Malcolm Douglas - Australia - The Macquarie Marshes (1987)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] g'day [Music] it's a typical summer's day in australia it's about 42 degrees 5 o'clock in the afternoon and it's dinging hot i'm right up in the north west corner of new south wales right at the junction of the barwin and the macquarie river on my left coming in behind me is the macquarie river and on the right we've got the bigger barwin river now the macquarie is like many rivers in australia it runs inland it doesn't run to the sea it starts or right up in the western side of the blue mountains the great divide the other side of bathurst from here runs down north west through bathurst down to the plains near wellington out to dubbo coming northwest to warren and further north from there it runs into an area called the macquarie marshes it goes through these marshes in a series of channels for about 50 or 60 kilometers then on the northern side of the marshes it forms up into this little macquarie river and runs right out just here now the macquarie marshes is an area that's interested me for many years so in a few days myself and three mates we're going to drop our canoes in up near warren paddle down the macquarie go into those marshes explore them it's a very remote isolated area even the local grazie is never going there hopefully we'll penetrate right through the macro marshes then down the macquarie on the northern side and finish in about a month time right here malcolm and his team arrive at oxley station where they'll leave the land rover here the macquarie river flows deep and strong three sydney siders les scott and greg will accompany malcolm they'll use 5-metre rosco canoes and the fifth member of the party is malcolm's faithful companion his kelpie jaudy [Music] she needs a little coaxing to settle down the river no longer clear and blue meanders through river gum forests domain of the grey kangaroo a taut rope attracts their attention it's an illegal drum net these nets are used to catch native fish but regrettably they're often abandoned and other native animals are trapped tortoises unable to reach the surface for air have drowned these eggs have been dropped by a dying female nearby is another unpleasant sight a murray cod left to rod big cod are now rarely caught and it's a shameful waste when fish are not eaten immediately or else released alive the men are on the lookout for submerged logs concealed by the muddy waters a capsize would be disastrous a red-bellied black snake common along the river and most conspicuous with its shimmering back and vivid underside alarmed the snake recoils into its threat display flattening its neck and rearing to strike although its size and color terrifies people it's one of the least venomous of australia's dangerous snakes most adults would recover from its bite when confronted a red belly black will instinctively slither into a convenient crevice rather than stand its ground the timberline along the river is heavily populated with eastern grey kangaroos by day big mobs congregate in the shade [Applause] fallen river gums cause frustrating delays every few hundred meters malcolm spots a slight movement in the reeds it's chelladonia expanser the largest of the australian freshwater tortoises its size is impressive when compared to the more common long neck tortoise all reptiles are protected and should never be taken from the wild to be kept in captivity two days of paddling reveals a dramatic change in the countryside as the hot arid planes give way to lush green swamps the river splits up into narrow fast flowing channels as they enter the bakayan guy marshes gradually the water disperses over a vast area and the going gets tougher the cumbungi closes in and it's increasingly difficult to maintain course les scans the marshland ahead it looks as though there's a better channel further east we've come about eight hundred meters into the beckon guy marshes and we're in trouble somewhere upstream we veered to our left from the main channel and come down into this area that we're stuck in now now what happens we're coming down the main channel and over on the right you can see how the main panel just breaks up it gets smaller and smaller until finally you just get a dead end effect and if you're not very careful you'll get just trapped in here and you'll lose your bearings so scott and i are just checking out the map a couple of the guys have gone off scouting we're just waiting for them to call back on the walkie-talkie now what we're going to have to do to today is head back on a dry land make a camp and early in the morning we're going to have to move all our gear over to another channel and drag the canoes over land and hopefully that main channel will bring it down the monkey guy creek and it'll skirt that this swamp they're in now so what we'll be doing is working down our down our east side and picking the main channel up further over to the north it's a battle back to high ground to camp for the night the team checked the map again making sure they'll be able to reach an open channel the next day they must head for the monkey gar creek scouting out on a high ridge behind the camp malcolm sees something in the dead timber and grabs two kittens from a litter of four he's surprised when they begin to purr snuggling together these delightful babies will grow into efficient and deadly killers of our native fauna no matter how pretty they look now there's no place for feral cats in the australian bush at sundown wild pigs are on the move [Music] jaudy keeps them well clear of the camp in the morning the men head overland all the gears carried on the first trip they skirt the swamps and move out across the plains to the monkey creek one of the main channels