Hi... my name's Rob Hunter.
I'm making a video following my search for one of Australia's greatest national treasures.
The problem is nobody seems to know what I'm talking about.
It's frustrating.
Some people just don't appreciate culture.
Or being yelled at.
Weirdos.
[mysterious music]
But then I met Gerald.
He wasn't helpful at first either, but then I offered him a lot of money.
That was the key.
And luckily he had just what I needed.
He even threw in a hammer that he said was magic.
So I made a booth, gathered a huge group of people, and now it's time to present my amazing discovery!
[clears throat]
Gather round, ladies and gentlemen, as I...
- (voice whispers) Rob Hunter!
- ...Rob Hunter, reveal one of Australia's greatest creations!
Behold!
[dramatic music]
the Murray-Darling Basin!
Okay now, don't crowd, ladies and gentlemen, form an orderly queue and have your photo with the basin for just five dollars.
And, err, don't forget your free t-shirt.
That's also only five dollars.
- Nice sink, moron.
- It's pronounced "Rob"!
Why do people keep getting that wrong?
- What on earth are you talking about?
- The Murray-Darling basin.
- The Murray-Darling basin is Australia's most important water catchment.
- Oh, thank you. Yes, it's quite good.
- Over two million people live in it.
- Really?
- This... is a rusty old sink.
- I think you'll find that's wrong. I've got the receipt to prove it right here.
Yeah, look at that! Purchase...
one rusty sink
no refunds.
Well what am I going to do? I got all these t-shirts made! 
I made a booth!
Hey, hey! Kid! Do you wanna buy this thing?
I'll throw in this hammer.
Why are you running?
[crash]
[ethereal music]
[crash of snow]
Welcome to the high country!
This is the southern end of the Great Dividing Range.
These mountains go all the way from Victoria
straight up to Queensland
and they form the eastern edge of the Murray-Darling basin.
You know it's views like these that inspired Banjo Paterson.
- Banjo Paterson? How did I get here?
- Snowmelt and rainfall flow into the basin forming rivers and streams including
the mighty Murray: one of the two biggest rivers in the Murray-Darling basin.
Can you guess the other one Rob?
- Darling?
- What did you call me!?
The Murray-Darling basin spans four states, one territory, and two time zones
and if you were to walk for 12 hours a day it would take you an entire month
to get from one corner to the other.
- Pick up, pick up!
- Hello, Police.
What seems to be the problem?
Yeah, hi, look you gotta help me
I've been kidnapped by this crazy woman, and she's forcing me to learn.
- Right, just stay calm sir!
Now, tell me where you are.
- Um, great... driving range? Where they make banjos.
- Whereabouts?!
- On the top, I think... the snowy bit.
- All right, let's just stay calm. Now you said that this woman is forcing you to learn?
- Yeah, it's horrible.
- Right.
[yelling] Well is any of this sinking in?!
- How did you do that?
- Come on Rob, still plenty to see.
- Wait! Are you gonna kill me, and bury me on this mountain?
- Course not Rob, don't be ridiculous!
I didn't bring a shovel.
[didgeridoo plays]
Hello!
This is the ancient Lake Mungo, part of the world heritage-listed Willandra Lakes region.
Aboriginal people have been living in the Murray-Darling basin for 45,000 years
and still today they follow in their ancestors' footsteps.
The shores of this lake were once prowled by megafauna:
three metre tall kangaroos, savage striking birds
and giant...
bloodthirsty...
meat-eating...
wombats.
[savage drooling]
[roaring]
But as the lakes dried up, so did life.
[Rob screaming in distance]
Luckily though we can still look back thanks to the millions of fossils just waiting to be discovered in the lake bed.
[Rob panting]
[wombat roars]
[Rob whimpering]
- Rob!
Rob! Are you okay?
- Oh... thank goodness. You're not a giant wombat.
You probably hear that all the time.
- You've had too much sun.
Here.
Drink.
- Oh, wake up. 
Oh please wake up.
[spluttering]
Oh great. Now I'm in a swamp.
- A "swamp"? You wash your mouth out!
