The Shoalhaven was rising so I asked the group if they wanted to paddle Oallen Ford to the Power Lines. A few were interested but by Friday morning it had risen too high. So the trip was moved once again and the Murrumbidgee was the destination.

In the end there was just Ben Jones and Ian and Caroline Houghton who joined me. The river had risen mid-week but by the time we got on the water at Pine Island on Saturday it had dropped to 1.2m which was just enough to paddle everything. The water was an unusual dark brown colour but it soon became apparent that was due to runoff from bushfire ravaged areas upstream. The eddies were full of small pieces of charcoal and the banks were covered with a black mud from where the river have been more than a metre higher earlier in the week. The murky water made it very hard to see rocks which were just below the surface.