CONFLUENCE MURRAY RIVER 2026
MURRAY RIVER JOURNEY, AUSTRALIA
21-29 MARCH 2026
APPLY BY WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2025
In March 2026, you’re invited to paddle with the Murray River from Robinvale, Victoria, Australia, approaching the confluence of the Murray and Darling Rivers, to listen, witness, and create, in deep immersion and deep time.
Along with the River, your guides will be Prime Ministerial award-winning facilitator, writer and host of The RegenNarration podcast from Western Australia, ANTHONY JAMES, with international award-winning transformative educator and writer from Wisconsin USA, Dr KATIE ROSS. The river experience will be led by THOMAS FLOYD, Lead Adventure Coordinator of local outfit Wildside Outdoors.
We are committed to assembling a diverse cohort of humans who bring depth, compassion and curiosity to the evolving narrative around and relationship with the Murray River, all rivers, and our water stories as a whole. There will be discussion, workshop, and generative visioning, in focused community, with ancient River. All are welcome, 15 years and over.
In March 2026, a new experience is launching. We’re calling it Confluence: The Water Course.
It’s an experience combining powerful legacies and knowledge systems. From the innate power, wisdom and beauty of the River, with the sophisticated cultures that have shaped it - and been shaped by it - for millennia. To Katie’s transformative learning and river journey experience, and Anthony’s 10 years travelling the world with The RegenNarration podcast, carrying the legendary systems thinking lineage of his late mentor, Australia’s Inaugural Environmental Educator of the Year, Professor Frank Fisher.
This is a confluence of cultures, knowledge systems, human hopes and concerns, and you - all carried, sustained and infused by the confluence of water.
Sourced from Wildside Outdoors
Water: the source of all life
It is becoming ever more apparent to more people that the way through worsening planetary degradation, and even the overwhelm that induces, is by coming back to water as the source of all life. Yet, the narrative around water is still so often utilitarian, commoditised and politicised.
What if there is a way to transcend this? To shift the narrative? Change the story? By changing our stories? By asking rivers? And listening - with all our senses.
Your Confluence experience
We will spend seven full days and eight nights together, from the afternoon of the Autumn Equinox on Saturday 21 March to late morning on Sunday 28 March. Five of these days will be on the River, meandering through epochs of time.
You’ll learn about the natural history and Indigenous lifeways oriented to this landscape with DARREN BROWN. A prominent, respected elder in the region, Darren’s been long connected to this Country, and has been a mentor to our river guide for much of Tom’s life.
We'll paddle with the River’s flow for roughly 3-5 hours each day, cook and eat fireside, and sleep under stars in supplied tents. You'll feel the power of the longest and most mythologised river in Australia, and you'll rest easy in the capable hands of some of our country's, and the world’s, most accomplished guides.
Are you interested in joining us?
Space is extremely limited on this adventure. So PLEASE fill out the application form as soon as you can, or BY WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2025. We’ll be in touch with you after that.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and registration will close once places are filled, or by 19 November, whichever comes first. We will start a wait list once the course is full. PLEASE NOTE that deposits are due when you’ve been accepted into the course and formally register your participation.
No prior experience in paddling or camping is necessary. We just ask that you bring to the River your whole, complex self and an open mind. Partners, friends, colleagues and young folk 15 years and above are also warmly welcome to apply.
PRICING + DEPOSITS
The cost of the Confluence course is $2,800 AUD. A 50% deposit is due on registration, and the balance by 31 December 2025. (While the deposit and full fee is non-refundable, it is transferable to another participant.)
What we provide:
Daily discussions, workshops, and generative sessions with our guides
Professional river guide local to the area, experienced in the journey we’ll be taking
Tents, stable canoes, paddles, vests, dry store barrels and other river and safety gear
Transportation back to Robinvale after the paddle is done
Simple, delicious, nutritious meals from dinner on the first night to breakfast on the last morning, that we’ll prepare together (all food will be provided, but please note we may not be able to cater to all needs. This can be explored after your application is received).
Everything you need to prepare, including a thoughtfully curated resource and media list, some suggestions of physical preparation, and everything you need to know to feel good about the adventure. The cohort will convene at least once online leading up to launch. We will be here to support you every step of the way.
Our alumni also receive discounts on future Confluence events, and the possibility of ongoing connection via an alumni network.
What you bring:
Your curiosity and openness to new ways of perceiving, questioning, being, relating and story-telling
Your willingness to be part of riverside cook ups and cleans, and generally supporting each other on the journey
Clothing, swim suit, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, personal toiletries (a full packing list will be provided on registration)
Any favourite creative, meaning making, and integration tools (notebook, pens, paints, etc.)
Transport to and from base camp in Robinvale, Victoria, Australia.
Getting there?
Regional trains to Swan Hill or Bendigo have connecting buses to Robinvale. Direct flights are possible from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Mildura, which is 90kms / one hour drive northwest of Robinvale. Flights from Adelaide and Perth will need a connecting flight. From Mildura or Swan Hill a local taxi is possible, and we can help organise car pools amongst participants arriving at similar times. We will also provide more local travel tips and support as travel requirements are confirmed.
We can’t wait to share this creative adventure with you.
Images of the River on this page are by Anthony James unless otherwise noted.
With thanks also to Michael Gooden and family at Old Man Creek, for supporting the course with regeneratively grown food.
