THE “ships of the desert” met the ships of the river in Pooncarie last week, where two remarkable expeditions met on the banks of the Darling-Barka River.
“Camel man” John Elliott backed calls to “let the water flow” along the river, after meeting members of the Darling Baarka River Convoy, who were raising awareness of the river’s plight.
Last weekend Mr Elliott, who is making his way across Australia with five camels, crossed paths with the convoy in Pooncarie, where the two groups of “slow-mo” travellers spent a few days swapping tales and resting before the next legs of their respective journeys.
In a social media post, Mr Elliott said the groups had spent three days “as a combined convoy sharing stories of the Darling River system, its mighty history as well as sharing music, dance and a beer or two on the river banks”.
He added his voice to the chorus calling for help for the river system.
“A big part of the fourth-largest river system in the world is dying. All for the sake of the mighty $$,” Mr Elliott said in the post.
“Irrigation farming and sale of the water before it ever reaches here has massively altered this beautiful ecosystem, resulting in millions of fish dying, and ongoing irreversible change.
“The Darling Baarka River Convoy is a collection of beautiful souls that decided they could no longer sit on the sidelines and watch this happen. They built an amazing convoy of boats and set sail on the river to show the world just how bad this river system is suffering.”
The Darling Baarka River Convoy reached the end of its journey in Wentworth this week ahead of a May Day event at Wentworth Wharf on Saturday morning.
Mr Elliott and his camels will continue north towards central Australia after spending the past month in Sunraysia.
