#3: [05-Apr-07]

#1: [02-Mar-02] (incomplete)

01-Apr-2002 -- 12 months ago, I entered the narrative for this trip while it was fresh in my mind but before I pressed the "Update information button" my internet connection failed.I lost everything and haven't had the enthusiasm to fill in the detail since. A year later, it seems appropriate to complete the story.

As some of you may have read, my first attempt at this confluence was a solo journey on foot heading generally south along the 141°E longitude. It foundered about 500m short of the confluence when I reached a creek too deep and wide to cross. I had planned a return visit about 6 weeks later, but fine weather over the Easter long weekend and the encouragement of my friend Glen made possible an earlier expedition.

With the assistance of Glen and a 2 person canoe, we this time succeeded in reaching the confluence point. We used the canoe to row about 2km upstream along the River Murray from the Customs House at the border between South Australia and Victoria, until we reached a point close to 34°S, about 1km west of the confluence.

We parked the canoe on the river bank and set off east on foot. After a half an hour of trekking across flood plain, we came to a creek, later identified as the Hyperna Creek. The direction of the eucalypt trees lining the course of the creek made it clear that if we were to reach our destination, this creek would have to be crossed! It was just a matter of finding a suitable point. Glen knew that on my previous journey, I had stripped off my clothes and carried my belongings above my head across a similar stretch of water. This time we have photographs to show that the method worked again. We both made it across with our dignity, camera and GPS devices intact.

After the crossing, the short trip to the confluence was a bit of an anticlimax. Numerous cris-crossing kangaroo tracks led us inexorably to our destination, almost as if these fine marsupials were laughing at us for labouring over what for them must be a routine daily journey. It took ten minutes or so for our two GPS devices to argue about and then briefly agree on the "exact" location, just long enough for a slightly out of focus camera shot.

Having achieved our goal, we then continued northwards until we reached another of the creeks, at the point at which my previous expedition had come to its untimely end. We also located and photographed a section of flood plain on which we felt sure future confluence seekers could land a light aircraft if they were not tall or adventurous enough to wade through waist deep tributaries. We had no choice, however, but to return by the method by which we had arrived. Mission accomplished!

In the Chowilla Recreation Reserve. The demarcation line with New South Wales is passing about 255 m east of the Confluence.