News & Events
October 2009 Indi (not Indee!)
A long drive for a quick blast. Thanks to Alison for inspiring us
to make the effort to explore the Indi. Some good rain brought a
healthy level to the Indi – around 1.5m on the Murray Gates gauge.
Saturday saw Alison, John and Scott setup for the paddle on
Sunday. This consisted of placing a vehicle at the take out on
the mexican side of the river at Bunroy creek after various encounters
with cows (small and extra large) and locals wandering around aimlessly
with guns.
With the car safely parked at the take out we headed
back to Corryong for dinner in the pub, and to meet Graham who dropped
down from Canberra. The locals had deserted to visit a rural show
in a neighboring town, leaving us feeling kinda lonely in the
bistro. We could not see tumbleweeds blowing down the main street
but it would not have surprised us. Back to the cabin to mess
around with boats while having a beer (a pleasure that those of the
fairer sex seem not to appreciate) and we were ready to go.
In
the morning we drove through the valley, and then drove over a hill.
And then drove some more through another valley and then drove through
the mountains. And then we found the river at grassy flat.
Which was excellent as it meant we did not have to drive for a
while. The sun was trying to break through and the river looked
small and fast. John showed some confidence that he was not going
to leave the boat (shorts and no shoes). I got ready for anything
as Alison told us tales of the South African Swim and of boats being
swallowed whole with people called Anthony inside. The plan was
to scout this rapid and anything else that looked nasty.
Onto
the river and through the wall rapid and the point of no return.
When you could see the rocks on the bottom race by it was very obvious
how fast the river was moving. Baxter creek provided a nice
waterfall and then it was game on. Alison was the only one in the
party to paddle the river previously and it all looked very different
at this level. Scouting was done from the boat with plenty of
backwards paddling while looking over the drops. At this level
the drops had filled but things were getting pushy with plenty of odd
waves being created.
The rapids were not as technical as
expected, and in all but one the lines were pretty obvious but they
required some commitment once you were in there. Typically the
rapids are around fifty meters long, required a couple of moves and
then had a drop and pool to regroup in. If you did keep a good
line you would get bounced. We all had a turn looking at the
bottom of the river, but no swimmers or rescue work. Graham also
showed us how easy it was to get a big boat to fly. I did try to
make the trip a little more exciting by t-boning Alison while she was
getting worked a little at the bottom of a drop, but the end result was
just a roll (and rolled eyes).
Too soon we were through the
gorge and stopped for a break to try and identify the rapids.
Sharks tooth was pretty obvious, and John spotted Hole in the
Head. We also all remember the undercut rock, but it seems we
blasted past the South African Swim without noticing. Back into
the boats and onto the conveyer belt through some fun small
rapids. We hit the takeout at around 12:30pm which felt very
fast. Lunch in the sun and then back into the cars to finish the
job.
Thanks to Alison for organizing and the club RPM for remembering it’s way down the river (I am sure it has been there before).
Some timings if you are planning on doing the trip:
We left Corryong at 7am and then dropped one vehicle at Khankoban.
On the water at 9am.
Off the water before 12:30pm. A prior trip with lower levels finished at 2pm.
Had a relaxed lunch not sure what time we left.
Khankoban around 2pm.
Put in around 3pm.
Corryong around 4:30pm.
Well
the driving to paddling ratio was pretty high, around 4:1, but it was
still worth it. Check out the head cam footage on Facetube
Scott