Friends Reaching the Murray

Last Saturday I was joined by David, Marcel and Tim for a few days who have all managed to run away from their normal lives to join me for a few days paddling on the Murray River. Just getting from the daily grind to the Murray was an epic unto itself - let alone the paddle down.

After much umming and ahhing both David and Tim teamed up to come on up to the Murray and took the ferry (after a frenetic drive hoping that they would make it) to Melbourne where they picked up Marcel and drove to join me. I wasn't meeting then at a town or any other such simple place. Instead after much to'ing and froing we decided upon Neds Corner, a property once owned by Sydney Kidman. Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was more than one Neds Corner. The first - Neds Corner Island was a days paddle distant from Neds Corner homestead. in fact the original homestead had indeed been closer to Neds Corner Island but the homestead was moved when the original burnt down in 1959. This of course resulted in much confusion, with me trying to figure out just where the heck I had suggested we meet. In the end we met at the new homestead of the property. I arrived a good hour or so before they did and talked to the caretakers who let me know that the roads were a "bit dicey" and that most cars getting through to this area were all 4WD. Oh oh.

No problems for Tim, who just aimed at the mud, stuck his little Subaru into low wheel drive and floored it. It sounded a bit dicey getting through though... With rain forecast however, we knew there would be no chance of the car getting out. To make sure they lads could actually get back to Tas, Tim and I drove down to Renmark once things had been unloaded then came back as far as we could go in a taxi. Not unreasonably the cab driver went only so far before Tim and I had to hop out and walk. Tim, being the genius he is, managed to forget his shoes and had to walk for kilometres in bare feet on muddy ground.

so as you can see it can be a bit of a challenge just getting to the point of starting an expedition like this. Fortunately Tim, David and Marcel made it, and the expedition I'm sure was worth it. Or perhaps you should ask them that...
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