Alan Davison has completed a 6,800km solo kayak journey he calls “Australia’s longest inland paddle.” He began in Condamine, Queensland, near Brisbane, on April 10 and finished at Coorong, South Australia on August 23, after 136 days on the water, including 19 rest days.
The Australian native paddled through autumn and winter, tracing the Condamine, Balonne, Bokhara, Darling, Murrumbidgee (via a lengthy detour), Murray, and Coorong river systems.
His route largely followed the inland rivers of the Murray–Darling Basin, a vast watershed covering more than a million square kilometers of southeast Australia. This basin is both the country’s agricultural heartland and, for paddlers, a labyrinth of rivers, lakes, and floodplains.
Davison’s vast route, including an out-and-back detour on the Murrumbidgee (purple line). Image: Alan Davison
Davison is an accomplished kayaker who has completed multiple source-to-sea descents of the country’s major rivers, including the Murray (2,500km), Darling (1,600km), and Murrumbidgee (1,200km). He has also paddled the rarely navigated Lachlan River and the Great Darling Anabranch, likely achieving first modern descents.
Condamine and Upper Balonne
Davison set out from Warwick, in southern Queensland, where the Condamine River rises on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range mountains.
Davison’s 5.2m Prijon Kodiak kayak was a little overloaded when he started. Photo: Alan Davison
Initially, Davison had to chase a small flow of water downstream, and Beardmore Dam, which shuts its gates in winter, would soon cause the water to drop so low that it would be unnavigable if he didn’t reach it in time.
“I was over a week behind this flow, so the first leg was a sprint, with my fingers crossed that the trip wasn’t going to end prematurely at St George, where the dam is located,” he wrote on social media.
This meant racing to stay on a moving flow of water. Too far behind, and he’d be left scraping his kayak along dry sandbars. Too far ahead, and the water hadn’t arrived yet.
Photo: Alan Davison
There were plenty of hazards along this first leg. Davison faced 24 weirs, 38 portages, 6 farm or road crossings, and 8 low bridges. The portages meant unloading the boat and dragging or carrying it around the obstacle. Davison often faced dozens of these in a single day. This section in total took around 16 days and covered nearly 1,000km.
One of many obstacles Davison faced. Photo: Alan Davison
The Balonne Minor and Bokhara
Davison reached the Upper Balonne River on April 23, and continued onto the Balonne River and then the Bokhara. This section cuts through the Culgoa floodplains, a network of creeks and minor rivers that only flow after rain. When dam releases of water upstream were suddenly reduced, Davison found himself on the edge of a failed expedition.
Little flow but plenty of water in a waterhole on the Lower Bokhara. Photo: Alan Davison
“Possibly a bit foolhardy, but I decided to push on. Below here, I had no phone coverage other than Hebel [satellite],” said Davison. “I had to make most decisions purely based on the river conditions that I was seeing.”
Unlike coastal kayaking, inland paddling in Australia means weirs, dams, and sudden floods. Kayaks are ideal in this terrain because they are narrow and efficient, able to slip into shallow creeks or push against slow upstream currents.
He managed to continue onto the little-used Bokhara River, where paperbark trees turned the river into an obstacle course.
“On the worst day, I had to do around 50 portages and likely around 150 difficult traverses through the canopies; 3 or 5 point turns, pulling myself over logs, breaking off branches to open a path through, scraping on mud around the edge,” Davison explained on social media.
Paperbark trees. Photo: Alan Davison
This was slow-motion paddling with no current to help, and constant dragging and maneuvering.
“Challenging and exhausting paddling at times, but an enjoyable and rewarding section overall. Only minor PTSD from the paperbarks,” Davison reflected afterward. Despite the obstacles, this roughly 500km section of the journey took 10 days.
Barwon and Darling
By May 6, Davison had completed the Bokhara and continued east on the Barwon and Darling Rivers, which flow for 1,700km through outback country before joining the Murray. This section is notorious for swings between bone-dry stretches and areas of flood.
Davison arrived just behind a moderate flood and caught it downstream. With the floodwaters, he could leave the narrow river channel and paddle across flooded plains.
Barwon River. Photo: Alan Davison
He missed out on the vast Menindee Lakes, which had not filled, but he still seemed to relish the landscape.
“Most of this section down is characterized by a wide river channel with high banks lined with red river gums and black/yellow box trees,” said Davison.
Davison camped along the journey and picked up supplies wherever possible. Photo: Alan Davison
For a solo paddler, floods bring both opportunity and risk. The water is faster and there are more route options, but that has to be traded off with debris, snags, and unpredictable currents. This section in total took Davison 24 days and covered nearly 1,700km.
A young goat, one of two larger animals Davison rescued on the lower Darling. It had become stuck in the mud while coming down to drink. Photo: Alan Davison
The Murrumbidgee Detour
By June 2, Davison had reached the Murray River. Instead of continuing down the Murray, Davison turned upstream into the Murrumbidgee River, one of the Murray’s key tributaries. His aim was to see how far a kayak could be pushed against the current.
“Curiosity if this was possible was the main driving factor for this rather long detour,” he wrote.
The Murrumbidgee is a heavily regulated river, delivering irrigation water across the agricultural region in New South Wales. In summer, flows can surge above 10,000 megaliters a day, but in winter they drop, making for exhausting but possible upstream paddling.
Photo: Alan Davison
“As luck would have it, I had a good low flow for much of the upstream trip.”
Even so, he faced rapids and had to walk his kayak through fast-flowing shallow sections. “I ended up walking three of these above Narrandera, the only portages outside of the weirs.”
Red sand cliffs above Narrandera. Photo: Alan Davison
The detour added over 2,500km to his trip, and took 52 days, testing endurance rather than navigation. “The rather consistent flows ended up making the trip fairly monotonous… That said, it was a physically challenging and rewarding detour.”
Lower Murray and Coorong
By July 24, and after seven rest days, Davison was back on the Murray, which is Australia’s longest river. For Davison, the final leg was a test of patience.
“The lower Murray was mostly paddling on long weirpool reaches where there was no noticeable flow apart from some relatively short sections where you need to pay attention even to see the water moving.”
He still found beauty along that route, though.
“The main highlights from this section are the multicolored cliffs/banks above Renmark and towering sandstone cliffs below. Some of the best riverscapes in the country,” he wrote.
Davison at Murray Mouth. Photo: Alan Davison
At the Murray Mouth, the river empties into Lake Alexandrina and the Coorong, a lagoon system behind a line of coastal dunes. For the inland paddler, this was a rare taste of salt and surf. This last section of the mammoth journey took 24 days and covered 1,032km.
Open water toward the end of the journey. Photo: Alan Davison
Completing a vast inland paddle
Over 119 paddling days Davison averaged nearly 57km per day, with a longest push of 120km in 15 hours on the Darling. After 6,800km, on August 23, Davison stepped out of his kayak having completed what must be one of the longest inland paddles ever undertaken in Australia.
Paddling past sandstone cliffs. Photo: Alan Davison
