The Darling River is one of the great rivers of the world. Beginning near Bourke in northern NSW, it wends its way 1,475 kilometres through some of the most remote country in the world before the confluence of the Murray and Darling Rivers at Wentworth, on the border of NSW and Victoria. From Wentworth, it is some 1,000 kilometres to Lake Alexandrina and the mouth of the river, which is on the tip of one of the most incredible regions of Australia – the Coorong.
The goal for this expedition is to journey – largely un-aided – down the Darling River to the rivers confluence with the Ocean and to experience some of the challenges which faced the early explorers. This is the realisation of a dream borne through childhood journeys into the heart of Australia and late nights over ten years ago with good friends. Through realising this long held dream, I hope to inspire people to step out of the everyday world. Just as importantly, I hope to discover the story of the people in the area and how they contend with one of the harshest, changing landscapes in the world.
Town | Leg Distance (km) | Distance Covered (km) | Day | Comment |
Bourke | 0 | 0 | ||
Louth | 204 | 204 | 14 | Mt Gundabooka exploration between Bourke and Louth |
Tilpa | 170 | 374 | 20 | |
Wilcannia | 276 | 650 | 31 | |
Menindee | 309 | 959 | 41 | |
Pooncarie | 285 | 1,244 | 54 | |
Wentworth | 229 | 1,473 | 63 | Confluence of the Murray and Darling River |
Renmark | 261 | 1,754 | 72 | |
Goolwa | 1,082 | 2,836 | 110 | Where the Murray Darling hits the Ocean |
The Darling River is a slow moving river and I expect that the average distance covered will be in the order of 30 kilometres each day. Rather than treating this as a single massive expedition with a single goal (i.e. to reach the ocean from Bourke), the plan is to break it into two distinct sections: section one being from Bourke to the confluence of the Darling and Murray rivers – the township of Wentworth; and section two being from Wentworth to the headwaters of the river in South Australia. Late March is the expected launch date and it is expected that from Bourke to Wentworth will take two months, with an extra month at the very least required to reach the ocean.
The river conditions at the moment are awesome. The depth of the river is exceptional and the flow of water through the system is very high. The table below shows the current conditions of the river recorded by the NSW government. Look at the water temperature! I see swimming in the near future to be a certainty. And the salinity shows that this water is eminently drinkable; pure and clean (at least so far as salt is concerned).
Place | Depth (m) | Flow (ML/day) | Water Temp (C) | Salinity (EC) |
Source of Darling | 5.54 | 3,293 | 25 | 164 |
Bourke | 4.57 | 3,919 | 25 | 152 |
Louth | 4.22 | 8,018 | 25 | 252 |
Tilpa | 5.07 | 10,519 | 25 | 183 |
Wilcannia | 4.60 | 10,152 | 24 | 214 |
Menindee | 1.47 | 381 | 23 | 290 |
Pooncarie | 1.92 | 255 | 26 | 530 |
