Streams and rivers don’t all flow all year round, and maybe that’s not surprising on the driest inhabited continent. Yet this occurs in streams and rivers on every continent on Earth! Studying the ecology of such systems is exciting as a freshwater ecologist, not only because sometimes there’s no fresh water in them at all (at least on the surface) but also because they’re actually more common and ecologically relevant than many people realise. I first met these systems scientifically right here in South Australia, when I was a budding Honours student, with a grand introduction from my supervisor, Fran Sheldon. Although I’ve had scientific dalliances with other watery systems… perennial rivers, water storage reservoirs, even aquaculture ponds… my first love is the challenging and tricky ‘am I a river or not?’ ecosystems that offer so much insight on ecological patterns and processes and pose so many questions. Here, I’ll present some of these insights and challenges by way of a journey through my early research ‘career’. I’ll also dive into why I’m drawn to place quotation marks around that ‘career’ word and why a superwoman I am not. I present this plenary with many thanks to all who have supported and worked with me over the years, with a special nod to Christy Fellows, for whom the AFSS Early Career Research award is named.