of the macquarie river system a brown snake moves freely in the early morning warmth they're relieved to find that there's still plenty of water in the monkey returning for the canoes the men come across some wild piglets and keen to have a closer look les and greg give chase [Music] until recently large numbers of wild pigs roamed the plains but now they're hunted commercially and the population is dwindling adult feral pigs are shot and the meat exported to europe where game meat is a delicacy transferring the canoes from the marshes to the monkey is a long tedious business the men try various ways to ease the strain [Music] jaudy startles a shingle back these slow-moving diurnal lizards are more bluff than bite but the ferocious display soon has jardi backing off come on the day's a scorcher and the sky looks ominous a good storm would cool things down the burrs and the intolerable heat make the going tough for jody so she happily hitches a ride [Applause] even though it's oppressively hot everyone wears long pants to protect them from snake bite it's mid-afternoon by the time the team struggles through the river gums to the monkey guy with the second canoe [Applause] now i've just been looking along the bank here and i can see a lot of yabby holes so i'm going to set a trap now as we're traveling down the river we haven't got a lot of room so in the bottom of the canoe we just keep this little piece of wire mesh when we want to use it we just pop it out all sorts of traps you can make now when you set a trap for yabbies make sure you use very fresh meat now when you tie your meat in tie it in the middle of the trap now the reason i say fresh meat is because the yabbies will bite a lot better on fresh meat if they're hungry you can use soap you can use anything now just tie it there in the trap now see how i've got it suspended in the middle of the trap that stops the yabbies from grabbing at the meat from the outside so to get at the bait they have to climb up the side of the trap and drop in now we'll just go and set it now when you set a trap don't set it out in midstream with a strong current pick a spot where there's a nice little backwater logs or rocks you'll get a lot more yabbies now we'll just drop that in there slowly we'll leave it for about 15 minutes and i reckon we're going to get a good feed of yabbies [Applause] meat ants too can smell the fresh bait and sure enough 15 minutes later a basket of yabbies the term yabby is used in most parts of inland australia although the locals along the macquarie call them craze there are over 90 species of freshwater crayfish throughout the country and when they don't back off they make a delicious meal [Applause] meat ants clean up the scraps in the morning they press on and the canoes are constantly manhandled over fallen trees in this section the macquarie river splits up into separate creeks with unusual names like the cayenne guy monkey gar at times the streams vanish into the marshes and then further inland reform into channels again the floodplains along the river are heavily grazed as well as sheep and cattle the rich green grasses support huge populations of kangaroos [Music] flighty gentle animals they shy away from the passing canoes [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] as the monkey guard narrows flow increases and it's easy paddling and great traveling [Music] during a time of drought negotiating the northern macquarie is a daunting challenge in flood the river can be easily traversed in a few days eventually they reach the only access through the southern marsh the sandy creek road after camping for the night the men portage over the road and enter the main swamp the monkey car flying vigorously up to the road peter's out and it's a battle to get through the encroaching kambungi the macquarie marshes is a nature reserve and an important breeding habitat and refuge for migratory birds from the northern hemisphere [Music] hours later they break out into a tranquil expanse of open water where black swans and pelicans live in peaceful seclusion [Music] as the water disperses the flow almost ceases and it's difficult to see which way to go malcolm breaks up kombungi seed trying to detect the drift of the current twisted reeds mark their path in case they have to double back deep in the swamps there's no wind and the air is stifling the rushes are covered with prickly dust and there's little relief from the sweltering heat in the warm muddy water all along the way malcolm leaves markers malcolm's concerned that they won't be able to get through to the northern side of the marsh the reeds grow higher and thicker he calls a change of direction and they veer to the east hoping to reach high ground before dark the water is literally disappearing into a claustrophobic tangle of bulrush and by late afternoon the men are really struggling to push through at this rate they won't get the canoes on the high ground before nightfall and it looks as though they'll have to leave them until the following day malcolm covers up to keep hordes of mosquitoes at bay and they struggle out of the maya hoping to locate a dry campsite [Applause] foreign everyone settles down for a feed a clean up and a good night's sleep by sun up they're already back in the marsh retrieving the canoes it'll be another grueling day dragging the canoes over the parched plains into yet another creek the bulgaria it's a long haul so this time the canoes are emptied and all the gear moved [Music] separately the strange procession across the plains panics a mob of emus [Music] and the big goanna heads for safety [Music] carrier heaters these large reptiles move across the plains foraging for food when disturbed they head for the trees climbing easily with their muscular legs and