FROM proposing on the banks of the Murray River to helping fight carp numbers, Australia's most famous stream has been at the centre of Adrian Wells' life.
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But now after beating a life-threatening spinal tumour, the Murray Darling Association upper catchment manager has ended his professional association with the waterway.
"I'm 68, I've got grandchildren and I need to spend more time at home because I've spent the last 22 years travelling across the basin," Mr Wells said.
He departed the association earlier this month, after returning to work one-day-a-week but finding it a struggle as he continues to regain strength following his tumour diagnosis last November.
Mr Wells still has a calliper on his left foot and is waiting for muscle to regrow in his back.
His exit from the association, which represents local government in land and water issues related to the Murray-Darling Basin, follows a romance with the Murray River which began in Mildura.
It was there that Mr Wells was posted with the Department of Agriculture after graduating in horticulture in Melbourne and met his wife Diane.
"I asked Di to marry me at the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers, not realising the significance of it with the work I've done for the last 22 years and our three children have all been born along the Murray River," Mr Wells said.
"It's a magnificent waterway, despite all the problems and when I speak to school children they say it inspires them with art, music and poetry."
Mr Wells cited greater environmental knowledge among students and councils, increased knowledge of Aboriginal water heritage and the fight against carp as highlights of his work at the association.
He believes carp can be eradicated.
"I'd say in 10 years there will be a major breakthrough in carp research, it will be a mixture of river health, biological control and some sort of disease," Mr Wells said.
He will use his retirement to collate an Aboriginal educational kit, covering the length of the Murray River, and pen a family history, with ancestors including English rebel Oliver Cromwell.
Mr Wells will also continue rehabilitation and faces five years of MRI and CT scans as part of medical testing and monitoring.
