Joe / kimba .......Just seen all the photos you posted (in windsurfing) of YOU windsurfing the Goolwa lakes with the weir holding back the sea water in the distance, i could not believe it WHERE s THE WATER. I have been hearing things it is bad but couldnt believe my eyes.
I SAILED there around the mid 80s in Nor Westerlies and Westerlies when Middelton was blowen out and it was to offshore in a north north easter the odd southerly mainly at granite island victor harbour.
Back to the water ...............couldnt believe seeing some punter walking the dog in the back ground ....The water would have been over his head (he would have been in the middle of the river with 1 km swim to either bank.
Crazy ......
There is a very simple answer to all of the River Murray's waterflow problems. Stop the big irrigators upstream from capturing every single millilitre of water that flows past their farm.
Some of them have huge dams capturing the overflow whenever it floods. They always argue they are not pumping water out of the river, which is true. However they never admit the water they capture would eventually flow down river. So the more they take out, the less water flow and pressure there is downstream.
Unless these practices are stopped, the lower Murray will die, unless its already done so. So despite Howard and Rudd throwing a few billions of dollars at it, they may as well blow up the weirs holding back the sea water.
Looks like the lakes have been written off by Minister Penny Wong.
www.abc.net.au/news/2008-08-06/not-enough-water-to-save-murray-lower-lakes-wong/465938
Oh well. At least you will be able to tell your kids about the big fresh water lakes in South Australia. Its pretty unlikely they will believe you.
Apparently the local indiginous women say it's payback for building the bridge to no where!
I heard on the News tonight that there is going to be another protest at Goolwa this Sunday not sure where or exactly when but thats what they said on the news. I have a beach house at Goolwa I have noticed a lot of houses along the river front has gone up for sale as people are scared that they wont be able to sell when there is no water. In Australia with the climate we have I find it stupid that we farm rice and cotton, which heavily rely on the river for water.
Cheers Pittsy
Edit : Just found this re the Protest to be held on Sunday the 10th of August http://www.alexandrina.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1096
Rice farming is almost finished in Australia. While the likes of Cubbie Station can collect every bit of water thats flowing in a river in Queensland, then they will keep working. I belive some of the billions that are being spend should be used to buy up the properties along the river. A billion dollars would go a long long way to buying all the cotton farms in Queensland. Then turn it into a National Park. Of course this will affect business up there but its not much different to governments locking up forests in NSW and closing down timber towns where I lived.
Its a strange situation. A huge amount of water is diverted from the Snowy River and gets pushed down the Murrumbidge river. Check out the river at Gundagai or the Murray at Albury. I don't know but it does not seem natural to see all that water flowing down there.
Then you combine it with the Darling river in Northern NSW and Southern Queensland. Its basically been turned into a irrigation drain. Its dead.
Is the lakes where Stomboy was made? I love that movie. I know I will never live that life. However it makes me sad that people who depend on the lakes will have their lives shattered.
yer Stormboy was made at Goolwa on the Coorong mainly but a bit of the lakes. but due to the lack of flows the Coorong has changed significantly!
Cheers Pittsy
Hi King of the Point,
We are simply making the most of a bad situation, the channel is great for blasting and speedsailing and it is great to see where all those obstructions you used to hit actually are.
There is some video of Joe sailing here:
Yer spent a lot of time around Hindmarsh island on the nothern side ,is there just a single channal all the way to milang? ,and no water up to the island on that northern side ?
The footage was good , how deep is it in the section joe is sailing around in?.
Spose you could only sail in that direction now .....sotherly ?
Yer spent a lot of time around Hindmarsh island on the nothern side ,is there just a single channal all the way to milang? ,and no water up to the island on that northern side ?
The footage was good , how deep is it in the section joe is sailing around in?.
Spose you could only sail in that direction now .....sotherly ?
Were are filming that from ......the bridge? bank ?
The channel is about 3 metres deep in the centre but you can walk around up to neck deep in a lot of places. There is another channel from rankines landing to the old marina that is sailable on a northerly or southerly but is much shorter.
Between Goolwa and Clayton there is a definate channel with sand mainly on the northern side so in a northerly the wind tide still covers these shallow areas. I have not sailed there in a southerly as we usually head to goolwa. The times I have sailed on a northerly have allowed 3km+ runs and it would be possible to sail between Goolwa and Clayton but the land obstructions result in gusty winds.
There are many spots that we will explore when the sea breezes arive and we can go out in boardies on big floaty boards.
a search for "goolwa" in Photos will give you a better idea of the conditions that we have now. google earth also shows the outline of the river bed. when the wind blows for the NW/W the water starts to drain away. by the time the wind swings W/SW the banks are exposed, the water is flat and the car park is full...
not many years back the channel markers in the photos were chest deep, now in a SW blow they are a foot out of the water.
David
Just uploaded some preety bad pics of Goolwa into the windsurfing section from last saturday when we all headed down for no wind. Couldn't believe it - it's not looking good.
Bubs
I don't see a problem 
Nah I'm only kidding, its devastating. Until this is treated as a national issue and controlled by a body without state interests, its not going to get any better either!
