In the winter of 2021, high water and fresh trails drew us to Murray Valley for a weekend of adventure.
This trip came at the height of our camping gear expansion, with a 4x4, swag, 6m gazebo split into an enclosed living room and undercover shade/drying space, plus car-powered lights and other gadgets.
We’ve since gone back the other way. A 6-man dome tent and a couple of USB battery packs now do everything we need, are more durable and much easier to transport. We’ve even downsized the car.
We set the whole lot up at Chuditch Campground, our base for the weekend. The fact we'd brought our sleeping bags inside the gazebo for movie night was a clue that the swag was becoming redundant.
Paddling the Upper Murray
For our first adventure, we layered up as much as we could and put the kayaks in at Yarragil Campground.
Leanne was excited to test out her whitewater muscle memory.
The Upper Murray had plenty to offer, regularly serving up small rapids like Stringers below.
Or my favourite, Island Pool, where we stopped for bucket lunch.
Leanne even made it through Baden Powell.
Shuttle Rides
The Murray Valley mountain bike trails had only opened the previous spring, and although we’d already visited a couple of times, they’d quickly dried out over summer. By this point, winter rain had brought the moisture back, and then some.
High Ropes
Another great addition to Lane Poole Reserve is the Trees Adventure high ropes park. We especially enjoyed the self-lowering systems, which got faster as you moved up through the difficulty levels.
After three very different adventures, we wrapped up the weekend with lunch in the sunshine, although Leanne still wore every warm layer she could find just to be safe.
