BT's Murray Adventure 2007: Day 1 - This was not on the brochure!

The previous evening my mate Kristian and I headed for the Hume Wall and finalise the start point. We then continued on to camp just off the Omeo Highway heading towards Mitta Mitta. Another beautiful day up there but clear days seem to be followed by frosty evenings!

Due to the cold and damp conditions we made a late start and did not arrive at the start point until after 10am. Unloading the kayak from trailer, packing it will all the essential equipment, and then finally setting off took another hour plus some. Finally after much preparation I was on my way. The first day was not what I had anticipated at all. It was less than 1km downstream of the wall before I passed under a bridge where the water was so low that i bounce the bottom of the kayak over a large boulder. After the bridge there were snags absolutely everywhere and a straight stretch of river had to be treated like a slalom course. Through the course of the first day I took one wrong turn into a dead end, smashed into one snag which destroyed one rod and reel attached to the top of my kayak, hit another snag side on which swung me perpendicular to the flow and I thought for sure into the river and several times became stuck on the shallow rocky bed. The common river scape was for bends with wide unpassably shallow rocky sections with the slightly deeper areas loaded with snags. I wish more photos were taken but I was honestly too concerned with trying to make the most kms possible in difficult circumstances.

Later in the day I came across a group camping along the river. With channels going everywhere I stopped to confirm I was still on the main Murray River channel and to see how far on to Albury. They were extremely hospitable and invited me to camp there for the night with Dave, Dom and Jack. Thanks again guys...after that horrid first day bouncing all over the river it was good to have to company. Only 21km of the proposed 2225km covered. It was an enormously challenging day.