long sharp claws at last the men come to the bulgaria this section of the macquarie is very dirty and right through the marshes it's just the same in fact the closer it gets up to the barwin the dirtier it becomes and the more you drink of this dirty water on these really hot days the thirsty you become it's just too much mud and sediment in the water so what we do every evening but this time of the day about seven we collect all our bellies and fill them up with water okay it's pretty muddy now by the way these are my favorite billies i've got four of them the big one this one and these two and when i'm traveling they all just fit inside each other bang bang bang they look a little bit rough but i wouldn't go away without them right oh now when i've got them full take them up to the fire and just get them on there and it's very hot just get that one flat so i won't tip over now what we do is boil that water vigorously for a few minutes then we lift it off and leave it overnight as it cools down all the mud settles to the bottom and in the morning we can pour off the clean clear water on top and tomorrow i'll show you that at sunup kangaroos head for the sheltering timberline to rest for the day now here we have our unboiled macquarie marsh's selection and in the billy some of the water that was boiled up now if i pick it up very carefully all the mud and all the sediment is on the bottom pour it out very carefully [Applause] there we are now i want to stop here before the sediment starts to come off the bottom of the berry and there we have our unboiled and our boiled liz finds something sticking to his boot it's a monstrous kangaroo tick this revolting insect can cause illnesses ranging from rashes to coma in humans once again it's a battle through the log jams the river's dropping rapidly and the most extensive wetlands are still over a day's paddling downstream trapped in a drying water hole off the main channel a carp exhausted in the hot shallow water these fish native to asia were spread throughout europe and are now established on all continents except antarctica commonly called european cup they were brought into victoria in 1960 by a breeder who advertised them as fast growers suitable for stocking dams within a few years the river systems in new south wales victoria and south australia were overrun by carp often seen feeding in the shallows they're the dominant species and there's no telling what the long-term ecological damage will be carp is the most widely cultivated food fish in the world australians rarely eat them but for malcolm and his party they're a ready supply of food now that these carp are here to stay we've all got to learn how to eat them a lot of the locals reckon they're rubbish fish too boney too muddy well i don't think they're too bad there's a few secrets to cooking carp the first thing you want to do is when you get one is bleed it cut it at the tail and cut it the girls hang it up get all the blood out now you can steam it you can roast it a good way is to cook it whole in the coals just throw it in on the coals cover it over that's quite a nice way if you get them in the rivers and the rivers are very low and they do taste a little bit muddy soak it in milk overnight before you cook it they get rid of that muddy flavor but the way i found to cook them on this trip is to scale them of course they've got a very large scale it comes off very easily and take off a large fillet with these big fish you don't have to be too fussy just take off a section here miss the section around the stomach of course because there's a lot of bones right oh now there's a nice big just cut it in half because it's too big for the griller now we've just got the little white griller drop it on here right on now the secret is a bit of curry powder and a bit of soy sauce that seems to really add to the flavour right there's our soy sauce there's our curry powder soak it rub it in here's another one here that i've already shake for a while just close it over and we'll drop that on the fire a very low heat i've got a nice little fire going here just get rid of all that flame because the flame will give it a funny flavor just a few low coals just leave it grilling there for a few minutes that'll be really nice in the bush the day begins early before leaving les retrieves his line and is surprised by his catch it's a native catfish an unusual species with a primeval looking head they're good to eat but liz decides to let this one go and here's malcolm with lunch more carp downstream they come to a famous landmark the willows planted by early settlers they're now the home of the little red flying fox [Applause] camouflaged in the green branches is a snake it's a beautiful species the inland carpet snake they're non-venomous and if handled gently make no attempt to bite malcolm puts it into a eucalypt where he can observe it more easily it only needs the slightest purchase to gain height they're also excellent swimmers so it soon heads back to the willows the bats return to roost shrieking and squabbling at this time of the year they congregate in rookeries of over 100 000 individuals some prefer to rest in the nearby gum trees after preening they settle down to sleep in the afternoon a strong wind blows up and it's a rough few hours for the bats at dusk they stream out in search of their favorite food eucalyptus blossoms [Music] some bulldog ants get malcolm out of bed early they bite viciously department of agriculture team is checking the marshes they stop for a yarn and malcolm organizes a ride the men are shooting all the feral cattle and pigs in the swamps the national parks and wildlife service want all feral animals eradicated from the nature reserve this is the northern macquarie marsh spectacular wetlands