At a campground on the banks of the Darling River, the sun rises as 23 paddlers prepare to pack their tents into kayaks, and push off downstream.
They are halfway through a 10-day journey along one of the world's biggest river systems, an adventure that will take them 205 kilometres from Bourke to Louth in western New South Wales, through Gurnu-Baakandji country.
The trip has been 10 years in the making and is only possible because of flooding upstream in Queensland.
"We have been so, so lucky," paddler Ken Jeffreys says.
"We've not had to carry the boats around any rock obstacles, the water's taking us where we want to go, there's no mud on the banks because the river's rising, there's no mosquitoes or midges or flies; it's probably the dream run."
Doing the Darling
The Darling River flows almost 1,500km through western New South Wales, stretching from between Brewarrina and Bourke in the state's north, to Wentworth on the Victorian border, where it joins with the Murray River.
Its tributaries flow from southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, were there has been major flooding since late 2021.
Floodwaters moving downstream into the Darling have made this adventure possible for the group from the Suncoast Seniors Recreational Kayaking Club, with an average age of 71.
Their journey began with a 1,000km drive from Queensland's Sunshine Coast to Bourke, with sea kayaks and camping gear as well as enough food and water for 10 days on the river.
The group, ranging in age from 59 to 82, set off down the river at a ripping pace, covering 96km in the first four days.
Their loyal support crew follows along by road, meeting at set points along the way, bringing cold drinks, watermelon and the first human contact for days.
Outback oasis
Winding through outback NSW, the Darling River captured the imagination of Henry Lawson, one of Australia's most influential poets, and Mr Jeffreys can see why.
"You walk 50 metres off the river and it's just dry. But on the river, it's beautiful and healthy. [The contrast] is just so stark."
The history that the river carries is front of mind for paddler Bruce Nicholson.
"As you paddle down the river, thinking of the paddle boats coming up … and the Englishmen in their suits and their wives in their finery coming to this harsh land, it really was a bit nostalgic," he says.
The flowing oasis is a habitat for extraordinary birdlife, from sea eagles, pelicans and cormorants, to martins and swallows, and huge flocks of corellas, galahs and Major Mitchell's cockatoos.
The stars align
It was in 2012, when Mr Nicholson, who is president of the kayaking club, visited Louth with his wife that the plan to paddle the Darling River first began to form.
"The river was in flood, and I borrowed [a] kayak and I paddled upstream against the flood, and I was just amazed that here was a river that was going to peak in six weeks' time … and it was travelling so slowly that you could paddle up against the current," he says.
"I was intrigued by the river, and I thought, 'One day I'm going to paddle from Bourke to Louth', and in the 10 years intervening, when there's been water in the river, I haven't been able to go, and when I could go there was no water in the river.
"This year all the stars aligned."
One journey ends, another begins
It has been the trip of a lifetime for many of these paddlers, and as Mr Nicholson floats under the truss bridge at Louth, the end point of the journey, his emotions are mixed.
This is just one small section of the Darling River, yet it feels vast.
"Certainly, I'd like to do more on the Darling," Mr Nicholson says.
So what's next on the list for the intrepid paddlers?
"Look, the Menindee lakes are appealing," Mr Nicholson says.
"There's always a new place to go.
