Transcript of Radio Report-ABC Radio 612 Brisbane - 28/6/2007
Water runs out for activist rower

ABC Radio 612 Brisbane - 28 June 2007
Last Update: Thursday, June 28, 2007. 1:06pm AEST

Steve Posselt has a problem - he's rowing the length of the Murray-Darling to highlight the need to act sustainably in the face of global warming but he's run out of water!

Now carrying his kayak, the 54 year old Queenslander is expecting he'll have to walk at least half the distance of the seven month long journey.

"It's not too bad. You get use to it. The last little stretch was 197km of walking and then I got 11km of paddling, then it's back walking again.

"Five of the last twenty-eight days have been paddling. But it's a lot harder trying to paddle here then what it was like to walk up the Toowoomba range, because you go fifty metres and then you gotta get out and get over a log, or you get stuck on rocks," he said.

Currently on a rest day in St George, Steve started his journey on the Brisbane River on the 27th of May and will row down all the major rivers and tributaries through the headwaters of the Murray-Darling Basin to finish in Adelaide.

Stopping along the way, he hopes to talk to people who live on the Murray-Darling and to encourage those communities to take on climate change action.

But there was also a second reason for the trip. "I'm fifty-five and I thought an adventure would be really good... I talk to schools and one of the things I say is 'life doesn't end at fifty-five. You can still have fun kids!" And also I thought the trip would be about awareness of global warning but it's really developed into making people aware of the requirement for action and what we need to do".

A civil engineer by trade, Steve regularly paddles before work, which is where the idea to row the Murry-Darling evolved. He hopes his purpose built sea kayak with wheels and a harness gets him to Adelaide in time for Christmas.