By Matthew Fallow                

Without doubt this was the best long weekend of jet boating I have experienced to date with the JBA of NSW. We had absolutely pristine weather and river conditions and the best of company. A good turnout for the away rally meant we had a wide variety of people and boats, making for a true Riverina Adventure on the Murumbidgee and Tumut Rivers.

The following boats and people all assembled at the Gundagai Caravan Village for the start of our long weekend, or joined us along the way…

Greg Chesher and Family – Hamilton J32 4.2l V8 752

Matthew Fallow, Mark and Val Gyles and Peter Gunnell - Hamilton 151aMk2 6.3l V8 212

Simon Taylor Gemini 4.4l V8 752

Steve Kain and Dot – Rivercraft 4.0l V8 212

Ray/Andrew Murray and friend – Hamilton J53 5.8l V8 773

Tony Powell and Family – Acecraft Alloy 6.6l V8 752 sprint unit

Plus day visitors from Canberra

And new members and boat owners Paul and Lyn from Gundagai - Gemini 4.4l V8 752

Day 1. Gundagai is a good 5 hour tow from my house on the NSW Central Coast and my crew, new members, Mark (Boofy) and Val Gyles offered to tow my boat down behind their landcruiser. ‘Boofy’ an expat Kiwi, formerly from the NZJBA Central Districts club after 12 years sans jet boat, will shortly take delivery (as does our president Simon Taylor) of his new 15ft Lexus powered V8 boat built by Christchurch based manufacturer, Rivercraft Marine.

The drought conditions have resulted in the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme letting huge amounts of water out of the Tumut river and Burrinjuck dam to feed the many dry farmers up to 2000kms away down the mighty Murrumbidgee river. This resulted in our last trip to this river in November, boating with near bank to bank high flow conditions and shingle bars a rarity. However the water is nearly all gone with some dams down to 3% capacity enabling us to be greeted with perfect jet boating conditions along the original river beds.

 

 

 

 

Day 2 and we headed off up the Murrimbidgee River from our camp site, after a few small shingle bars and shutes a large bar presented itself, the clear water conditions fooled some who could not identify the way up and many groundings resulted. However with plently of pushers, and few new pushing sticks on board, we were soon on our way, only to come across Andrew and Ray high and dry at least 5m from the river bank. They apparently took the wrong channel which ended in a pool and very little else. Andrew had decided to ‘put the foot down’ (this tactic usually ends in tears or just a longer push. doh!) and try and make it through a small exit chute, but ran out of water almost immediately and they were skewed out of the river and up on the dry shingle (about the size of softballs!) making a right mess of the J53. Closer inspection revealed that the fibre glass was well past it’s use by date, and the boat was split from end to end along the keel. They decided to strip the boat interior and investigate if they could get it floating as there was no vehicle access. The rest of us continued up stream some 1.3 hours before having lunch. On our return run we met up with a local land owner (Paul) who’s property backs the river, we then took his family for spin. Coincidently Paul already had an interest in jet boats and before the weekend was out, he had purchased Simon’s Gemini, an ideal boat for this river and given the mechanical condition of the Gemini, he got a great buy indeed.

On our return it was clear the J53 would never float and we had no option but to rig it up with nylon straps and haul it up the river bank (read cliff!!). This required people power to get it some 60m across the shingle river bed and then two rangerovers to haul it up the 10m cliff, first in series, then in tandem as we ran out of room to maneuver. This operation was thankfully carried out with a minimum of fuss and plenty of finesse. 4wd type nylon straps were used to haul the boat, secured around the transom (bow eye would never hold), and also ‘snatch em’ straps were vital here as regular rope would simply not do the job.

Day 3 saw us heading up the Murrumbidgee River for 45 minutes to the confluence with the Tumut River and then a further 22km up the Tumut before stopping for lunch. The river being Hydro fed was very clean with a reasonably low flow of 2000ml/day. With the exception of a few rubs here and there everyone boated safely back to the ramp with 3.15 hours on the engine clock. A few boats and vehicles had to be snatched out of the gravel bank, we were soon back at the park and firing up the BBQ. Locals and proud new jet boat owners Paul and Lyn also joined us as we tucked into roast lamb cooked on the Andrew Lloyd (Webber BBQ).

 

Day 4 and we launched via a reserve from the shingle bank into the Murrumbidgee and headed down stream. The low flow on this river meant we had plenty of excitement and at times challenging boating, as we meandered down the river. Quite spectacular boating through flocks of wild cockatoo’s, shear orange soil/clay escarpments shingle chutes, and some tricky willow and log jammed sections. On our return up stream we spied a quad motor bike at the bottom of a cliff, caught in a log jam and resting in the water. We quickly doubled back, its rider, an 8 year old boy, was thankfully alive but clearly shaken. He had ridden the bike off the edge of the paddock, with the throttle wide open, over the cliff of some 7m high and into the log jam beneath, then made his way back home for help. We sooner than expected used our recent recovery skills to haul the bike up the cliff with the help of a farm 4WD, the kid was taken to hospital as shock wore off and the pain took over. Another hour or so and we were all back at the trailers and heading for the local restaurant for a big meal. With 3.2 hours clocked up on the engine it was a great day out and all boats ran faultlessly. With a light right foot the 383ci chev burnt just 18.6 liters an hour with a full load of people.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 5 saw us driving towards the snowy’s about 40km away and launching directly into the Tumut River. The intention was to boat for an hour or so and then head back home. The river at this point being fed solely from the hydro dam was beautifully clear, we clocked up another 3.7 hours as the conditions were just too good to miss. The previous day we had made contact with the local kayak outfitter to determine how many punters he would have coming down the river, it was deemed safe and we expected too meet only a few. The kayak operator, Adam, shut up shop and came boating with us, his clients were surprised to see him up river! Some great little skinny sections were negotiated, as we seemed to be relentlessly climbing on this little river until we came across two fallen trees blocking our way. Thankfully not in a steep section and we carefully made our way through and over them. I was determined to get to the dam wall, as last time we ran out of go juice and had to turn back, however only a few kays short we came across a group of about 12 kayakers from a white water club. Deciding the river was just a little to small to meet them on a skinny section down river, we decided to about face ahead of them and have a clean run home. We all got through the log jam, always very tricky when going with the current, with the exception of Simon who put on a show for us as he bush bashed his way through the logs and branches, having been pushed sideways by the flow on entry. Simon had Paul on board, the new owner, who then took the wheel downstream getting some pointers along the way. Simon put his former boat on the trailer for the last time, I am sure I saw a tear in his eye as he switched the engine off and saw his boat/trailer disappear into the distance for a new home at Paul’s place.

With an equal number of new members and old on the trip, we had a great time boating in a very spectacular part of the country, albeit terribly parched and sun burnt.

Matthew.