surrounded by barren plains below lies the borah channel malcolm and his team had planned to travel along this waterway but the waters low and the channels breaking up into small shallow watercourses it looks navigable from the air but after an hour's flying malcolm realizes the water won't be deep enough to get through this fifty kilometer long swamp so it's back to camp with the depressing news [Applause] there's still one chance that they can make it to the barwin to the east there's an old man-made channel so they head for that this channel should still hold enough water to bypass the northern marshes that malcolm checked from the air a huge goanna with plenty of food goannas grow fat the daily temperatures soar to the high 30s but jaudy travelling first class stays very cool because of the low water level they have some trouble finding the man-made channel [Music] [Applause] conditions change dramatically as they leave the wetlands and head out across the dry dusty plains [Applause] this channel was originally built to bypass the marshes and supply water for stock and domestic use in times of drought along the way a rather startled emu appears over the bank [Music] malcolm realizes that it's injured and tries to help [Music] its foot's badly crippled so he lugs it back to the channel to cleanse the wound a hitchhiker joins malcolm and liz for a [Applause] while for two days they paddle down the channel until it eventually peters out and the men once again push into the massive kambungi in an area known as duck swamp [Applause] again the water seeps away and they're in trouble malcolm's hoping to get right through to the northern end of the borough channel where they might find it deep enough to paddle through to the barwin they battle on once again struggling to get the canoes through the wall of reeds worn out they rest on a small island of dry ground malcolm anxious to find a way through waits for hours looking for a deeper channel and open water checking his bearings from a vantage point he realizes it's a hopeless situation the little water that's left is rapidly evaporating in the intense heat [Music] malcolm perseveres hoping to find extra water flowing in from the borah channel but he has to accept that it's impossible to get the canoes through this way and reluctantly returns to camp a young lace monitor is onto something his tongue scenting the air for rotting fish he finds some dead carp they die in their thousands as the water recedes it's a struggle to get it down forcefully twisting his head the goanna manages to swallow the fish [Music] back in camp malcolm breaks the news tomorrow they must backtrack in the morning jadi's keen to get going malcolm's decided to return to the man-made channel and walk the 40 kilometers to the nearest town corinda for a vehicle to ferry their gear around duck swamp and back to the macquarie luckily they meet up with a local out hunting pigs who'll give them a lift back to town saving them a long walk they drive through big mobs of kangaroos around the macquarie marshes there's the most concentrated population of kangaroos malcolm's ever seen [Music] do [Music] [Music] they're in plague proportions [Music] for the last few weeks malcolm and his team have seen as many kangaroos as this almost daily [Music] it remains a controversial issue where the kangaroos should be harvested perhaps in the future it may be more ecologically acceptable to farm kangaroos rather than sheep and cattle in the marginal areas of inland australia [Music] amongst all the greys is one red kangaroo reds usually prefer the drier open habitat to the timbered country [Music] out on the planes emus travel at speeds of up to 48 kilometers per hour their powerful legs working like pistons [Music] near corinda they pass thousands of hectares of cotton all irrigated from the macquarie one of the reasons why the river's so low corinda's never a lively place but today it's almost deserted everyone's out at the annual race meeting before heading back to the macquarie the men joined the locals for the social event of the year most of the people along the river live on isolated properties and a race meeting is a great way of getting everyone together for a yarn and maybe to pick a winner country race meetings are an important testing ground and some of these young thoroughbreds could end up winning on city racetracks [Music] at the end of the day there are the losers and the winners and then it's back to work there's a drought on and it's going to be a long hot summer the local lads spend their spare time hunting wild pigs it's a bit rough on the duco malcolm and his team get a lift out to the macquarie the river has reformed into a single channel but it's pitifully low [Applause] the men are now north of the marshes and they plan to reach the barwin river within seven days it looks like it's going to be a tough [Music] week [Music] suddenly the river widens and they're confronted by a levee [Music] the water's been held back for irrigation [Music] and there's only a small flow through to the other side it doesn't look too promising for the canoeists determined to keep going they bypass the embankment hoping to launch the canoes again downstream [Applause] but it's a dismal site the river is barely flowing a severe drought grips the country malcolm's finally convinced it's a lost cause when he checks the water level the barwin is still 30 kilometers away and there's no hope of reaching it now it's been an unforgettable experience for all the team and now there's nothing more they can do but clean up hitch a ride back to the land rover and head for home [Music] too [Music] you

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Length: 46min 17sec (2777 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 01 2020