Thursday 23 September 2021; 20km paddling from the Tumut River junction with the Murrumbidgee River to Gundagai
The morning started with the two old Teds enjoying a relaxing breakfast beside the fire and discussing the disadvantages of tents that have high condensation levels. Their discussion was disturbed by the sound of a splash in the river. A large grey kangaroo had been ambling along the bank of the Tumut River when it spotted us having breakfast by the fire, directly in its way. It panicked and jumped into the Tumut River. The current took it to the shallow bank between the Tumut and Murrumbidgee rivers, where it was able to bound along, looking like it was jumping on top of the water. It then jumped back into the Tumut River and swam past us as we scrambled to get our cameras operating.
The morning was mistier than previous days, and Ted was annoyed at the amount of condensation in his tent. He had been worried that the Murrumbidgee River would be a dirty, slow uninteresting paddle. It was none of these. Although much wider than the Tumut River, it still had a fair pace to it. The river’s power and pace were not so noticeable until we wanted to paddle back upstream to view a tractor on the side of the river. It had been inundated at some point and so was partially buried. We turned to paddle back up past it to get some photos and video footage, which is when we realised the river had some grunt to it. It was flowing at about 7km/h with a flow rate of about 18000Ml/day. What with the river regularly splitting around islands, which we had to decide which side to take, rocky outcrops on the banks, and the occasional partially submerged snag, we had to stay alert the whole time.
One of the highlights of the day was watching two plovers attacking a fox on the shore. It seemed to be aware that they couldn’t really do anything and was intent on, presumably finding their nest. it was only when it realised we were approaching that headed away from the river, with the plovers still furiously trying to attack it.
Just upstream of Gundagai the river split around an island. The main flow went to the left. But this was around a blind corner, and seemed to be pushing up against rocks on the left hand bank. The right hand side looked clearer, but was shallower and pushing against trees on the right hand side. Having learnt from our experience on the Tumut River the day before, we were cautious. We chose the right hand side, but pulled over into an eddy to give us time to pick a line. The current was fast, but we kept close to island and managed to avoid the shallowest parts and stay away from the trees. We felt we had chosen well and executed our plan as we had wanted.
Arriving in Gundagai we needed to select a landing place, which was made difficult by the steep river banks. Eventually we decided on one directly below our cabin in the Gundagai River Camping & Caravan Park. Although very steep it allowed us to use the car winch to haul the canoe up the bank.
The Murrumbidgee River, Gundagai 
The take-out bank, Gundagai Caravan Park
Once the canoe was out of the water, we returned to the Hume and Hovell Walking Track suspension bridge over the Tumut River to collect the other car.
