Daring duo in down the Darling paddle
July 20, 2011THE flash flood caught them napping… literally, and the morning light revealed the loss of several personal items and their supply of coffee.
UP THE CREEK: Striking rain early in their trip has been the least of Dan and Travis’ challenges.
But that self-same unexpected flood also proved to be a blessing, providing enough water under their canoe for two Queensland adventurers to continue their river odyssey.
It is just one example of the providence that has accompanied Dan Suttle, 36, and Travis Ewan, 30, throughout their epic journey.
There are four things that strike you not long after you start talking to Dan and Travis. First, they are probably the friendliest blokes you will ever meet. Second, they have an enthusiasm for travel, and Australia’s great outdoors second-to-none. Third, they have one hell of a story to tell. And fourth, they have a strong faith that everything is as it should be, and that everything will be alright in the end.
The pair has been knocking around as mates for the past 10 years, and although this is their first big adventure together, they are both well-travelled individuals.
They met working as electrical and mechanical technicians during the set-up of the Nestle bottling factory at Gympie in 2001.
Dan is originally from Dysart, near Emerald, but now lives at Rainbow Beach, while Travis grew up at Wondai, and says he is yet to find a place to put down roots.
“I guess I am a Wondai nomad,” he says.
Both give the impression of being men of simple needs… and pleasures, and they share many things in common besides their electrical trade background, including a love of the outdoors and being infected with the travel bug.
Both have used their trade to work their way around different parts of this country, and overseas as well, agreeing that having a trade has been a good thing, allowing them to earn the money they need to indulge their twin passions – a need to see new places and meet new people.
And so it was for the latest adventure – a canoe trip down the Darling River.
They have now been on the river, or its tributaries, for the past 80 days, and have travelled more than 2500 kilometres.
But it hasn’t all be hard grind, with about 20 of those days having been set aside when they felt like it as rest days… time to recharge their batteries, restock provisions, and acquaint themselves with the many and varied features of the Australian outback and its people.
Their story really begins just three weeks before they put their first paddle in the water on February 26… a Saturday.
Both were working as volunteers in the flood relief effort at Condamine, restoring power to homes and businesses. Or, as Dan puts it: “Getting the power back on, getting fridges working again and generally helping people get back into the 21st century.”
It was while he was working there that Travis heard a story about someone who had travelled the length of the Darling River by canoe in the 1970s.
The idea appealed, and he ran it by Dan. He was similarly enthusiastic, and a plan was hatched.
The pair gave themselves just 10 days to get ready. That meant finishing up their volunteer work, tearing home to put things in order for the four to five months they were planning on being away, and gathering together their equipment, or buying what they didn’t have like a handy, hand-held GPS unit.
For Dan it also meant dragging a canoe he had bought for $150 years before out of storage, and making sure it was ready for the journey.
“It took a bit of time and effort to get it ready,” Dan recalls.
After all, he admits, it was no showpiece, but he was able to make it satisfactorily river worthy.
There is little of the original blue canoe left after extensive repairs, and a lot of the newer, yellow fibreglass is very visible.
“It sort of looks like rotten banana,” Travis says. “So that is what we named it.”
The first big challenge the pair faced was to pare down what they intended to take with them. A canoe by its very design is able to carry a fair amount, but when you have to carry everything, including clothing, food, water, swags and tents, space becomes a precious commodity very quickly.
But they got it sorted, and set out from Condamine, on the river of the same name.
At this time, the floodwaters had resided and the enormity of what they had taken on began to hit home.
The Condamine, and later the Balonne River, were infested with the worst snag obstacles the pair had ever seen. A challenge exacerbated by the recent floods that had washed a lot of timber debris along, and into, the watercourse.
When this debris hit an obstacle, like another snag, it tends to stack up like a log dam across the river, Travis explained.
The Condamine was also home to some rather sharp and unforgiving rocks.
The pair lost count of the number of times they were forced to unload the canoe, drag it over a snaggy obstacle, and re-pack in on the other side before they could continue… only to find they had to repeat the process soon after.
Ot the amount of times they found themselves up to waist or armpits in water, trying to negotiate the canoe around an obstacle.
It proved to be exhausting work at times, but they had no set timetable and were therefore able to tackle the obstacles as they found them and take a breather when they needed it.
To add to the challenge, the water level in the rivers was falling as the floodwaters made their way downstream ahead of them, or spread out across the floodplains.
