AFTER 113 days conquering the nation’s longest river system, Horsham’s Tom Dunn has once again proved that anything is possible.
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The 21-year-old set out on January 27 to stand-up paddleboard along the Condamine, Balonne, Culgoa, Darling and Murray rivers – a journey that spanned more than 3600km and four states.
His epic ambition came to an end on Saturday when he reached Murray Mouth near Adelaide.
The journey was called SUP-4-DCA and so far it has raised $21,000 for Deaf Children Australia.
Preparation for the trip started in June last year.
Mr Dunn spent months mapping out his route and about two weeks practicing paddleboarding.
However, he said when he finally set out, nothing seemed to go to plan.
“For the first 900 kilometres I had a dry river bed, which created a lot of headaches and I had to decide whether I was going to walk, ride or just pack up,” he said.
“Everything that went wrong was out of my control, so ‘frustrating’ was a word I used a lot. However, at no stage did I think I was going to give up – I just had to laugh about it.”
Mr Dunn thought the trip would take about 75 days, including 15 rest days.
In reality, it took 113 days, with only four rest days.
The first 35 days were by foot.
“My body held up alright but I did a lot of training with Fuzion Fitness in Horsham beforehand,” he said.
“I ended up having to run the first section and I would have just died if I hadn’t have done that.
“Some days would be smaller days where I would only paddle about 10 kilometres, but towards the end I did 80 kilometres in one day.”
The paddleboard challenge was not the first one Mr Dunn has set for himself.
In 2014 he kayaked down the Murray River for more than a month to raise money for the Aurora Early Intervention Centre.
Mr Dunn’s passion for helping deaf children stems from his own family’s experiences. His sister Cate was born profoundly deaf and he watched her struggle through her early years.
Throughout his three-month trip, Mr Dunn was able to spend time promoting his fundraiser, SUP-4-DCA.
As word spread of his journey, he was invited to talk at schools along the way.
“People were following my trip and with any fundraiser, the more awareness you have, the better,” he said.
“Talking at schools was very humbling and hopefully I sparked an idea in the kids.
“I told them that anything is possible if you give it a go – I had never been on a paddleboard in my life until a few weeks before I left, but the only way to get experience is to try.” Mr Dunn said it was a great feeling to reach the end of his journey.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet – it’s good to be back eating Mum’s cooking again though,” he said.
“When we drove home, it was about 300 kilometres and my mind instantly thought ‘that will take six days’.
“My mind still thinks I’m out on the water.”
Mr Dunn said it had been a trip of a lifetime, but he hadn’t ruled out embarking on another big adventure.
“It was a great personal experience knowing that you are doing something to benefit others,” he said.
“Nothing is set in stone though, I’m keen to do something else, just maybe not as big.”
Since returning home, he has been flooded with messages from people suggesting what he should do next.
Mr Dunn said he was blown away by the support he had received so far, raising more than $21,000.
His goal is to raise $60,000.
Mr Dunn said people could still donate online until June 17 at sup4dca.wix.com/donate.