Cry Me a River

From Echuca to Melbourne - Aug 1-16

Cities should not steal water
It is not morally acceptable to take water out of a dying river and pump it over the hill to a city.
“Please have a heart Melbourne, don’t steal Murray River water. The river needs it.”

“We have alternatives, the river does not”

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Day nine - Into the hills at Seymour

Day 9 Yesterday finished with some fast water so that was the order of the day. There were more fast bits than I had expected so the going was a bit slow. Luckily there were still stretches as expected, but with the flow against me top speed was still only 7km/hr in these places.

Just after going under the freeway there was a family with four kids who had a fire and a sign saying they supported the trip. It would have been nice to chat for more than a couple of minutes but we had an appointment at Seymour at 3.00pm.

At Seymour there were a few people to say hello to, but after that we pushed on against the rapids until 5.30pm. As usual there were big problems with access. The river certainly is not for the public. The banks are owned and nine times out of ten the gates are locked. This reminded me of locked gates on the Darling. It really annoys me that we do not have access to the rivers. No wonder the bloke who told us there were no rapids coming up was totally wrong. He would never have been able to see the river.

We were all tired and cold and just made it to Cynthia and Nick’s for tea at 7.00pm, and what a great meal it was. I dunno what the other guys did but I was still sound asleep before 10.00pm. By the way, log for the day was only 28.1km.

It is hard for people who are not paddling day after day to appreciate the disappointment of a sight like this.
Climbing into Seymour

You don't need to read a map to know that Seymour is up hill from Shepparton.
Someone is watching

Thanks to the warning from the Seymour family with the fire and signs, there were people waiting at the shallows at "New Crossing".
May I rest now

Another set of rapids down. Only another twent or thirty to go. I'll be glad to see the pumping station at Killingworth. Not that I want a pumping station, it's just that it marks the end of my uphill climb.