River Red Gums

9th to 15th February
The Murray river is Australia's largest at 2,375kms in length, forming much of the boarder between NSW and Victoria, eventually flowing into the sea in South Australia. Red River gums line the banks, and plenty of state forests for free camping.

Murray river flow

We met up with Sonya and Gary our camping buddies for the week, and headed out from Rutherglen,.. no time for winery tours, we were on the red river gums drive.
Base camp was in Barmah National Park VIC, alongside the Murray, the area was previously grazing lands and there were still remnants of old stock yards, fences and even feral horses which we got very close to on a morning walk. Very exciting.



The river provides habitat for plenty of bird life including kingfishers and egrets. the Wetlands boat tour took us up the narrowest part of the Murray, current was at about 7km/hr, all heading to South Australia.

Red river gum drive

The surrounding paddocks and forests were extremely dry, considering the volume of water heading down the Murray.
With Environmental flows in place, and regulators fitted to creeks, every bit of water goes down the river and isn't diverted unless allocated. Being in drought currently, the difference was stark




Once we reached Gunbower state forest we camped on the creek, and the boat ramp allowed us easy access to the water for a swim,.... much needed once we'd run out of shower water. Plenty of forest walks to do including the search, successful after the third attempt, to find the 'Eagle Tree' estimated to be between 800 and 1,000 years old.

Sonya and Gary, dwarfed by the Eagle tree

 Eagle tree