“We were a bit worried we were going to get stranded with no water under the canoe in the middle of nowhere,” Dan confessed.
Then came the night of the flash flood. The pair had made camp on the riverbank, not far from where the Balonne joins the Culgoa.
They were blissfully unaware that the powers that be were about to release some water from a weir upstream.
They knew something had happened the next morning when some of their belongings, including a set of Travis’ sandals and their coffee supply had been washed away during the night.
The coffee was no great loss, Travis revealed. It was lousy anyway, but he was going to miss those sandals.
The pair took advantage of the newfound higher level in the Culgoa to make a break for it downstream.
But they were still concerned they may run out of water before they reached the Darling just above Bourke.
The level in the Culgoa was dropping up to a metre a day, and it was going to be touch and go based on their daily progress experience.
When they came to a “big intersection” in the river they knew they had reached the Culgoa’s confluence with the Barwon.
Gone were the ever-present snags, and with it the canopy of tree they had been making their way under for much of the earlier part of their trip.
“It really opened up there,” Travis said.
The gums were huge, and more spaced out, he said.
“And the river was much wider.”
There were no log jams to contend with, and the current had slowed too.
Things became even more straightforward once they got onto the Darling.
After the weeks of struggle in the smaller tributary rivers, dodging over-hanging branches, unloading the canoe to drag it over a snag before reloading it again and taking their chances in some of the swifter flowing channels that threatened to overturn them in an instant, the Darling, they said, was a doddle.
“Time to think, to listen to some music, to talk and just day dream,” the pair said.
A typical day for Dan and Travis begins about 7.30 or 8am when they roll out of their swags for breakfast.
They like to be on the river and paddling by 9.30 or 10am, and knock off about 4.30 or 5pm.
The river has a natural rhythm that has allowed them some “clarity” they say.
When you’re out on the river and you don’t have the worries of everyday, it allows you to do some serious thinking, the pair says.
They recommend it as a mind-cleansing experience.
Their provisions along the way have been a mixed bag, including some less than ideal freeze-dried foods, but a special mention, they say must be made of Stockman’s Beef Jerky, a product of Dan’s hometown. It has been an invaluable ‘fuel source’ and something a little tastier than some of the bland other fare they have been forced to make do with.
“In the early stages we had to carry two or three weeks worth of food. Now we are down in the more populated areas we expect our diet will change considerably,” they joked.
Both Dan and Travis say there have been many highlights along the way, naming the abundant birdlife along river as an example, and describing it as extraordinary.
“On one stretch we counted 11 different species in about 200 metres,” Travis said, “And a couple of long-necked turtles.”
They have also met some great people, they said, among them Bindara on the Darling Farm Stay’s Barb and Bill Arnold; Avoca Station’s Ian and Barbara Law; and Pooncarie Gallery and Café’s John and Pauline Kohe.
“Everyone along the river has been extremely welcoming and generous,” the pair said.
When they called in Bindara, they were able to trade — some handyman repairs for a cup of tea and some provisions.
The pair said they have been the first visitors some people have had since the floodwaters cut them off from the outside world months ago.
“We have made friends that we know are keepers,” the pair said.
After looking around Wentworth on Monday afternoon and Tuesday, Dan and Travis packed up their canoe and headed downstream once more Wednesday morning.
They are planning to go all the way, at least as far as they can safely. If that means the Murray Mouth at Goolwa, so be it!
They are planning to finish their trip by mid-July. That way they will get a couple of weeks at home before they take up the tools once more to earn a living, and the money for their next adventure.
That, Travis says, may well be a canoe trip down the Fitzroy River in the West Australian Kimberleys.
It should be noted that so far the pair is not exactly sure how they are getting home, but they are sure “something will happen.”
It is that kind of faith that the ‘universe will provide’ that underpins Dan and Travis’ lives, as well as this adventure.
They have gone with their gut feeling all the way along, and their timing has been flawless.
There was even a silver lining in the flood that washed away Travis’ sandals.
“Without that water we would have not made it out of the Condamine,” they said.
Those with Facebook access can keep up with the boys and their odyssey by logging on and searching for ‘canoe down’.
Yes, they have a laptop with them and Dan is updating the page almost daily with photos and a blog.
They keep it charged up using a special solar blanket.
And for those living downstream of Wentworth, there is a rumour the pair love a party so don’t be afraid to track them down and say hello.
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