It was a masterpiece of
organization and a masterpiece of a trip, with great paddling, lots of
drama and good company. It started on Friday
night. Brandon and I arrived at Walter’s hoping
that he’d be ready to go. He was, in a
fashion. With no food, no clothes and a small bag
with a sleeping bag, bivy bag and laptop there wasn’t much to get
ready. Now with Walter on board we headed up to Yea
to meet up with the rest of the crew. The crew was
paddlers, Anthony, Peter, Gary, Brandon and me, Alison and champion
shuttle bunnies, Walter and Bronwyn.
At Yea we met up at the pub and ordered meals, except for
Walter. He’d just have any left
overs. This was a theme of his
weekend. He actually did alright at Yea with chips
and left over Parmigianino. It was at this point
that Gary realized that he didn’t have a deck.
Bronwyn lived nearby and had a deck. Bron and I
went to her place and found the deck. We also
grabbed some potatoes for Walter.
It was on to Mansfield and a caravan park for the
night. We found that Bron’s deck didn’t fit so
there was a late night call to Geoff to bring any deck he could
find. Peter and Walter bivyied out in the
recreation room while the rest of us shared the
cabin. Walter was planning that the camping fee
would be his only cost for the weekend!
The next day it was an early rise and pack up.
Geoff arrived on time to join the trip and Bronwyn made a quick trip to
the bakery, returning with a coffee scroll for
Walter. We loaded up the two four wheel drives,
fueled up and headed off. First to Sheepyard Flat
and the Howqua River and then on to the Jamieson River at the Upper
Jamieson Hut.
One of the Geoff’s decks fitted Gary’s boat so he was a
starter. As the paddlers prepared for the paddle
the shuttle bunnies received their vehicle instructions from the
vehicle owners and cleared the first tree across the
road. The plan was for Bron and Walter to drive the
four wheel drives to Wren’s Flat via some pretty rough
roads. It should be shorter than going all the way
around via Mansfield and Jamieson. The paddlers
would head down the river and we’d all meet at Wren’s Flat, hopefully
before darkness. The drivers didn’t know what the
road in front of them was like and the paddlers had never paddled this
section. It was going to be an adventurous day!
With the GPS, satellite phone, UHF radio and new EPERB with us we
headed off down the river. The river was a quick
flowing stream and not long after the start we entered a small
gorge. Tree ferns and mossy rocks lined the river
and there was a series of good rapids. Huge logs
dammed the river and created fun drops. Anthony was
the first casualty but he wouldn’t be the last.
Before long we were out of the gorge and into an open, flatter section
of the river. A hut appeared on the left bank and
our endless involvement with logs started. We went
over but mainly squeezed under, around or portaged, numerous
logs. It was getting a bit
frustrating. We stopped for lunch around 1.30 p.m.
and discovered that we’d only covered a third of the
distance. The logs were really slowing us
down. I kept half my lunch just in case it became
my dinner!
We continued on. The gradient started to increase
and the valley narrowed. On one good rapid Geoff
and I had scouted and were down at the bottom when Gary ended up on the
wrong line, He came out of his boat and was swept
under a log. He managed to hang onto the log to
prevent him from going under it. Anthony got a line
on him and with Brandon, dragged him onto a rock.
Gary lay there while he got his wind back.
We still had a way to go so a now bootieless Gary was back in his boat
and we continued on. The plan was to see where we
were at 5.30 and then made a decision about continuing or staying out
for the night.
We knew that there was a second gorge near the end of the
section. The river felt a bit gorge like so perhaps
we were close to the end. It was then that we
really came to the second gorge and you wouldn’t mistake
it. There were sheer cliffs on either side and the
largest set of rapids we’d seen in front of us!
Geoff and I scouted the rapid with Anthony and Brandon
following. Gary decided that he would portage and
with Peter’s assistance managed to get around the first
drop. But there was a lot more of the rapid to go
and no way it could be portaged. They returned to
their boats. I dropped into the next eddy which was
near a log. The camera out and filming Peter came
over the drop and rammed straight into me. I was
pushed backwards into the current. With an
expletive passing my lips, I grabbed for my paddle and managed to make
it to the next eddy.
There was a short pool between this rapid the next which looked an even
longer grade 4 rapid. We were working out way down
when Gary missed an eddy and ended half upside down against a
wall. I dropped into the eddy beside him and helped
him up. Immediately to my left, across the line was
a log. While I was helping Gary, Brandon landed on
top of us and then went up side down under the log.
I set off after a swimming Brandon but he managed to pull himself out
on to a log.
I paddled the rest of the rapid chasing Brandon’s
boat. As I did so Anthony’s boat, without Anthony
went passed. I looked upstream, now Brandon and
Anthony were sitting next to each other on the log.
Geoff was also down so I went after the two boats.
After I’d dealt with the two boats I paddled back to the bottom of the
rapid. Geoff was busy emptying Gary’s
boat. Apparently Gary had also ended up side down
and was the third wise monkey on the log. Peter
came to their rescue and using a throw rope managed to get everyone
over to some flat rocks. Peter and Anthony then
managed to get the others down to where Geoff and I were, using the
throw rope and floating Peter’s boat.
It was now getting close to 6 p.m. and the light was fading
quickly. The GPS said we were less than a k from
the camp and about 10 minutes later we arrived, much to the relief of
Bronwyn and Walter, and ourselves!
