The Murray-Darling Mirage

Welcome to the Murray-Darling tour!
Brought to you by those who thirst for more!
Established: since time immemorial grace,
now fading away without a trace.
Conditions: dry, dusty, despair in the air,
a holiday spot with not much to spare.

Overview
Come visit our rivers, the pride of the land,
where water once wandered through valleys so grand.
The Murray, the Darling, Australia’s famed pair,
now trickle through dirt and hot, empty air.

Once they were flowing with life in their chest,
now they are drying, a ghost of their best.
Come see the cracks in the soil so wide,
where once living waters would lovingly glide.

We welcome you kindly, come take a quick glance,
before the last puddle dries up by chance.

Attractions
• Behold riverbeds that once danced with delight,
(now brittle and broken, scorched clean out of sight.)
• Search for the fish that once shimmered with pride,
(you’ll find them in photos, long since denied.)
• Watch as the farmers look up to the skies,
(while industries drain with no compromise.)

The rivers are silent, their song has been sold,
for crops that bring profit, for pockets of gold.
The flow has been traded, the commons betrayed,
now life must survive on promises made.

Adventure package
Come ride the great Darling, oh, wait… you can’t,
she’s stranded in dust with a drought to enchant.
One year it floods, the next it is bone,
the balance is broken, the river’s alone.

• Government rapids – where promises sink!
  (good luck finding water, or leaders who think!)
• Cotton springs – for the rich and the few!
  (water’s abundant… if you’re on the crew!)
• Fish-kill festival – join the parade!
  (where nature collapses in corporate shade.)

Don’t mind the stench or the rot in the breeze,
that’s just dead rivers brought down to their knees.
Where fish once would flicker and birds used to call,
now greed rules the waters, and nothing at all.

Aquatic safari
Come spot the creatures that once filled these streams,
now ghosts of the past and half-buried dreams.
Where yabbies and cod would once leap with grace,
now barely a shimmer remains in their place.

• Marvel at fish floating lifeless in foam,
  (no natural disaster, just robbed of a home.)
• Look for the frogs and the turtles who hide,
  (their wetlands destroyed, their species denied.)
• Spot a bird circling, hopeful and worn,
  (still searching for water since the day it was born.)

The silence is aching, the void is immense,
where life once evolved, now sits a pretence.

Luxury lodging
If you’ve got money, there’s plenty to pour,
while the thirsty go knocking on locked water’s door.
They bottled the rain and they auctioned the sky,
while towns full of families are left high and dry.

• Corporate retreats – with endless supply!
  (while rivers run dry, their fountains run high!)
• Farmer motels – with a ration per head!
  (just hope there’s enough for a shower and bread.)
• Outback campsites – dry as your tears!
  (nature’s been crying for dozens of years.)

The pipelines keep humming with greed’s thirsty tune,
as drought steals the harvest and swallows the moon.
They leased out the rivers, they sold off the rain,
and now they wonder: “why isn’t there gain?”

Souvenirs
No tour is complete without relics to keep,
so take home some sorrow that once flowed so deep.

• A drop of Murray – bottled and rare!
  (a sip of what’s gone, if you’ve money to spare!)
• A clay-brick from bedrocks run dry!
  (a fossil of policy baked by the sky!)
• A photo of fish – now rare to behold!
  (because living ones? That story’s old.)

Take home a token, a whisper, a cry,
of rivers that choked while the rich floated by.
A keepsake to show what the future may fear,
a time capsule drenched in unshed tears.

Travel warning
Before you embark on this once-green terrain,
be warned of the dangers, beginning with pain.
The land may be harsh, the sun may be cruel,
but worse is the policy playing the fool.

• Drought alert! – bring your own tea!
• Water theft active! – your tap’s not free!
• Corruption front – expect a storm!
• Hope level: low – below the norm!

They’ll tell you “it’s fine,” “we’re fixing it fast!”
But years keep on passing while lifelines don’t last.
So gaze on the emptiness, baked into land,
while those with the power just wash off their hands.

Book now
The Murray and Darling, so mighty, so wide,
have withered and waned in political tide.
Come now and witness what once was a stream,
now sold as a shadow of someone’s old dream.

Investors and tourists, elites with their plans,
you’ve emptied the rivers, then bottled the sands.
And when all is gone and there’s nothing to steal,
you’ll move on again with your corporate seal.

So welcome, dear guest, to this dusty bouquet,
of rivers now charging for water and clay.
The Murray-Darling: a name carved in stone,
in a nation that left its great lifeblood alone.

Final note from management:
“No refunds. No replenishment. No real plan.
Just drought, debt, and a dying land.”

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