Birrarung/Yarra River Tour in Warburton

Join author and educator Maya Ward on a gentle walk along Birrarung, the Yarra River, where it winds through beautiful Warburton. Crossing footbridges and traversing riverbank tracks, she will tell tales of her walking pilgrimage from the sea to the source of the Yarra, including reading from her book The Comfort of Water: A River Pilgrimage.

(Please wear sturdy walking shoes and carry weather protection – the walk will go ahead in all weather conditions)

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The Comfort of Water is the joyful yet heartbreaking true story of four friends who walk a 21- day pilgrimage from the sea to the source of Melbourne’s Yarra River. There is no path for most of the way, but offers of campsites and boats, and free access to private lands, illustrates the generosity shown to pilgrims even in modern times.

Maya Ward’s lyrical exploration of her river as it winds through the city and the wild is a revelation, a testament to the fact that the greatest of worlds are often at our doorstep. Its author understands the power of the natural world to transform lives, and writes about the connection between a river and the self with humility, humour, and a clear-headed wisdom.

The telling of her own journey and that of her fellow walkers is seamlessly woven together with ecological and cultural history, the revelation of the pilgrim’s path and the unknowable depth of Aboriginal myth. Through trekking this Wurundjeri Songline, this ancient, ever-renewing river, she discovers rich possibilities of belonging, and shares how a river can nourish the passion and resilience required to transform our world.