Kayaking the Great Darling Anabranch – By Mike Bremers
You can see Mike’s excellent Photos of the Great Darling Anabranch from the trip by following the link.
More information, photos and links to descriptions all Mike’s Kayaking adventures on the following link. If you want any advice or information on travelling the rivers of the Murray Darling System Mike Bremers is the man to speak with!
Information on Kayaking and Canoeing the Murray Darling System
It was a hot afternoon of day 4 of our Great Darling Anabranch kayak journey in February 2023. Bill McGrath and I had each found a black box tree under which to shelter for the next few hours till we could retreat to our tents in the cooler evening. The trees provided dappled shade which was inadequate so we each had to supplement it by stringing up a tarp. Regular dunking in the river kept us cool but the water that we paddled on that morning had a distinct swampy smell and some traces of blue-green algae, with dead carp scattered here and there. Our drinking water, filtered from the river, was lukewarm and had a distinct earthy taste bordering on being unpleasant. Our fingers were crossed that it was not harmful to our health. Worst of all was the thought that the next day was going to be 5 degrees hotter with temperatures in the low 40’s. How did it come to this?
Despite the gloomy picture painted above, we had a very interesting morning in which we paddled into the Anabranch from the Darling River via the Anabranch Offtake, first through black box woodland and then an expansive treeless floodplain. The Great Darling Anabranch is the ancestral path of the Darling River. It flows for about 450 km from where it leaves the Darling River, 120 km downstream of Menindee, to the Murray River about 30 km downstream of Wentworth.
The Darling needs to have a moderate to high flow before water enters into the Anabranch. Before the construction of the Menindee Lakes Scheme in the 1960s, flows from the Darling River into the Anabranch occurred on average two out of three years. Now, floodwaters are captured in the Menindee Lakes which means that high flows in the Darling downstream of the lakes are less common and the situation is further exacerbated by increased irrigation in recent decades further upstream along the tributaries of the Darling River. Early European modification of the Anabranch included the excavation of a channel from the Darling to the Anabranch to increase the occurrence of inflows to the Anabranch. This increase has in part compensated for a reduction caused by the implementation of the Menindee Lakes Scheme1. Nevertheless, natural inflows into the Anabranch now only happen about once a decade to any significant extent. We had timed our journey well, when we entered the Anabranch, we were just behind the flood peak which may have been the highest in almost 50 years.
There are very few records of people paddling the Darling Anabranch. Tony Pritchard travelled down the Anabranch in 1977 and Alan Hywood paddled it in 2012 and 2022. Paddling the Anabranch did not come into our consciousness until Alan Davison, who Craig and I met on the Murray last September, paddled the Anabranch three times in 2022, once as an exploratory return trip and another as part of his 3500+ km Darling source to sea journey. He posted detailed information on the Internet and, with sustained high flows in the Darling peaking in early 2023, Bill and I decided to take the rare opportunity to paddle the Anabranch all the way from the Darling to the Murray.
We started our journey from Menindee on 6 February in kayaks loaded with 20 days of food. The first three days down the Darling River to the Anabranch Offtake were very interesting for both Bill and I. We each had paddled the Darling in low water in 2017 and 2020 respectively. The full river and flooded plains were in stark contrast to the highly incised channel with precipitous banks that we had previously experienced. The high water enabled us to take some shortcuts by paddling through the river red gums on the floodplains such that we only paddled 100 km of the 120 km meandering river channel.
We entered the Anabranch early on day 4. Water was spread throughout the black box woodland but the narrow Anabranch channel was quite distinctive and, if in any doubt, we just applied the mantra of ‘follow the flow’. This was quite easy by looking at the ripples around the tree trunks but as we proceeded the woodland gave way to a large expanse of water that was slow so we generally paddled in the westerly direction that the river flowed. In 1977 Pritchard experienced a ‘forest of thick lignum’ with no obvious current2. Lignum is a native, woody, multi-stemmed perennial shrub up to 3 m high that is an important habitat in both flood and dry conditions. Perhaps the lignum has disappeared after the lengthy dry spells in recent decades. This slow moving, relatively shallow water is ideal for blue-green algae which we spotted in isolated locations. The dead carp that we saw had most likely died from the low dissolved oxygen content of the water which had plummeted in early February to levels at which fish will die.
