We've had a great few weeks off since finally finishing in Goolwa and making the long drive with the support team back to Sydney...
This is just a final short blog from Ian and myself to thank everyone involved in making our inaugural fundraising appeal such a spectacular success. There are literally too many people to thank individually on this blog - but we couldn't have even attempted this trip without the help of our fantastic sponsors, each and every person who made the trip down to be part of our fundraising and support team, friends, family and all of the people we met a long the way.
Thank you all!
After leaving Renmark, Ian and I would spend each day passing small towns and the countless ferry crossings that connect the two banks of the river. In many of these places Cam, Faye, Karina and Lachlan were set up under the AYAC marquee, raising money in the town centre. Ian and I would swing in at the boat ramp and run into town to grab a sausage.
Make it two.
One of the best memories I have from this time was on the hottest day of the trip - as South Australia was sweating through a full blown heat wave. Through the magic of the Telstra NextG Network and the power of Google Maps, we were able to pick a spot with the guys over the phone where they could drive into the bush and meet us to camp on some remote bend of the river.
It was still well over 40 degrees at 6:30pm and the last 10 kilometres of our 70 kilometre day seemed to drag on without end. The heat was intense and we were starting to regret agreeing to paddle the extra distance to make it to the campsite...
But then - like a flaming red mirage - we struggled around one last bend to see the beautiful AYAC marquee standing proud and erect on the river bank. It was an amazing site to behold and there were many cold beers shared that night.
The final week of our journey saw Ian and I turn South towards the Murray Mouth and from here we spent more than a week out of contact with Cam and the support team.
Personally, I really enjoyed this opportunity. We had a chance to get caught up in the beauty and the solitude of river and to reflect on the 8 weeks gone by.
Some nights we camped directly opposite the most magnificent cliffs and we'd have the chance to watch the setting Sun transform them into dazzling shades of orange and yellow.
At the end of each day, we'd spend a few hours swimming in the still water between the reeds and the river bank. Since we spent almost all the day sitting inside our boats, with many kilometres to travel and few opportunities to stop and relax - pulling up and cooling off became a special ritual.
The days were now averaging 40+ degrees and at night the heat stored up in the ground would mean profuse sweating and sleeping without the tent fly attached. The plus side of this heat was that we got to lay on our backs and look up at the stars until our hands stopped throbbing and we fell asleep. I think these last weeks were the most stars I've ever seen.
After having travelled along the Murray into SA, I feel as though I've really seen Australia for the first time. Despite Ian and I having both travelled the west coast from Perth to Darwin, through the red centre and much of the east coast, for me nothing compares with the experience we shared during the final weeks of this journey - moving slowly past ancient cliff faces, beneath an invincible blue sky and a river renewed with life.
Finally it was time for us to complete the last serious challenge of our journey and to cross the infamous Lake Alexandrina : the massive body of water where the river ends and spills into the Coorong before finally meeting the Southern Ocean.
This was a body of water with a reputation for generating waves of up to 5 feet, of sinking ferries and drowning many people in recent years. We approached the Lake with great respect and understood that we'd be relying on each other to make it safely to the other side.
With good intentions, we paddled to Wellington (the last town on the river proper) with the goal of setting off early the next day and making as much ground on the 90 kilometre lake crossing as we could before the strong winds set in. Unfortunately we weren't away as early as we'd hoped and we were punished by spending the entire day battling against 43km/h winds gusting across the water.
At times our crossing became dangerous. We had both taken on far too much water and the boats became unstable and difficult to manoeuvre.
We were getting pounded by the wind and the waves and with no current, our pace was the slowest of anytime throughout the trip.
As we persevered into the late-afternoon, we started to make some ground.
Whilst we kept ourselves relatively close to the lake's edge, at times we could barely see the banks on any side around us. We could very easily have been paddling across a stretch of open Ocean.
At last, at around 8 O'clock that night, we had made it safely to our planned campsite. The place we chose was a sheltered stretch of beach only three metres wide, beneath sheer cliffs that faced across one final stretch of water toward the maze of creeks and islands called "The Coorong"
This was a special night and we were treated to the Sun setting over the lake (and a celebratory 'can of Coke' that Ian smuggled aboard). Tomorrow we would wake up early and paddle to the Murray Mouth.
December 7th, 2011: We Reached The Murray Mouth
2,600km, 2 months and 3 days later
Our final day's paddling was not without its' dramas. Today we were able to beat the fierce winds and we crossed the final stretch without any problem. In fact, the lake was completely still.
