Beau’s on a mission to bring inspire action from his adventures. Which means plonking himself in places other Explorers would usually avoid – the dirty, sick, and uninhabitable side of nature caused by humans.

A little over a year ago, Beau Miles released ‘Bad River – Kayaking the Sickest Urban River in Australia’, in which he spends a day paddling (and searching for) the Cooks River in Sydney.

This time he’s on a similar mission, but somewhere completely opposite – the Queen River, on the wild West Coast of Tasmania – which thanks to one of the most profitable gold mines in Australia’s history, alongside 100 years of run off, is now considered the most polluted river in the country.

And by the looks of the fluorescent orange ‘water’ Beau finds himself shin-deep in, I’d tend to agree. ‘Pumpkin soup’ the locals call it apparently, but I have a feeling a warm bowl of this liquid would have the opposite effect on the taste buds and human body. In fact, the water that makes up the Queen River has been deemed unable to support life.

 

So, naturally, it’s time for Beau to spend two days walking and paddling it (while trying desperately hard not to fall in).

 

 

This is the second of four films Beau’s releasing about Australia’s most unhealthy rivers. Here’s hoping the disturbing footage of the Queen River, not often seen so up close and personal, will be the trigger for some much-needed and drastic change.

 

Photos thanks to @onelifewild