Around lunchtime, and 26 km into the Anabranch, we selected a campsite that, in hindsight, was not good for a hot day. However, after a good night’s sleep we were refreshed and ready to continue. After 4 km we reached the confluence of the Anabranch and Redbank Creek that enters from the north. Redbank Creek is a major tributary of the Anabranch. Water flows into Redbank Creek from both Tandou Creek, which receives flows from the Darling in major flood conditions such as we were experiencing, and Cawndilla Channel which receives controlled releases from Lake Cawndilla (part of the Menindee Lakes Scheme). The confluence was not apparent to us; we were presented with a large expanse of water flowing through the woodland but we kept ‘following the flow’ which changed from a generally westerly to a south-westerly direction. Wycot gauge downstream recorded a massive 30,000 Ml/day compared to the flow entering the Anabranch from the Darling of 3500 Ml/day.
Unlike the Darling, the Anabranch only has patches of shady red gums along its banks, presumably at the deep waterholes, so we again had to settle for a campsite amongst the dappled shade of the black box. Nevertheless, it was better than the previous camp. The water quality seemed to be better and we had some confidence now that the water wouldn’t make us sick. I also found that putting a wet sock around my water bottles cooled the water enough such that it was mildly refreshing compared to being lukewarm.
By sunset it had cooled enough for me to take a short walk in the sandy area behind our campsite. Amongst the sand I found patches of old, small animal bones as well as some stone artefacts suggesting that this may have been an Aboriginal camp many years ago.
On days 6 to 8 we passed the Anabranch lakes and caught up with the flood peak. The lakes of the Anabranch cover 47,000 hectares which is of similar size to the nearby Menindee Lakes system and both are listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia. The lakes are deflation basins (basins formed by wind erosion) that feature high sandy lunettes on the northern section and show evidence of Aboriginal occupation1. The lakes are dry most of the time and only fill during high natural flows. There are about eight large lakes having a diameter of 5-10 km and a number of smaller lakes. Most of the lakes are connected to the Anabranch by a feeder channel which we did not paddle down as we would have to return against the current. We bypassed the first few lakes by paddling across the floodplains adjacent to the edges, in some places just scraping over submerged farm fences. Near Lake Mindona we started to see large colonies of pelicans. Nialia Lake was directly connected to the Anabranch and we were pleased get a glimpse over the large expanse of water to the opposite shore, about 5 km away. Nialia Lake is quite shallow and will begin to drain back into the Anabranch when the floodwaters recede, no doubt helping to sustain the flow. Some of the other lakes can hold water for extended periods of time. Popiltah Lake can retain water for up to five years4. Nearie Lake, encompassed within a nature reserve, is one of the deepest lakes in the Darling Anabranch system (2 – 3 metres compared with 1 – 2 metres for most other lakes) and holds water for 3 to 4 years after flooding, thereby becoming an important refuge for waterbirds as floodwaters dry up in the system.
Whilst pelicans were common, especially near the lakes, rainbow bee-eaters were prolific throughout the entire journey. Surprisingly, cockatoos and parrots were generally absent but we were delighted to see a pink cockatoo and some budgies in the northern Anabranch.
At the end of day 6, Peter of Popiltah Station zoomed past our campsite on his jet ski. He had been visiting the neighbours and was looking for stranded goats. He invited us to visit, when we passed, the homestead 25 km downstream. He wasn’t home when we visited the next day but we were grateful that his son Sam, who was about to leave to rescue the stranded goats, invited us to help ourselves to the rainwater tank.
