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Last Week's Rain Was a Godsend for Just About Everyone in Southeast Queensland Except Intrepid Civil Engineer Steve Posselt
While farmers were doing rain dances, the adventurer's epic attempt to kayak from Brisbane to Adelaide got even tougher as dusty creek beds turned to glue-like mud.
Mr Posselt set off from the West End reach of the Brisbane River two weeks ago to raise awareness of climate change. So far his mission has taken him up the Bremer River to Ipswich, where he had to leave his kayak and drag it over the Great Dividing Range to Toowoomba.
He didn't see the next significant body of water until he got to the sewage treatment plant outfall at Gowrie near Toowoomba and weaved downstream to Chinchilla.
Ironically, boot-sucking mud was his major challenge after the first drops of rain began to fall.
Despite his physical preparation, Mr Posselt, 54, said he was feeling old and sore from walking and paddling every day. "I thought my body would do better than it has," he said.
Mr Posselt said he was re-assessing the role of weeping willow trees along creeks because they appeared to help slow river flow and reduce erosion.
"As an engineer, it's obvious to me that the willows are holding the banks together and are slowing the flow, so I am beginning to question the policy of removing willows from river banks," he said.
Mr Posselt said coal mining also highlighted the tension between economic forces and the environment.
"In the short term, I think the environment will lose out . . . but eventually people will say 'Oh dear, what have we done?' I hope it will not be too late," he said.
Article by Amanda Gearing
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