Suzan and KeesJan had arrived during the
afternoon and we were also
joined by a wayward hunting Beagle. We relaxed by
the fire, eating dinner and drinking some well earned
alcohol. Walter survived on the potatoes and the
generosity of others.
The next day and the plan is to paddle from our camp at Wren’s Flat to
the gauge near Jamieson, an even longer paddle.
Geoff has to head home and Gary, Peter and Brandon are casualties from
yesterday’s paddle. But we have some new paddlers
for day 2, Ian, Brendon, Suzan, KeesJan and Val and Walter has borrowed
gear from Brandon to change sides from the shuttle bunnies to the
paddlers.
After the briefing we take to the river. It is
still a fast flowing stream but more water is entering to boost the
volume. Ian is the first swimmer of the
day. It isn’t long before a series of rapids
signals the gorge and the best rapids of the day.
The gorge is very narrow and steep sided. The main
rapids are a series of drops with small pools in between culminating in
the best rapid, the washing machine.
Walter and I scout down the rapids. The next thing
Ian is floating down, his boat upside down and his paddle in his
hand. He dislodges a log, which also starts
floating down. There is only the washing
machine in front of him. We call to him to
abandon his boat and find a spot to climb out. His
blue boat is last scene churning in the washing
machine. The floating log, meanwhile has
wedged against another log which is across the river.
I managed to climb out of my boat and Brendon secures it on the
floating log. After roping Ian to the more
accessible side of the gorge we are looking under
control. But meanwhile upstream they have dramas of
their own. Val decided to portage but hasn’t taken
his boat. The others are trying to manage it down
the gorge. If the glass boat gets into the washing machine its likely to be
damaged. We need to get it off the river.
Anthony floats it down to Walter who manages to get a line on
it. Between Brendon and Anthony they get it under
control and into a spot where it can be portaged around the washing machine. Walter heads down
the washing machine to be safety at the
bottom. But the Washing machine
takes its toll and after being washed up the cliff Walter is upside
down and swimming. He must rescue himself.
It’s now time to brave the washing
machine. I ask Brendon to retrieve my boat
from the log. It’s not as easy as it looks and in
his struggle, Brendon dislodges the floating log.
The log with my boat still attaches is now floating towards the
rapid. A series of expletives from me doesn’t stop
it. Both boat and log are trashed in the rapid, but
fortunately not pinned. I look to Walter to rescue
my boat but he’s walking along the bank. My pride
and joy disappears from view.
In front of me is the rapid I’d come to paddle but I no longer have a
boat. Suzan takes pity on me and asks if I’d like
to paddle her boat. She had no sooner uttered the
words than I was helping her out of the boat. Now
for the washing machine.
There was more volume than last time I’d paddled it. As you
reach the lip you realize how much of a drop there is and how swirly
the water is but there’s no going back. A great
adrenalin rush with a roll to end it.
Now it was off to find my boat. A few hundred
metres below I found it. A large log across the
river had jammed the floating log. My boat, still
attached to the floating log, was under the big
log. After recovering it I headed back up to the
others, at a small rapid after the washing machine.
They’d been roping Val’s boat down the rapid when the throw rope became
caught on something in the rapid. Their best
efforts couldn’t release it. There was nothing for
it but to cut the rope, unfortunately it was my good throw rope!
The gorge had taken a lot of our time and we still had a lot of the
river in front of us. It was head down and paddle
with the occasional portage around a log. A quick
stop for lunch where I gave Walter my second peanut butter sandwich and
then back to the river. There was a reasonable flow
so we made good headway. Finally we reached
Granny’s Flat and we knew we only had a few ks to
go. A few hundred metres from the gauge and the
final portage, around a nasty section of willows.
It was then we realized that Walter wasn’t with us.
We waited for 15 minutes and he didn’t appear. He
couldn’t have been that far behind us and there were no rapids to speak
of. The second last paddlers said he hadn’t seen
him since the last portage before Granny’s Flat (some 4 ks
back!). Anthony and Ian waited at the portage while
the rest of us paddled to the gauge.
Bandon, Gary and Peter were waiting at the gauge (level was 1.8 if
you’re interested). We explained the situation and
Brandon set off along the road to see if he’d walked out for some
reason. We got changed out of our paddling
gear. Brandon returned. He’s
gone as far as the gate across the road to Granny’s
Flat. There was no sign of
Walter. KeesJan and Suzan walked up the bank to
join Anthony and Ian. It was now 5.40, 40 minutes
since we’d finished and only 20 minutes of daylight left.
Brendon and I agreed to go up as far as we could and do a sweep down
the river. The next step would be to call the
Police and look at searching the banks. We found a
spot to access the river not far below Granny’s
Flat. It was a steep access but I managed to get
down. It was at that point that we got the message
that Walter had been found. (I wasn’t
found. I wasn’t lost. – Walter)
There was no going back up so Brendon came down the slope and we
paddled down to the gauge to the fading light.
We stopped at the Yarch Pub for tea. The food was
good and we were all amazed when Walter actually ordered food and then
shouted us garlic bread. Perhaps he was feeling
guilty. But he’d blown his $16 weekend!
Thanks to Anthony for organizing the trip, to Walter and Bron for being
‘adventurous’ shuttle bunnies and for Gary, Brandon and Peter for
shuttle bunnying on Sunday.
