A s Hayley Talbot was making her method down the totality of Clarence River’s 400km in an unassisted kayak, a guy jokingly called out to her from the riverbank: “Hey! Are you that absurd woman, doing that absurd journey, in that absurd boat?”
A couple of years earlier, Talbot hadactually endedupbeing a mom to 2 young boys. But with the sense of identity loss that can typically accompany early motherhood, she felt a pull to reconnect with a more independent and stripped-back variation of herself. It was this pull that provided Talbot the concept to kayak the river that she’d played alongwith as a kid and understood so well.
By the end of her “ridiculous journey”, and inspiteof gathering a broken arm and a sunken craft at one point, Talbot endedupbeing the veryfirst recognized individual to kayak the river solo, from source to sea, entirely unsupported.
But her journey didn’t end there. The journey took 14 days, however the effects lasted the next 6 years. Soon after returning, Talbot found news of exploratory mining licences that threatened the freshwater river, motivating her to endedupbeing the driving force behind exposing the damage and conserving the Clarence.
Released in early 2024, Talbot’s documentary Rivertree informs the story of the Clarence River and those who live upon its banks. It shines a light on the problem of proposed copper and cobalt mining on the river, something which Talbot states would have ravaging ecological effects, contaminating the water, damaging communities and impacting regional markets.
Kayaking the Clarence
The river has constantly been home for Talbot. She grew up near Yamba, NSW, in a town with 3 streets and nextto a lake that feeds into the Clarence River. Even after moving to the city at 18 and takingatrip a little, a deep-rooted love for her hometown quickly brought her back. “I certainly have strong roots,” states Talbot. “I now live mostlikely not even 100m from my youth home.”
But 2016 was a year of modification for Talbot. She was now a mom to 2 young boys and the household had moved to Sydney for a year for her spouse’s task. “I was questioning how I would mom and raise kids in the world when I felt like I didn’t even understand myself, where I was or who I was,” states Talbot. “The river kind of endedupbeing a metaphor for where I was at.”
That was when she had the concept to solo kayak the river. “I began to have this sensation within me that I desired to see who I was with whatever cut away, all my conditioning and all the social pressures. I understand I was sensation those pressures as a young mom. I desired to show to myself that I can sustain myself in the wild, I can discover my method home and I can do all that solo and unassisted. It endedupbeing actually essential to me to do it by myself.”
In preparation, she spoke with bass anglers and regional Indigenous understanding holders and was supported by youth goodfriend, previous pro-surfer and elite professionalathlete coach, Dan Ross. She took navigation and bush survival courses. She discovered how to kayak, how to fish and forage, read the weathercondition, comprehend the medical utilizes of plants and how to sew injuries and stabilise damaged bones.
She understood there would be threats on the river andsome of them provided Talbot sleepdeprived nights ahead of her journey. She would be outdoorcamping in dingo area, browsing waterfalls on the river and paddling an “impassable canyon” that numerous others had died attempting to cross. She’d likewise be passing through some unsafe and entirely unpoliced zones, locations where regional authorities notified her, “No one’s coming to aid you if anything goes incorrect.”
Between a rock and a difficult location
Talbot’s trip wasn’t all smooth cruising. When her kayak went over rapids and got jammed inbetween stones on the 2nd day, she was required to rapidly escape to prevent getting cleaned beneath the kayak and possibly drowning. “In getting out of my boat, I capsized it and terribly hurt my arm, which I didn’t understand at the time,” states Talbot. “I was able to scramble to security, however the boat was totally immersed. It was undersea.”
Piece by piece, Talbot takenapart the kayak, heaved it onshore and invested numerous hours reassembling it, something she hadn’t trained for. The kayak was harmed, however useable. “I attempted to put my bags back in the boat, however absolutelynothing fit where it did before, even my legs didn’t fit in the boat anylonger. From that point, I had to have my knees kind of up around my chest and snuggle over the leading of my knees.”
When she came down from the adrenalin, the discomfort in her arm heightened. “I presumed that I had soft tissue tears. I was in bed, massaging my arm and then I woke to the most radical discomfort,” she states. Despite this, Talbot continued, stabilising her arm and changing her paddling method to conquered the discomfort.
Shortly later, she passed campers on the riverbank — consistingof the guy who asked her whether she was “that absurd woman doing that absurd journey in that absurd boat” — who welcomed her to stop for a cup of tea. One of them was a nurse who assisted safeandsecure Talbot’s hurt arm and offered her some food.
Determined not to offer up and desiring to set an example to her children, she powered on till the end. It was worth it. Throughout the journey, Talbot felt deeply linked with both herself and nature. Camping under the stars, drinking, feeding and sustaining herself from the river.
“It was night 6 and I’d constructed a lovely campfire by the river. I went to sleep in my campingtent and I heard dingoes come in close. I had one call on one side and it was respondedto on the other side of me,” states Talbot, who hadactually been afraid of comingacross wild pets on her journey. “There was this release, this sensation of, ‘This is precisely what I came for, and I’m not scared of them anylonger.’ I believe that was one of my significant rites-ofpassage minutes as a lady and as a mom.”
Rivertree
That inner peace didn’t last long. When Talbot returned home, she found the river was under danger from anumberof unusual earth mineral mining licences, the number of which has consideringthat increased and presently sits at over40 “I couldn’t think it,” she states. “I was stunned that this holy location I had simply come down through was under hazard from business that were doing exploratory mining and drilling.”
Like her boat after it capsized, things didn’t rather fit together in the exactsame method for Talbot after her journey. “Wh