Movie stage XIII
| start date | activity | place | from - to | days | km | km/ day | comment |
| 16.09 | Stand Up Paddle Board | Darling River | Menindee - Pooncarie | 10 | 271 | 27 | With the current, standing or sitting on board |
| 26.09 | Bicycle | Mungo National Park | Pooncarie - Robinvale | 4 | 237 | 59 |
Six years later, in a roaming river in Chilean Patagonia, I hit into a tree lying across a river. I fell underwater and all my belongings were gone - I was left alone in a virgin forest without a tent, dry clothes, food, documents, money, etc. In the end I managed to get out of trouble alive, but it was close to the tragedy.
So it was not surprise that uncertainty overwhelmed me as I got on the Darling River. Even more anxious because I have never been earlier in my life on a stand up paddling board, and the locals warned that I could get lost and more than once someone landed several kilometers out of the main river.
The current of the river was strong but the maneuvers between the branches falling from the trees did not cause any problems. Leaving Menindee I passed a lot of summer houses overlooking the water. After the time they were gone, and I finally dared to get up from a sitting position to a kneeling position, and finally to stand on the board. After an hour I felt that I had mastered the technique of operating the board and paddle, luckily it was not a rocket science, I could finally focus on the surrounding area.
The Darling River meanders like a drugged snake. I could cycle between Menindee and Pooncarie in one day (120km), but the river is close to 300 km (and only 15 meters drop in levels). Provided that there is water in the river at all, because when I was here a few years ago while preparing for the expedition, in many places the water was not continuous, you could walk to the other side with dry feet. However not this year, now the river has overflowed - the flood. A very shocking experience to be in the same place, and in practice to see an absolutely different perspective - no longer a tiny green river at the bottom of the escarpment, but one big lake.
It got wild, I didn't see any human for a few days. It reminded me a lot the Bolivian Beni River, when for 900 km I was canoeing alone in the jungle in a wooden canoe, only here on a smaller scale and without caimans or jaguars. Due to the fact that the shores were closer, I was able to observe the wildlife more closely. Only when I heard the sounds of buzzing bees, I quickly moved away from such a tree not to provoke an attack.
The sounds were divine, loud and wonderful. The laughing kookaburras were the loudest, I love them. I paddled and admired. Often I was accompanied by ducks - as soon as they saw me, the whole family with the young ones quickly entered the water in front of me, and I chased them. Then they turned or dived, and once a duck leader started flying straight at me, but at the last moment he changed his mind. Large groups of pelicans flying above me were an amazing spectacle, something extraordinary beautiful, they look amazing when flying. The biggest surprising attraction, however, turned out to be herons (egrets), which are usually very difficult to get closer. I was in the middle of the river when these two birds were flying towards me, low above the waterline. But when the first one realised that I was an obstacle, it turned and sat down on a tree about 10-20 meters from me. Then the second egret attacked the former and the fight began - they collided with their bellies, beaks, one fell into the water. Absolute hit on my Darling tour, something beautiful, I'm lucky. I didn't have time to take pictures, but I will remember it for the rest of my life.
Another attraction that I found out myself were shortcuts. Since the river overflowed, shorter crossings between the bends of the mainstream were possible. And it was a revelation, because such a route led between trees, something unique! Of course sometimes it was too shallow and I had to drag the equipment, once I got tangled in bushes and fallen trunks, it was hard for me to get out. Another time I only walked 300m instead of paddling 6km, but on the way I had to jump over two fences - with all my gear and board! On that particular day I shortened the route by a total of 16 km, getting shorter and more interesting.
I used to sleep in abandoned houses, sometimes in a tent. There were warm days, but also those where I was shaking with cold. In one rainy night I took refuge in a tiny shed made of corrugated iron - later the farmer wrote that the lightning hit 150m from me. I admit that I was afraid as the lightning thundered around. On less windy and cloudy days, I tried to film, but unfortunately the drone controller submerged for a second - it was enough to make it useless. Well, there must be losses too.
10 days on the river no a single boat passed me, and for over half the time I did not meet any human. Legs and soul rested, calm and completely different stage than all the previous ones.
Stewart Oates turned out to be very helpful, he not only host me with comfy bed and great food, but also kept my bike and board for nearly a year, then brought my water equipment to the starting point, and he organized his friend to transport the bicycle to place of my landing on shore (his 4WD vehicles were cut off by the flooded river and each time he must cross in the style of an 4WD car - a boat - a passenger car).
In Pooncarie I packed a board and sent it home by mail (the locals transported my stuff in cars and I got there quickly on foot), and Collin borrowed the tools so that I could assemble my bike. So the next day I was in one of my favorite national parks, Mungo. And it's not that it's the world's oldest human ritual burial site (40,000 years old), but the beauty of the sand dunes and its formations. It is forbidden to enter the dunes in the area of the "China Wall", but I know a place that is outside the park boundaries and still incredibly wonderful. It is a photographic paradise, so despite the rainy weather, the clouds added drama to this place.
It would seem that a bicycle return trip is just a formality. But me, at one point, instead of riding a 40 km on gravel road, I decided to take a 17 km shortcut along the fence.
I ended up jumping over the fence 3 times with my bike, and finally the fence was over and I rode off-road in wild terrain between trees, over bushes, sticks and spinifex. I was pissed at myself and it was a miracle that there was no flat tire. I rode to Victoria where I gave my bike to the school (it was expensive to send home), as it may be useful to one student.