Chris completes mighty journey

EIGHTEEN year old Chris Hayward has become the youngest person to kayak the length of the Murray River.

The amateur adventurer reached
Goolwa in South Australia on Monday, the last stop in a carbon-neutral
expedition which spanned more than 2,600 kilometres.

The journey’s end didn’t
come easy — a bout of gastro landed Chris in hospital with only six kilometres
to go, after capsizing his sea kayak on Lake Alexandrina about 500m from the SA
coast. 

He was discharged from
hospital on Sunday and by Monday he was back in his kayak, battling strong winds
to complete the last leg of his journey.

The Bacchus Marsh resident said
meeting new people along the way was the best part of the expedition, and added
the hospitality he received was overwhelming.

The 12 week journey along the
Murray landed him in Swan Hill in September for an overnight stay, after
beginning about 30km from the source of the Murray on July 30.

Chris’s carbon-neutral journey was made in
an effort to promote environmental awareness and raise funds for environmental
charity Greenfleet.

For more on this story, see this Friday’s edition of the Guardian (9/11/12).