The dawn service was a bit cool so we were glad we had our jackets this morning. There seemed to be well over a thousand people there which is pretty good for a small place like Maryborough.

We did all the media and welcome stuff here yesterday because we did not want to interfere with Anzac Day, so today I just paddled straight through town. There was just time to meet Geoff, our web master who had traveled up from New South Wales.

At the barrage which is 20km downstream of Tiaro and 15km upstream of Maryborough we met Darryl Stewart and his family who told us some fairly confronting facts about the damage that the barrage has done. Although initially put in as a barrage to stop salt water intrusion into the Maryborough water supply pump station DNR could not help themselves and it has become a storage and supply of irrigation water. With all the other evidence I have seen on my trips I have come to the conclusion that it is certainly not a department that looks after Queensland's natural resources. It is an organisation that exploits our natural resources which to me seems like stealing from future generations (ie our children).

Total kilometres from Brisbane is 526 making today 52km which is not bad after a late start at 9.00am.

For all of you who are wondering about why the daily reports are not regular, the answer is that we have trouble up loading them. Many times we have found that anything above 50kB, that's right, the size of a thumbnail image basically, we have great difficulty. Even in Kilcoy, Gympie and Maryborough, Next G data transmission is at best very patchy.

Top of the barrage

Below the barrage