We came unstuck however, when we took a wrong turn and ended up kilometres away from our intended route (via Goolwa). Instead we weaved our way through the creeks around Hindmarsh Island and eventually appeared opposite the brackish opening that is the Mouth of the Murray River.
Our short speeches were interrupted when my boat (warmly dubbed : The Catalinian Conspiracy) was caught floating away back into the Coorong...
In true supporting fashion, Cam and Luke were quick to save the day.
Cheers boys!
This has been an absolutely incredible experience.
Over two months and 2,600km, Ian and I have hiked through pouring rain and have been waist deep in raging mountain creeks; we've traversed some of the most technical and dangerous whitewater rapids in Australia despite volumes of water not seen in the high country for more than a decade; we've learnt how to negotiate the hazards of 'swift water' paddling and we've stayed upright at times when flipping would have meant disaster; we've been confronted by heat, wind rain and hail; we've gotten lost, kept our cool and gotten lost again; we've had days of physical and emotional exhaustion and, like any close relationship, we've had times where we descended into conflict; we've travelled further than we ever thought we could, for longer than we ever thought possible; we kept going.
The challenges we faced on the Murray have been many and difficult to overcome.
None of these compare however, to the challenges faced by people living with a diagnosis of cancer.
For these people, the obstacles are immeasurably greater and the journey to the end of their cancer experience can take many months, years or it can never arrive.
Through this appeal we have sought to raise money for the construction of the Lifehouse Cancer Centre - a place championed by the late and much loved Professor Chris O'Brien. We believe that this place will represent the most decisive step forward in Australia's history toward the realisation of improved treatment outcomes for cancer sufferers of all ages and to one day help us realise a cure.
Through the work of the AYAC Support Team, our Sponsors and the countless others behind Australian Youth Against Cancer we have been successful in raising over $40 000 for this amazing cause so far.
We're certainly not finished yet and we'll be hard at work throughout 2011 appealing for donations and raising awareness of the incidence of cancer in young people aged 18-35.
If you believe in better outcomes for people with cancer, then please donate to AYAC's campaign for Lifehouse (The Chris O'Brien Cancer Centre)
To finish up, I'd like to give just four short personal thank you's
Firstly to my mate on the river, Ian.
For the past year we've been living in each other's pockets planning, preparing ourselves and carrying out the Murray River expedition. Ian has done far more than just paddle 2,600km - he's been responsible for helping transform AYAC from nothing more than an idea into a fully registered and accountable not-for-profit organisation with DGR Status. It's no exaggeration to say that without Ian's patience and enthusiasm that this appeal would never have become reality and that AYAC simply would not exist. Ian has also graciously put up with me being the unwarranted 'focus' of many - if not all - stories compiled about our shared achievement. This is just one example of Ian's humility and decency of which I admire.
I have a deep and genuine respect for Ian and I feel truly honoured to have shared this unforgettable experience with him.
To the man behind the scene's, Nick Del Din.
Nick has been with AYAC right from its inception and he too is responsible for so many of the remarkable things that have been achieved in the past 12-months. Nick was behind the first success we shared in attaining sponsorship for our fantastic website. Since then, Nick and I have shared innumerable conversations about the direction of AYAC and I feel we share a strong vision for its' future.
When Nick was successful in receiving a legal clerkship over the Summer, I have to admit that a little bit of me died inside at the thought that the most capable person many of us know wouldn't be able to make it down to the river. Incredibly, Nick gave up his short break over Christmas and New Years to join our burgeoning support team in Echuca. What a guy!
To my remarkable and beautiful girlfriend, Faye.
You gently take things slowly, you softly bowl them over, thats the delicate way you've shown me, you're the strongest person I know
Finally, and on behalf of everyone involved in this appeal, I'd like to personally thank Cam Whipp for valiantly leading our Support and Fundraising team for the entire journey and for his months of hard work in the lead up.
I've said this before and I'll say it again - without Cam, Ian and I would have probably just been two idiots paddling down a river getting bitten by mosquitos...
Cam, Nick, Ian and I spent months planning, calling sponsors, organising permits and fumbling around in the dark with our 'gut feelings' about what we thought a fundraising appeal across three States should look like!
The photos he took with his disproportionately expensive SLR camera are great... but they don't betray the work that went into towing a one-tonne trailer full of gear and sausages for 2months, carrying out fundraising events in over 15 towns and being the first one up every morning to convince a dozen people to raise awareness of cancer in 18-35 year olds. No easy task.
Cam has been an integral part of AYAC's success so far and as AYAC's Fundraising Coordinator in 2011 I'm certain that there's more black magic to come from the General.
Thanks mate. You truly are a Renaissance Man
Chris
