Day 551 | Rufus River: a Sunday off

rest day

Time to dry off, I decide to stay a second night here at the Rufus.

In 1912 Lake Victoria was expanded by building 54 km of levee banks and the installation of three river regulators to even out the flow of the Murray River in summer months. Basically water is diverted into the lake when flows are higher in winter and released so people in South Australia have something to drink during summer.

I’m camped at the Outlet Regulator, it’s an official camping site, maximum stay six weeks, although I’m not feeling I want to stay quite that long. The regulator is just an adjustable dam that lets water out as required. I’m really getting into this tourist guide stuff.

The water is really churning out at the moment, there’s plenty of birds, darters in dozens, cormorants of various types and pelicans all grouping immediately under the dam and from what I’ve observed they aren’t going hungry, the fish stocks are being given a mighty hammering.

I could stand here for hours being drawn into the vortex of the water, following those darters, etc, diving into the swirling water, and, one time out of three or four coming back up with a silvery flash in the beak that doesn’t last long, probably 100 birds diving at any one time if they aren’t spooked by my sudden appearance. It’s rare to have the opportunity to study large birds feeding voraciously at close quarters.

I’m over the other side of the Rufus from a couple of other campers who try their luck, much less successfully with their rods, seem to be travelling in the bigger style 4WD, a F250 monster, a Kluger seems tiny.

If that feeding frenzy isn’t surreal enough another feature of the area certainly is. Behind the tent is a long lagoon that’s slowly drying out, I guess it must flood in winter, but now for the most part it’s just over ankle deep. Down among the dead vegetation are a substantial number of large carp but these aren’t no goldfish, some are clearly more than 600 mm or more long, big fish.

How do I know?

I can see them, in their search for nonexistent food they are sliding over the mud on their bellies, backs out of the water, if I desired a coating of mud I could run down and tackle a few with my bare hands, there’s just not much for them to hide in. A few more weeks of drying weather and they’ll all be beached.

They are certainly a noxious pest in these waters, competing strenuously for food, stirring up the water, breeding vigorously. I give up counting after 50, there’s plenty.

Yeah, the Rufus River, I’m glad I came back.