Around 50 days in and still smiling: Young-born adventurer Zac Cahill is paddling the full 2508 kilometres of the Murray River solo, from Indi Springs in the Snowy Mountains to the river mouth near Goolwa in South Australia. Photo: Zac Cahill.
There’s a small muddy puddle high in the Snowy Mountains that most people have never heard of – it’s called Indi Springs, and it’s where the Murray River begins.
It’s also where Zac Cahill, a 33-year-old from Young in NSW, started one quite remarkable journey.
Fifty-something days in, sitting somewhere near Wentworth with river water still drying on his sleeves, he is characteristically understated about the whole thing.
“I’m finding it a lot easier than I thought,” he admitted. “It’s not as challenging as I was sort of hoping.”
He is paddling the full length of the Murray – all 2508 kilometres of it, source to sea.
He’s not the first. In January 1881, an 18-year-old George “Chinese” Morrison made the journey by canoe from Wodonga to the mouth in 65 days.
Zac is starting further upstream and has the benefit of a pedal kayak, a solar panel and a Starlink connection — though the daily Instagram vlog he posts from the water has proven its own kind of challenge.
“The hardest thing is social media,” he says, laughing. “Getting reception, keeping up with it.”
He’s also far from alone on the river, passing many other paddlers making similar journeys along the way.
The Murray trip emerged the way most of Zac’s adventures seem to: organically.
An idea that had been floating around for years crystallised into a plan. A kayak. Australia’s greatest river. Source to sea.
It wasn’t always obvious Zac would end up living this way.
He spent seven straight years working as a tradesman after finishing his apprenticeship, bought properties, built a life in Wodonga that looked, from the outside, like success.
A house on a hill. A nice view. By conventional measures, he had it made.
“My life just wasn’t fulfilling,” he says. “I had everything and it just wasn’t fulfilling at all.”
So at 27 or 28, he sold the lot, put the money into an old LandCruiser, and took off around Australia.
He’s been moving, more or less, ever since – fruit picking, station work, whatever keeps him going.
The Murray trip is the latest chapter, and in some ways the most deliberate.
“I wanted something that would be a bit more of a challenge than living in a car,” he says, “living out of a tent for several months.”
Preparation was minimal by most people’s standards.
He made around 50 days’ worth of vacuum-sealed meals – mostly oats and other cheap, calorie-dense food – did some research into the upper mountain sections where the river runs fast and the terrain is demanding, then largely winged the rest.
Zac prepares his kayak before setting off — complete with an onboard kennel for his dog Snickers. The plan didn’t quite work out for the elderly pooch, who is now following the journey in considerably more comfort from the passenger seat of a LandCruiser driven by Zac’s dad Steve. Photo: Zac Cahill.
The physical demands are real – some days he paddles six to 10 hours – and by the time he reaches a town, his legs are heavy and his laundry situation is, by his own account, not ideal. He’s done a single load in more than 50 days on the water.
His father Steve is trailing in the LandCruiser for this stretch, along with Snickers, Zac’s elderly dog, who was originally meant to make the whole journey.
“I thought it could be his last little hurrah,” Zac says, “but he’s just too old for it now.”
The scenery, he says, has been stunning in places – particularly through Picnic Point, and a fast, gorge section known as The Narrows on the same stretch of river, just north-east of Echuca in northern Victoria.
Picnic Point is in Murray Valley National Park, and The Narrows is the narrowest part of the Murray River, surrounded by the largest river red gum forest in the world.
The birdlife has been exceptional throughout – none more memorable than a mob of emus he spotted swimming near Lock 9 and promptly pedalled after, only to be left exhausted and outpaced by birds that had no business being that fast in the water.
What’s also been striking, in a different way, Zac observes, is the sheer number of European carp.
“The amount of carp is the main thing I’ve probably noticed,” he says, “it’s extremely invasive.”
As for the broader health of the river, he’s thoughtful rather than critical.
The water looks beautiful, he says, but probably isn’t as healthy as it once was.
He has little patience for the outrage he sometimes sees online about the locks and irrigation infrastructure.
“Forty per cent of Australia’s food comes from the Murray-Darling,” he says. “If you want to feed that many people …”
He keeps the commentary short. Zac isn’t out here making a point. He’s out here paddling.
The most remote stretch still lies ahead – roughly 10 days through country with little to no mobile coverage, somewhere beyond Wentworth.
After a few days in town for a proper shower, restocked supplies and fresh clothes and legs, he’ll push on towards the Southern Ocean.
Source to sea. He hasn’t finished yet, and he’s not claiming anything.
But somewhere between the mud of Indy Springs and the saltwater still to come, Zac seems to have found exactly what he was looking for.
You can follow Zac directly on Instagram @all_snicker_adventures.
