as the front passed on by.

Half dozen platypus sightings before the river got busy with fishermen past Ryans Ck. Supply run at Albury & then it was quiet to Howlong other than some weekend canoeists. 5 tinnies below Howlong. Weekend outings.

2/2

Day 3 Howlong, 25 Oct
GPS 90.8 KM (total 276.4)
BM 2225–2125 (100 KM) 

Misty start cleared briefly before overcast conditions with late light showers.

Rivers dropped 25cm, but still getting OK assist. Can't help but think how much easier it would be paddling US now!

1/2

Fresh SW winds started as I dried my tent & I had to battle headwinds right down to the dam. I had hoped to get to Albury but it fitting end to the upper section camping in the same spot as last Fri below the dam.

Total of 5 days up, 2 days down, with 1 day on the lake each way.

2/2

Day 2 Hume Dam, 24 Oct
GPS 69.3 KM (total 185.6)
BM 2325–2225 (100 KM) 

Mostly sunny. Woke to heavy fog. Limited visibility made for a cautious first hr or so. Cleared & good conditions from the head of the lake to Granya within the old river channel (lake's 51% fill).

1/2

So much nicer going down, averaged 10 kph & clocked my second longest day since starting. Also was able to stick in the main flow rather than ferrying from side to side. The map image shows the different tracks, red upstream (6 ferries), yellow down.

I saw a couple of platypus as I speed down.

3/3

Walks were knee deep & re-entering in fast flowing thigh deep water just metres above the riffles.

Rather than waiting 3 days for the levels to fall (more rain forecast), I turned around.

Bringenbrong was up too, 2.08m (8300 MLD). Some sections wouldn't be possible with the higher flow.

2/3

Day 55/1 Burrowye Ck, 23 Oct
GPS
* Up 1.2 KM (total 2293.6)
* Down 116.3 KM
BM 2432–2433–2325 (109 KM) 

Mostly cloudy. 2 early walks going US.

Hopes of getting up past Indi Br were quickly dashed after a rise in the water levels overnight. From 0.52m (710 ML/day) to 0.82m (1,640 MLD).

1/3

Cheers again!

Khancoban is 12 km from the junction, so just 11 km more to go further upstream than the rower. Maybe 1 full day US before heading back. Bit low on food.

As an aside, I can't imagine taking 3 months for the last 2.5 days worth of paddling, his portages must have taken forever!

Heavy rain after Towong. Still raining at Bringenbrong Br. I decided to continue. Joy to paddle the start of middle Indi, ~750 ML/day. Indi Br was the target, but the rain cleared & a beach beside an area of freshly cut grass beckoned an early camp.

Spotted a platypus early, pop seems healthy.

2/2

Day 54 Bringenbrong, 22 Oct
GPS 29 KM (total 2292.4)
* glitch 0.5 KM
BM 2403–2432 (29 KM)

Overcast with rain. 5 riffle walks below Swampy, 2 above.

Dry early & decided to paddle. Hard start below Farran's Lookout, eased before getting harder again at Towong, esp the last 5 km to Swampy.

1/2

Another echidna sighting brings the tally to 9 for the trip, right on 1 per 1000 km.

A flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos flew over camp & roosted across the river. First since the glossy blacks on the Darling.

Just 26 km to Bringenbrong.

3/3

Most walks were done in the first 2 hrs before the river eased. Flows noticeably higher & current faster (1.85m/6.2GLD up from 1.6m/4.5GLD).

Close call with a bad snag ferrying. Missed by 1m. Result would have been a 500m swim on sweeping bend through willows. It would have likely been fatal.

2/3

Day 53 Tintaldra/Towong, 21 Oct
GPS 38.4 KM (total 2263.4)
BM 2364–2403 (39 KM)

Cloudy. Instream walks 5 riffles.

Briefly met 3 younger male kayakers doing the Murray from Bringenbrong.

Otherwise quiet, with just 2 campers. Both had electric fences. Guess they have never seen a cow before?

1/3

Platypus sighting, maybe 2 others. Lots of rainbow bee eaters, crimson rosellas & king parrots. Camped near active wombat dens, no sightings but heard them out after sunset.

Lethargic finish, long overdue for a rest day. Sigh, noisy pump just got turned on (8pm).

2/2

Day 52 Ournie Ck, Walwa/Tintaldra, 20 Oct
GPS 28.5 KM (total 2225)
BM 2337–2364 (27 KM)

Mostly cloudy. Instream walks 6 riffles & 2 rapids/rocks.

Marked camps busy otherwise deserted. Faster flow & longer flowing sections slowed progress today, 3.0 kph, 2nd slowest after Bakhara 2.8 kph.

1/2

I thought a low flow (<1.3m) would allow me to walk the shallow sections easily. 30 min for 1 km with 2 walks this morning. Paddling the inside is quicker.

At 1.6m, the river is mostly filled across. At 1.75m, it's faster, even on the inside.

So a mid-flow. Maybe 1.5m could be the sweet spot.

Cheers. I had Khancoban in the back of my mind, we must have chatted about it in Darlington Pt.

1 rapid & 4 riffles so far today. Flows increased from ~3.5 to 6 GL/day at Bringenbrong, hopefully it won't affect the current too much. Rain could though, 9 to 22 mm forecast for Wed.