Exciting expedition down the Murray

FOUR brightly coloured, wooden rafts set sail down the Murray River in recent weeks as part of the venturer’s latest camp, BARCOM on the Murray.

BARCOM is an annual, week-long venturer scout rafting expedition along the Murray River held each year in the September school holidays.

The expedition consists of two trips, the first from Murrabit to Pental Island and the second from Pental Island to Wood Wood.

Each trip was 70 kilometres along the Murray River.

About 30 venturer scouts from across Victoria took part in the challenge with five venturers from the Catalina unit participating in the second expedition.

“It’s an excellent opportunity,” Catalina venturer scout leader Meg Irvin told The Guardian.

“Each raft had a crew of eight including one experienced leader and seven venturers.

“On each raft, one person is nominated as a leader, one is nominated as a navigator to move around snags and currents and another is made quarter master to organise the meals.

“The rest of the crew worked as a team.”

The rafts were accompanied by two safety boats and carried food, water, cooking equipment, tools, packs, tents and personal equipment.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to learn leadership skills, team work and meet new people,” Ms Irvin said.

“All of the participants were spread across the four rafts, meaning they met other venturers from across Victoria and got to know the boating fanatics.

“They had to rely on each other to cook their own food and navigate along the Murray to reach their camp site each day.”

Several adventures were had along the way including being caught on snags, colliding with the Nyah bridge, watching a tiger snake swim across the river and enjoying the peace and serenity.

“They had a wonderful experience travelling down the river, enjoying the scenery,” Ms Irvin said.