A report from the middle of a mangrove swamp on the edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland.

This was as close as the Burke and Wills party managed to get to the open ocean.

Then from the edge of the Gulf itself, Jonathan ends his current journey retracing the steps of Burke and Wills. He explains that he will soon return to complete those sections missed due to the flooded roads and heavy rains.

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TRANSCRIPT

-This is where Burke and Wills arrived, at the Gulf of Carpentaria-- or at least on the other side of these mangroves. Because the mangroves are so thick and the mud so boggy that they couldn't battle their way through and had to stop about 10 kilometers inland. But as Burke said, "At the conclusion of my report, it would be well to say we reached the sea. But we could not obtain a view of the open ocean, although we made every endeavor to do so."

We've made it to the Gulf of Carpentaria. As you know, we've been following the footsteps of Burke and Wills, who walked with their horse and camels up here in 1860. And we've been sending back lots of stories, photographs and films, and sketches about what it was like when Burke and Wills were here and what it's like now, what the changes to the environment have been and how we're going to have to repair the environmental damage over the last 150 years to fix it up for the future.

Now, we haven't been able to cover everything because the rains have been exceptionally heavy this year, and we had to skirt around the really wet areas in order to make it to the gulf. But as the months go by, we'll be feeding you more and more stories, as we can get back to those wet areas, to give you the complete picture. And we look forward to doing that.