Day 15 – Swan Hill to Tooleybuc

Shack or Pump House

The day stated slowly after Swan Hill as we go through many shallow sections and scrapped the bottom of our boat a number of times. Finding deeper channels were very challenging as the river was wide. After an hour or so, we past the shallow section and we managed to make time by cruising to Tooleybuc.

Stumps and Snags just over the water line

Cruising at about 40km/hr is very risky on the Murray River. Underwater snags, stumps and reefs can come up unexpectedly sometimes even in the middle of the river. We literally had a close call, missing an underwater stump inches away while cruising in the middle of the river away from the banks.

Birds are prolific in this section. Ducks and Little Black Cormorants were commonly seen in this section. Kiam even saw a Murray River Turtle basking in the sun on a log.

Herons up a tree

When we approached Tooleybec, we were greeted with a unique bridge; one of only two surviving Murray River bridges with Allan truss spans, or Allan-designed lift spans. The road is able to be lifted for a high level boat.

Dianne backstage with musicians

The Country Music Muster was held at the Tooleybec Sporting Club, and the club was kind to provide us with a space to fundraise for Kiss Goodbye to MS.

The generosity of the patrons was amazing and I went on stage to say a few words on MS, my journey with MS and thanking the generosity of the venue and patrons of the music muster.

Tomorrow we head to Boundary Bend but have to pass ‘Bitch ‘N’ Pups’; a treacherous section with rocky reefs which is impassable during low river water flows. This section is famous and is even on the walls of the club.