Oh Darling!

 

Ever since Simon and I finished paddling the Murray River in 2019 I have wanted to paddle the Darling River. The Darling has had a tough decade – extreme drought and more recently flood. The logistics of paddling the Darling are more difficult than the Murray. It is further away from home and more remote from transport and supplies.

The river was renamed to honour Sir Ralph Darling the 7th Governor of the New South Wales colony. I hope at some point we can adopt joint naming and acknowledge that the river was known as the Baaka for millennia before Europeans arrived.

The other aspect of “Darling” to be mentioned is my darling wife Lisa who encourages me with my adventures. While I was out on the river Lisa was continuing to work and volunteer as well as managing the family, home, pets and everything else. To Lisa I owe everything.

Officially the Darling commences at the confluence of the Culgoa and the Barwon between Brewarrina and Bourke in NSW and finishes where joins the Murray at Wentworth.

July 2022

After my Outdoor Guiding season finished at the end of May I faffed around at home until July 9th before heading off to Bourke. My plan was to paddle from Bourke to Wentworth over 8 weeks. This would require some travelling back and forward to move my car from town to town. My idea was to use NSW Link buses which would be time consuming but meant I could handle all the logistics and resupplies independently.

As I was travelling to Bourke I got an email that advised me of work commencing August 25th shortening the time I had to do the trip.  Hence I decided to paddle to from Bourke to Wilcannia on this trip and return at a later date to do the rest. The section of the river above Bourke will also have to wait.


 

 

 

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