“Seeya later. I’ll be gone for a few weeks.”
These were the parting words of gentle adventurer Phil in October 2009.
There seems to be numerous paddlers these days making the journey down the Murray in paddle craft of all sorts and sizes. However not one of the recent paddlers can match the lackadaisical paddle that Melbourne resident Phil has had over the last 6 months.
Phil’s story goes like this – “I was looking at a property to buy last September and although the sale never eventuated I did buy the neighbours plastic Canadian canoe for $60. 3 weeks later I was on the Goulburn River in VictoriaÕs mid-North and heading toward the Goulburns junction with the Murray River.”
After paddling 300km of the Goulburn Phil tapped into the Murray River at the 1780km marker and thought it would be nice to go on to Echuca. With no specific plans in mind he continued on to Swan Hill and then thought, well ÒIÕve come this far I might as well head to MilduraÓ. The journey continued in a similar vein and this week Phil arrived at Goolwa after paddling his plastic fantastic over 2000km. A truly amazing adventure by a genuinely unpretentious individual.
Asked to sign the wall at Hectors Restaurant on the wharf at Goolwa, Phil thought it was a bit presumptive of him to have his tag on the wall with other more driven paddlers but did seek out the official journey of the Murray book in the Signal Point information centre.
His journey took 6 months in total, although he had an 8 week break in the middle. He undertook training and fitness work along the way rather than getting too daunted because of his lack of preparation. His paddle across Lake Alexandrina took 3 days. And once at Goolwa he thought “Well I might duck down the Coorong for a look.”
