Day 4: Tin Mine Hut to Cowombat Flat and the source of the Murray

Today was one of those days that starts off with the best of intentions but ends with a few unexpected events.

A new day filled with motivation and a desire to explore, we set off onto Cowombat trail to find the source of the Murray River. It sounded like a perfect adventure!

My navigator set us off into the direction of the Murray source, only 400m of bush bashing! We left our packs at the track and equipped with our navigator and emergency beacon, we set off to conquer the bush. I mean, how hard can it be, 400m!

The bush became dense so quickly and whilst we are quite agile, I realised that there was a real risk of losing sight of our track and pack. I collected quite a few scratches from the dense bush and whilst we wore gaiters, I started to get worried about snakes or twisting our ankles. It took us 30min to just complete 100m through the dense bush! We ended up turning back as I realised bush bashing to the Murray’s source wasn’t going to be straight forward at all.

We pushed forward to Cowombat Flats instead. We encountered a black snake—which gave Cy a bit of a jump scare as millimeters away from his foot. We could also hear the helicopter and shooting; the National park did inform us to stay within our track as they were controlling animal populations. Through second hand knowledge, I was told that brumbies, pigs, and dogs are shot to control their population and protect the environment, but witnessing the damage caused by 4WD vehicles made me question several aspects of park management.

Arriving at Cowombat Flats was breathtaking. The vast, open space and different colour greens and browns made our long hike so worthwhile. And as we crossed the Murray River for the first time to our camping spot, merely 1 meter wide, I realised that we could just trace the river to its source!!

After a long day hike, we started following the brumby trails along the Murray River and got to about 2km before the bush got very dense, the Murray River was just 10cm wide at this point! We were just a kilometer away from the actual spring but having experience bush bashing, it could take an hour at least to get to the spring. The sun was going down and we had to set up camp. We were not keen on dense bush bashing and were satisfied having tracked the Murray to its source - almost!

At this stage my priority was to ensure Cy and I were safe, and did not get injured before our 2,200 km row/ paddle across Australia. I also wanted to make sure that I keep Cy motivated for a long haul hike and paddle and not break him to a point of exhaustion where he wants to give up.

We set up camp on a large flat brumby field. As the sun set, the sky opened up in a display of stunning colors, and we were treated to an amazing view of the stars as it grew dark. It felt like the perfect reward after a challenging day.

Cy was in great spirits, grateful for the good dinner and all the new experiences we’d encountered on our journey - he was most excited seeing the snake I think!

It wasn’t the perfect hike we envisioned, but it was certainly one to remember! And as Cy called out, “…mum, we are no Navy seals…”!