By Mara Pattison-Sowden
TWO Canadians and their dog were left stranded in Woori Yallock after brazen thieves stole their canoe last week.
The couple, who live in South Melbourne and are here studying, had left the canoe in Woori Yallock, their car in Warrandyte and travelled to Warburton.
Their aim was to hike to Woori Yallock to pick up the canoe and travel to Warrandyte on the river – but when they arrived in Woori Yallock, the canoe was gone.
Amy-Lynn Karchut said she and her boyfriend Joe McCann had hidden the canoe with food, pots and pans at a small overpass off the Healesville- Kooweerup Rd, at about 2pm on Saturday 17 July.
“It was quite well hidden, they would have to be looking for it and our stuff wasn’t taken,” she said.
“There was a young man fishing and he suggested we hide the canoe further down the way, which we did.”
Ms Karchut said they didn’t start their hike from Warburton until Monday shortly before noon, because Mr McCann had been ill on Sunday.
“We had bought the canoe five days before it went missing. This was going to be our first trip in it,” she said.
Mr McCann is studying geographical information systems and had mapped the entire trip precisely, but he hadn’t been in a canoe since a tragic accident involving his friend two years ago in Canada.
“This trip would have been the first time he had been in a canoe since then….kind of a get back on the horse type thing,” Ms Karchut said.
Ms Karchut said she tried to find accommodation in Woori Yallock on her phone, but a search for a local “hotel” led them to the pub.
“They were really nice and they let us come into the pub with our dog. We had to call a friend from Melbourne because there was no way to get home,” she said.
The couple is calling for anyone who may have seen the red two-person canoe, which had two wooden oars and two life jackets inside, to contact Yarra Junction Police on 5967 1104.
