RI7ER JOURNAL POSTS
The Pure Orange Expedition Journal - The Source
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Three o’clock, wake up to round up some horses and depart 5am. Arrived at source at 4pm and returned to our previous night’s camp site at 7.30pm
At a small village, Tebelong, saw an old Toyota. After my walk up to the source, was clear this was the furthest any vehicle had been. How it even got here is amazing in itself. It sits guarding the front porch of a house, and is the hang out spot for the village chickens.
My hands and knees are killing me right now what with the horse ride and river crossings, hugging steep contours, trying to keep up with Jakob and our horse-rental guide!
Had a few moments on the way up and down with thoughts of running the top section. However, the weight of my boat and gear definitely has its drawbacks.
Perhaps I will return some day with a light boat - start a few clicks down from the source. It will need a lot of rain but could be a wicked class 5 section of endless white water ... one day!!
The source itself is hard to explain - hundreds of little rivulets pouring out of the side of the mountain. The mist rolled in, so was hard to capture images of the area.
I am on my way!