Darling River & Lake Eyre

Where is all the water coming from?

Is there any water in the Darling at the moment?

The Darling is just a series of pools at the moment. You can walk for hundreds of metres up and down the Darling river bed in many many places without seeing water.

Even if a BIG flood occurred in Bourke tonight, it would take two months to get to Menindee.
It would have to be a huge amount of water toi reach Menindee too, the ground is so dry, it would soak up most of the water.

On the TV tonight it was predicted that water would flow into Lake Eyre in a couple of weeks.

I think it was the Diamantina flowing at about 10 kph.

Dave

sorry, what I wanted to know was if there will be any water to see!
Is the trip worth it at present?
Bob

G'day Bob

The Darling has not flowed over the weir at Bourke for many months and as others have pointed out, even a major flood event in that part of the world does take at least 2 months to get to the Menindee area. There is a bit of water coming down the river from some rain in the Moonie River catchment in Qld but it's only a rise of about 1.5 metres and most will never get past the weir at Brewarrina.

The river below Bourke is, as others have said, some big long water holes. There are still some great places to camp, particularly if you can intro yourself to property owners and camp near the weir pools. Call in at the pub's at Louth and Tilpa. They may well provide the names and contacts for the properties.

Despite the ongoing drought, that part of Oz is still worth a look.

If you want to check river heights use this site - NSW Sate Waters page waterinfo.nsw.gov.au/drr/index.shtml

Cheers

John T

I think you may be thinking of the Thompson and Diamantina rivers.
The floods were around Boulia and a little bit east and south.
So Birdsville has a little water over the causeway, and maybe a little coming down Coopers Ck.
Both of those head to lake Eyre.

So no where near the Darling system head waters like the Warrego River.

!MPG:16!

I was on the trip with brew above, and it was a series of pools then, April 05, very depressing sight.
Dont think it would be any better now.
Fancy, a river town like Wilcannia, has been living on bore water for years.
The bourke weir may have some water in it, its hard to find, but travel down east side about to the 30k sign out of Bourke, and look carfully for a 2 wheel track. its just in 500 m.
Dont forget to have a meal at Tilpa pub, was great, have fun.

Cheers Pesty