- Oh, and my good shirt! The instructions say not to get crud in the pockets.
- Rob, you are lucky enough to be in Hattah Lakes.
These wetlands are shaded by giant river red gum trees that are hundreds of years old
and for thousands of years they provided for Aboriginal cultural practices.
Nowadays, there's camping, there's fishing, there's canoeing...
- Yeah but no reception.
[splash]
Why is everything flooded?
- Well, flooding ensures the survival of these wetlands
You see, when the river rises and flows into the wetlands and floodplains, life flourishes
And then when the water recedes it takes with it nutrients and other tiny little baby spawnlings back into the river
This cycle of flooding and drought is natural—
- Well yeah but drought? Surely drought's not a good thing?
- Well, not for everybody, no.
But for the over 30,000 wetlands in the basin this cycle of flooding and drying out is essential
and it creates...
breeding grounds for endangered native fish, and over 200 bird species
Some of which have flown here from as far away as Siberia
Here... take a look at that beauty
Rob, I found a machete!
[Rob screams]
Welcome to the Northern Basin, Rob. 
This is a wombok farm.
- Wombat?
- No, a wombok.
It's Chinese cabbage!
See, it's not just the landscape that's diverse in the basin
but also the variety of produce that's farmed here.
- Okay...
So what else is farmed in the basin?
- Rob, that would literally take me hours to tell you.
- Alright, don't worry about it.
- One-third of Australia's food comes from the basin. 
All sorts of vegetables, dairy, meat
plus, most of Australia's rice, wheat, and various other crops.
Cotton is widespread up here in the north, and the fruit—oh, the fruit is divine!
- So I guess you could say the basin is very fruitful
And... has cabbages.
- I guess you could say that, yeah.
Look
All this prosperity has one thing in common; one thing that makes it all possible.
- Love?
- Water!
- Water... is what I said
- Argh, come on
[jazzy music]
Irrigation is our way of harnessing nature in order to provide water for farming.
See, over the last hundred years we've built dams and weirs to irrigate thousands of acres.
This, combined with the hard work of our farmers has helped turn the Murray-Darling basin into Australia's food bowl.
- So, where are we off to next?
Ohh... and is it gonna hurt?
- Well, we've almost followed the water right across the basin from the snow to the desert, from farmlands to wetlands.
But there's still one more spot we need to visit.
Where does all the water finally end up?
[roaring of waves]
[squelching]
Nice swim?
- Yeah! Just in time, too.
I was nearly dry.
-Rob, you have just climbed out of the Coorong, where the mighty Murray river meets the sea
and just like you
it's a little salty.
- Sorry, it's just...
fish pants
[fish flailing]
- We're currently walking along a barrage—one of five, actually
and it's here to stop the salt water from the Coorong mixing with the fresh water of the basin
and that means that we—
- We can use all this fresh water!
- That's right Rob! For drinking, farming, and some pretty good fishing.
We use water to help communities grow, but the one trade-off is that we've upset nature's balance
- I guess we can't have our fish and eat it, too?
- Well you can, but you just have to manage the water properly so that everybody gets their fair share.
Plants, animals...
and people.
[romantic music]
Well, I hope at the very least that you now see that the Murray-Darling basin isn't a giant sink.
- Ah, yes. No, that was... a little bit, ah
ridiculously stupid of me, but I know better now.
Without the rivers, the communities, the agriculture, and the environment of the basin just wouldn't survive.
And without the basin
Australia would be a very different place.
- But every day, new technology, better research, and cooperation helps reset the balance.
- I, uh... I also know
that the basin contains one of the most beautiful things that I've ever seen
- Okay! All right!
So it's obvious that the basin is important to everybody in Australia, and water ties it all together. All right. Good.
- Well... wait!
How do I get home?
- Oh. Yeah, that's my bad.
Umm...
Okay, how about this: close your eyes
Great. And whisper: "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home..."
- Keep your eyes closed.
- ...No place like home.
- No peeking!
- No place like home. There's no place like home
- There's no place like home! 
[clang]
[bell rings]
- [Rob] Hello? Hello?
[bell rings again]
Gerald!