By the end of day 8 we had passed the last of the major lakes and we reached our first major obstacle, 183 Weir. The weir was a major obstacle for the carp also such that large numbers congregated below the weir. Water was flowing over the road that formed the spillway. We made camp here and we were entertained during the afternoon by the carp trying to make their way upstream by jumping up over the spillway. Yabbies were also on the move upstream, crawling over the stranded carp in the shallows. The flow at 183 Weir was 3200 Ml/day and rising, indicating that the vast majority of the floodwaters were being captured in the Anabranch lakes as they filled. The river was now mainly confined to the river channel for the rest of the journey.
It was another 30 km the next day to Bunnerungee Bridge where the Silver City Highway crosses the Anabranch. It’s a nice place to camp and we retrieved our food cache that we had buried before the start of the trip. The cache comprised mainly treats but because we now expected to finish six days ahead of schedule and the heat had suppressed our appetites, more food was added to the cache than what was taken out.
We were now approaching a section of river which contained numerous low-level bridges and other crossings that could impede our progress. Many of these may have been part of weir structures that were built in the 1960’s or earlier. Following the construction of the Menindee Lakes Scheme in the 1960’s, an annual stock and domestic replenishment flow of 50,000 Ml was delivered down the Anabranch from Lake Cawndilla (when water was available) over a three-month period in late winter to early spring. This flow was captured by a number of small weirs constructed by landowners to pond the water and very little, if any, reached the Murray River. These more permanent pools influenced the vegetation and limited fish movement along the Anabranch. It is estimated4 that only 3,000 Ml of the 50,000 Ml released was actually needed for stock and domestic purposes. In 2006 a pipeline from the Murray River was completed to supply stock and domestic water to properties along the Anabranch4. Not only did this provide a reliable source of water for the properties, it enabled the water savings to be used for environmental flows and the weirs could be removed and/or replaced by low level bridges. An environmental flow down the Anabranch of 60-75,000 Ml for 30-45 days on average every two to three years has been proposed. It is expected that this would provide a more natural ephemeral system and allow, during these releases, flow all the way to the Murray enabling fish migration. These plans are dependent on water in Lake Cawndilla and during 2014-2020 it was only possible to release an environmental flow in 2017 and follows a dry period between 2002 and 2010 due to drought. Over the next two days we passed seven river crossings. Some were completely submerged and some others we could just scrape over. Three required portaging but this was relatively easy with Bill and I being able to carry the fully laden kayaks the short distance across the road.
Day 11 was another day of about 40 degrees and we were pleased with our intended destination, Anabranch Hall. In days gone by this corrugated iron hall was a vital venue for social interaction for people living in the isolated Anabranch district. Dances and sport days, utilising the adjacent tennis courts and sports ground, were popular. It now can be hired from Wentworth Council for functions. Whilst the tennis courts and sports ground are in a dilapidated condition, there are new showers and toilets (locked when we were there) and a new veranda that gave us good afternoon shade. As a bonus there were large rainwater tanks from which we could replenish our drinking water supplies.
The Anabranch was now a series of long pools with a gentle current interspersed with thickets of saplings growing in the river channel accompanied by faster flowing water. These saplings were mainly river red gum but also a species of Acacia possibly River Cooba. Finding a path through was made more difficult as these thickets were a haven for golden orb-weaving spiders and we ran the risk of being covered in spiders and their webs. Presumably these thickets had grown during extended periods of low or no flow in the shallower parts of the channel – the present prolonged period of high flow may thin them out.
On day 12 we passed Milpara Bridge and started to notice the highwater marks on the trees as a result of water backing up from the Murray River, 80 km downstream, when it was in flood a couple months earlier. We also noticed that river red gums lining the banks became more frequent and we started to see ring trees. It is interesting to note that in 2020 on the lower Darling River I also noticed an increase in ring trees on approach to the Murray confluence.
By mid-morning on day 14 we had arrived at the Murray River confluence. The Murray River was still flowing strongly, supplemented by the Darling floodwaters. Fortunately, we did not have to paddle 30 km upstream to Wentworth because Fort Courage Caravan Park, where we had left a car, is located just a few kilometres downstream of the confluence.
Despite the heat it was a great journey on a rarely paddled waterway. The floodwaters filling the lakes were wonderful to see with the ecological benefits expected to last for years.