By Matthew Fallow                

Accommodation bachelor style booked at Lake Burrinjuck, a few blokes, four boats organised and the hunt for skinny water begun. Myself in the Chev 383ci/151 Mk11/212, Simon P76/Gemini/752, Ray 351ci Clev/J53/773 and Michael P76/Sonic/752. The Easter long weekend ahead of us, my brand new pushing pole ready to be broken in and plenty of crew to push, we were off. Friday was spent exploring Lake Burrinjuck, which at only 23% capacity meant that huge forests were exposed and entire valley systems normally underwater were high and dry. We headed towards a cave usually just on water level only to find that we had about a 1km walk after parking the boats. The cave entrance had been cleared of silt by recent rain and we had good access, using torches we ventured a long way into the cave marveling at the huge limestone stalactites (because they have to hold on to the ceiling tight!) and stalagmites (because they might one day reach the ceiling!). We were also greeted by a colony of bats which were making their own stalagmite!!

The day was spent exploring the many valleys of exposed trees with plenty of log jumping and tricky navigation.

Next day we put in at the Brungle Bridge on the beautiful hydro fed Tumut River, flow was perfect at 4000ml/day as we launched down the shingle bank. Being the Easter long weekend we planned to boat up to just south of the Tumut township, about 1 hour. A further hour can be run to the dam wall, but this weekend is popular with trout fishos and we upset them enough last year! With four boats well spaced we cruised up the Tumut R, skimming over the many bars, shutes and log jams until finally reaching the caravan park at Tumut. Ray had no trouble in the J53 although Michael in the Sonic suffered alternator failure on the way up. I saw him working on the problem tucked away on the edge of a small pool, as I drew closer I also saw some long skid marks along the gravel bar, best not to ask sometimes!

The run back to Brungle Bridge was uneventful for all, although we did stop to warn some kayakers of potentially dangerous log jams further downstream. Lunch was had on the river bank in near perfect conditions, not a breath of wind all day, clear skies and a balmy 26 degrees. After lunch a few boats took a quick look down stream and soon found some skinny water to play in, much to the delight of the local cocky’s looking on from there Toyotas and tractors. I led Simon up one particularly skinny section, the 151 kissing the shingle on the way up and over the top, Simon followed also finding the hard to see water with some feverish tail wagging. Ray "rocks" Murray did not observe club protocol (DFS- Don’t Follow Simon) and found himself high a dry and a long way from boatable water. Simon pulled up on the river bank and trekked over to Ray, Simon standing in ankle deep water at best, was telling Ray "this IS the channel you wanted" Ray pointing down at his barely wet feet in disbelief (see photo). I finally got to use my new pushing pole, however with 6 blokes it was still an effort to move the J53. We moved it a short distance to a small hole, Ray was determined to have a go. Alas stones in the grill and the runway too short had him stuck solid. Out came Simons 100 foot plus rope it was on special and bound to come in handy one day), I headed upstream to boatable water of about 2 feet and Simon relayed the rope out to me. The J53 was soon scooting across the shingle bar with Ray trying to keep up on foot, once back in the current we stayed tethered until Ray was all fired up.

The Killer Roo Incident: That night as we put the boats to bed, I wandered around the back of mine to check the cover was secure, with a couple of beers on board I ran head on into a kangaroo. We both gave ourselves a huge fright, I not knowing what had just happened (my wife takes me to too many horror movies) came hurtling around from behind the boat, gravel was flying! The kangaroo was giving chase as I flew past Simon screaming like girl! He had no idea what was going on and promptly offered me a beer!

 

 

Next day we drove down to Gundagai and launched into the mighty Murrumbidgee River, approximately 40km’s upstream on the Bidgee is the confluence of the Tumut River and we set about to boat into the Tumut and up to the lunch spot from the previous day. Planning to spend about 4.5 hours running time on the river this day meant we set out early. The scenery on the banks of the Bidgeee was spectacular with huge ancient gums flanking and leaning into the river, contrasting the arid farming land. The river soon widened and many shingle bars were negotiated before the river was almost stopped bank to bank by one large bar. With no apparent boatable water to get up, we spied a small channel about 1/3 along, red rag to a bull. It was quite a long steep climb and all made it over the top to the pool above with only a tickle! Simon then noticed that the P76 V8 had zero oil pressure (probably a ‘lucus prince of darkness’ electrical system fault I thought!). After checking gauge and sender we concluded there was in fact no oil pressure, noisy tappets also was a big hint! We removed the priming valve from the pump and primed it with cold oil (heavier viscosity) and poured a further 1 litre into the sump to cool things off! Turned the key and this time she primed, woo hoo we were off! No more victory spins atop a shingle bar for Simon. We had a great run up the Murrumbidgee and into the Tumut stopping along the way to walk a few tricky bits before boating them. In giving a trout fisho a wide berth I found myself in a channel with a log across it, only problem was it was all to narrow, I sucked my tummy in and received a good wallop (and dent) from the log for my courteous efforts. A fast run back to Gundagai and with some vapours still left in the tanks and drums we headed down the Bidgee. As the sun was getting lower the glare made navigation tricky, especially as the river widened. A good hour down stream and we turned about for home, with the sun behind us we quickened the pace and explored a few channels. I found myself up the end of one, wondering when I might come across a chute to get up the bar to more boatable water, as it turns out there was a chute at the dead end, it just happened to be hidden by some willows hanging over from the bank as it converged with the bar. Not wanting to go into the willow I hung the nose of the 151 over the bar, swung the tail under the willows and applied some squirt, expecting a push would result, we emerged at the top! Simon had already followed me in (good things generally never happen when you do not read your own water) and we turned to see what he would do, tupperware slides better than alloy and Simon gave the willows a wider berth and still made it to the top on what had to be humid river gravel at best!

We cruised back to the ramp and pulled the boats out, this was no easy task as there was not enough water for the boats to float at the launch site, blasphemy resulted as we had to use the winch, push and lever the boats on to the trailers. Thanks to Ray for using his Range Rover to pull our boats out of the Tumut, you made light work of it! This was a great long weekend away and I am still very sore from using my new pushing pole!