BAD RIVER – The Cooks River: Australia’s sickest urban river is located in the glamorous and famously pretty city of Sydney. This makes sense, given it’s also Australia’s largest, hard-surfaced, drainified, leaky-sewered, city.
In his little red kayak, Beau Miles traces all 23 kilometers of the Cooks River, inspired to do so after paddling his boyhood river over four days in the name of backyard adventuring. Finding it not only challenging, but shocking in terms of its ill health, Miles since shifted from wanting to see the wildest and most pristine places on earth, to the most degraded and sick. This is a journey of ill-health, sadness and hope; putting a test to the local saying, ‘if you fall in, you’ll dissolve’.
Thank you for this enlightening video Mr Miles. I do have to say I fear a bit for your safety with the likely toxicity of the water in such places. Perhaps at least wear waterproof full waders or something to shield your person from the unknown elements in the worst spots! I hope each government official in Sydney and the majority of its citizens spends the 23 minutes of their day to watch and pray that each takes action to clean up this river.