Saturday 12 March 1994

Day 2

The land crew heard the buzz of the boats just after daylight.

Unaware of the distance left to travel and hampered by midgies and mozzies the previous evening, the boat crews had stopped just two kilometres short of the camp.  Given their circumstances they managed a comfortable night and were none the worse for the experience.

Both camps had risen at the false dawn.  The pressing heat and the ever-present mosquitoes made for an early start.
 

The boat crews fuelled the yellow duck and Mike and Damien took off to find the land crew. Scott, John, Cameron and Peter in the other two boats set off to drift downriver.  After Mike and Damien realised that the Murchison Crossing was only a short distance from where they had camped, they returned upriver and towed the green ducky.  The tinny powered down.

Did they remember the time wasted at the Manfred refuelling?

After breakfast and a partial crew change it was back to the business of “doing the Murchison”.  Mike and Phil, and John and Kim Thorson in the two ducks and Cameron and Adrian in the tinny got underway about the scheduled time.  No time was lost as a result of the “camp out”.

The water level had remained constant overnight -- as constant as the view of the locals that the boats wouldn’t make it to Billabalong, the next station downriver.  At the very least, they predicted, it was going to be very, very difficult.  After 20,000 kilometres of river expeditions all over Australia, Kim has learnt that “local knowledge” is most often a contradiction of terms.  After all, this expedition was the first boat trip down the river.  Locals only see the river at crossings and occasional visits at various locations while mustering or on “bore runs”.  Additionally, their knowledge of the capabilities of a boat is invariably based on a 10’-12’ V-hull aluminium dinghy, not a flat bottomed racing dinghy. He dismissed local "knowledge" - confident that the boats would get through.

Although the road paralleled the river all the way to the planned stop, access looked looked like it would be difficult and in reality was only really practicable at two stations and Ballinyoo Bridge on the Mullewa-Gascoyne Junction Road.

Not long after the boats left Adrian involuntarily checked the water temperature after his craft hit submerged strands of a fence line and came to an abrupt halt

Overhanging trees, partly submerged logs, narrow and winding channels (some of which led nowhere) and innumerable sand banks were just some of the challenges presented by the fast flowing river.

Meanwhile, 10 minutes after Kim and Peter took off in the 4WD refuelling vehicle, the radiator temperature reading went off the scale.  Fortunately, The Bus was still nearby and was called in by radio to tow the disabled 4WD to the isolated roadhouse at Murchison.

Scott and Darren were left to repair a burst radiator and (hopefully) catch up with the expedition at Murchison Bridge.

The Bus was now the refuelling vehicle and with the recovery operation taking some time it appeared that the refuelling schedule may be under threat.

However, on the water the boat crews were having dramas of their own which totally destroyed the planned refuelling schedule.

About an hour downriver from Murchison Crossing, John Haynes and Kim Thorson in the green ducky hit a sharp protruding branch that severely tore the skin near the rear of the starboard pontoon.  After a close inspection the decision was made to repair the damage.

The repair kit was hauled out and after an hour of cutting, glueing and patching (and then waiting for it to dry) the stricken duck was ready for a test run.  Thirty minutes downriver it was evident that the pontoon was losing air.  The repair began to open.  As it became worse a decision was made to rearrange the crew to lighten the load so planing speed could be maintained.

The damage to the inflatable and low water slowed the progress of the expedition on the water.

The river had spread out into a vast flood plain several kilometres across (the Wangoolia Floodout).  It was a real trial and error situation to find the main current.  In actual fact, there was no main current.  The river intermingled with vegetation and shallow creeks were going in all directions.

At the Murchison Roadhouse the repairs to the 4WD were completed and Scott and Darren rendezvoused with The Bus crew at the Ballinyoo Bridge. The land crew at the Ballinyoo Bridge again spent time sitting in the fresh water of the Murchison, keeping cool, waiting for the boats.

Kim and Scott discussed the non-arrival of the boats and decided to drive upriver to the Twin Peaks Station crossing.  There they found a message left on the river bank by the boat crew explaining the problems they were experiencing.

Apart from the problems with the damaged duck, the boat crews had to deal with more shallow water.  After a great deal of walking, paddling and running under power for short bursts the river gradually narrowed and deepened.  Several crew changes were made in an attempt to get the optimum speed from the damaged duck.  The sides of the duck were lashed inwards and Stretch took the tiller.

Mike and Phil manned the yellow duck and Kim Thorson, John and Adrian tripled-crewed the tinny.

It was full speed ahead for several hours.

Fuel supplies were running low and the land crew were not at the Twin Peaks Station crossing. A note was left and the boats pushed on to Billabalong, a few kilometres downriver.

After the crews manhandled the boats across the narrow wooden bridge at Billabalong, Cameron volunteered to walk up to the Station homestead.  By a fortunate coincidence the land and boat crews arrived at Billabalong at the same time.  As Kim and Scott greeted Col Young, the manager, and other station people, Stretch ran up, wearing his wetsuit and helmet.  A sight the station people had probably never seen before, and certainly not in the middle of the Murchison!

Stretch immediately got on the wrong side of Col Young when he said, “I saw a bit of shearing shed and figured there must be a house nearby.”

“Bit of a shearing shed!”, roared Col, “Bit of a shearing shed?!  That’s one of the biggest sheds in Australia, mate!”

Everyone had a laugh and then it was off to the river.

The stricken rubber ducky was pulled from the water, Phil and John became part of the land crew, and the boat crews pushed on.  The locals, mounted on their motor bikes and accompanied by the inevitable dog, reckoned that the water would “get better from here on down”.

Phil and John had a cramped, uncomfortable but short ride in the back of the 4WD to Ballinyoo Bridge on the Mullewa Gascoyne Junction Road  where the rest of the land crew were waiting.

After refuelling at Billabalong, the boat crews also had a reasonably quick run down to the Ballinyoo Bridge.  It was decided to push on to Yallalong and hope the water was of sufficient depth to allow the boats to arrive before dark.

The temperature was climbing but it was not as hot as the previous day - only 44^oC.  Bus driver par excellence, Darren (unable to go in the boats because of an injury) manoeuvred the vehicle through numerous steep and sandy creek crossings to get it to Yallalong Station.

Plentiful wildlife on the river (particularly birds) impressed everybody.  Kim Thorson and Stretch sped around a sharp bend within a metre of the grassy bank.  They surprised a large black swan that flapped and scrambled up the sloping bank to avoid the oncoming boat.  The swan lost balance and momentum, tumbling back towards the river, wings flapping wildly, narrowly missing the boat.

The bright pink message tape tied across the river by the land crew was seen shortly before dusk.  Concern about the lack of progress during the day and the possibility of another “camp out” disappeared.

After crossing the river, the land crew had set up camp on a patch of level high ground overlooking the water.  A vista one sees on picture postcards and part of the attraction of river expeditions.

Kim Thorson took particular care to remove debris from around the BBQ and annoying “double gees” from the sleeping area.

It was still very hot and very humid.  Flies were numerous and the mosquitoes were just waiting to take over when darkness fell.

Camp set up and meal preparation showed the benefit of the previous day’s experience.

A comfortable camp; the arrival of the boat crews as planned; quality meals prepared by Phil and Damien; good fortune in quickly locating the damaged inflatable; fixing a serious problem with the 4WD; a visit by the Vaughan Barndon, the station owner, and a rising river concluded a successful day.