Dear Condamine ...

Dear Condamine,

There's no easy way to say this but it's over, it's not me, it's you. It's only been 5 days but I feel you need to hear this, you're just too shallow. I've tried to get to know you and every time I feel we start to make some progress together, you throw up barriers. Rocks, log jams, and weirs, you've continually pushed me away and made it clear you don't want to spend time with me.

Perhaps I should have known from the moment we first met. You looked nothing like the satellite imagery photos you posted on Tinder. (We both know they were from a few years ago and you've let yourself slip since).

Could we force this to work? Sure. But I've got my own goals (raising $60,000 and paddling my board, not carrying it) and putting up with you won't help me achieve either.

At the end of the day this doesn't have to be goodbye forever. If you find yourself (and some rain) then I'll be back, but only if you're the river you promised to be.

Until then, I've got to walk away..

Tom

"Hang on, so what's actually going on?" I hear you ask.

As I've eluded to above, the Condamine 'river' is simply too shallow. It's essentially

unpaddle-able. Of the 72km's I've travelled so far, I'd guess a minimum of 40km's has been walking carrying the board, another 15km's has been polling through shallows and around rocks, the remaining few km's has been tentatively paddling in anticipation of another unseen log.

My board and gear is beginning to show the effects of logs, rocks and having to carry it everywhere.

It's really tough to have to make this call so early on, but I've got to think long term. Come off the river now until there's some water, or continue to bash my way along and have nothing to paddle on when there is water?

Initially I felt this was a cop out, I said I was going to paddle the whole river system. But if I'm already not paddling now, why continue to damage my gear in the attempt?

So what happens?

I said I was going to paddle this river system and I can't. But people and sponsors have invested money into this trip and I want to reward that investment.

I'll now walk the roads along side the river until I find water that is paddle-able. When I do, I'll put the board back in and continue the paddle.

Finally river kms are different to road kms, and it's a lot further by river from point a to b than it is by road. To ensure I'm still travelling the 3,750km I set out to do, I'll be taking detours along the way (feel free to suggest some places to call in to).

I can't emphasise how frustrating this is, I honestly do want to paddle, it's just not possible or logical to do it here.

Even though I knew this was going to be a possibility, to explain how committed I was to paddling, I've had to drive to the nearest town and buy a pair of sneakers as I only packed river shoes and thongs..

As i said this isn't the end of the trip and Ill be back on the on board as soon as I can. Until then I will sweat it out on the road.

#running #Condamine