AUSTRALIA’S LONGEST NAVIGABLE ESTUARY

Tamar River or Kanamaluka in its indigenous guise carries around a dozen of the state’s major rivers water flow – about 15 000km2 of a catchment area, which should keep the garden watered for a while. While Tasmania has a few Australian firsts, you’d be forgiven for thinking it couldn’t possibly have the longest navigable estuary in the country, when the whole state could fit into the car park at Chadstone shopping centre. From sea to city it’s 70km of waterway, then you add another 250kms of river flowing into it from the South Esk (although slightly less navigable with the odd dam or two in the way) Famous for its wetlands, Australia’s third oldest colonial settlement, Melbourne was founded from its banks and more recently home to Rebecca Gibney and that bloody pulp mill thing.