Intrepid Canoeist Paddles Giant Carved-Out Pumpkin Down River

An intrepid canoeist successfully paddled down a river in Australia in a giant carved-out pumpkin that’s been described as the biggest gourd grown Down Under this year.

Video by John Stanfield shows Adam Farquharson, a captain’s hat on his head and a pipe in his mouth, paddling along the Tumut River in New South Wales in the giant gourd.

A former commodore of the Tumut Canoe Club, Farquharson told the ABC he had attempted to grow giant pumpkins big enough to paddle in previous years, but that it had turned out to be an “abject and hilarious failure”.

Stanfield told Storyful that the pumpkin big enough for the task was grown by Farquharson’s friend Mark Peacock, and recently won first prize at the Sydney Royal Easter Show’s Great Backyard Pumpkin Challenge.

The pumpkin weighed 407 kg pre-carveout, the ABC said. Credit: John Stanfield via Storyful

Video transcript

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[LAUGHTER]