Day 39 & 40: Leaving Mildura - Entering Wentworth

Like the past 3 days, it was windy, but a lot less windy and wet... but for me, the wind made for much MUCH harder paddling through somewhat choppy water. My shoulders and neck were aching as well as my right hand (from gripping the paddle too hard).  Dirk was fine (if you were wondering).

jUst outside MIldura. there is a lock - lock 11... but we didn't need to go through it as the water was so high, the wier was out. SO other paddlers, please don't go left through the lock, but go right (past the signs that say no swinners or boats past that point)!We stopped 10 km outside MIldura where the MIldara WInery was apparently located. It turned out there was a little park where a community of workers used to be... and where a foreign (Polish?) biologist/artist worked with the Nyah Nyah aboriginal tribe to categorize some newly discovered species of fish and other Australian animals. But the winery? Hmmmh. A lot of work for a lot of nothing. We hiked up a steep hill (which Dirk proclaimed to be a shortcut) - not easy in my flip flops (which had seen better days). The winery was just a huge place for mass-produced winers with no tastings and no tours. The cellar door had been closed for the past few years. Anyway, we walked around it to try and take the trail (rather than the shortcut down). It required a trek through a field in which every single variety of plant life had either thorns, burrs or some other form of scratchy, prickly part.  Truly inhospitale greenery. I spent 10 minutes picking burrs from the bottoms of my flip flops before continuing.

We camped only a few kms from Wentworrth... which is where we are now... We have arrived and done our shopping at the IGA - the veggies and stuff that will go off (as well as stocked up on water). AM updating from the barmaid's laptop at the Crown Hotel's bar. WIll get off now and continue to camps site!

See you all again soon. Renmark is the next big town... . Maybe 5 or 6 days away.

Days 36, 37 & 38: Mildura

 At Trentham Winery

Buronga Caravan Park

We actually stayed 3 nights (our longest stop to date) in the river town of Mildura (although we camped on the opposite side of the river in Baronga).

Day 36 was pleasant, starting with a breakfast of Shin Ramyun (Korean instant noodles)... something to warm a gray day.  We paddled the 3km to trentham Winery. Lovely. Free tastings. The Heathcote Shiraz was nice, but I selected instead the cheaper (but still pleasant) Petit Verdot. A lot nicer than the 5 litre boxes of Stanley CabSav-Merlot blend. It isn't really much nicer than the metholated spirits we use for fuel in our camp stove.
A few kms further we stopped again at the Gol Gol Hotel. The setting was supposed to be beautiful, but to my Canadian sensibilities, it wasn't really much more than a boxy hotel on a vast green expanse of lawn inhabited by all kinds of bird life.
The Buronga campground was nice, although rather poorly lit at night, making it difficult for us to find our tents when returning at night. It was about a 2km walk to Mildura, a trip I made twice a day as I decided to get up at 7:30 am each day and go for a run. (Dirk is always up at this time as he gets up, makes tea, and bussies himself with packing and organizing while the tin cup he drinks from cools down enough for him to touch it). At the park, we were visited by day by swans and by ight by possums.
In MIldura, we did the usual town stuff - recharged the phone at Telstra, used the internet at the library and shopped for groceries. However, Mildura was special as we also watched a movie at the cinema (King's Speach with Colin Firth), wemt for dinner twice (once at an "Irish" pub and once at the Spanish bar and Grill at the Grand Hotel - famous for being the home of Australia's best steak). The food was a little underwhelming, but we made a fantastic wine discovery - The Guilty - a fabulous chewy delicious Shiraz from Mildura (and good value for money). We also had drinks at the Mildura Brewery. My fav: Storm Cloudy Ale. Dirk's recommendation: Mallee Bull.

Day 35: Yet another tent

During the night, Dirk's tent collapsed... or at least wasn't as water-tight as it should have been. It left him floating on his deflating mattress negotiating a pool of water. Unfortunately, due to the noise of the wind, I couldln't hear his anguished cries (joking - I am certain he was busing "sucking it up like a man".

He is now preparing to buy his third tent of the trip (Thanks for my Eureka tent Mom - so far so good). Despite being wet and tired, we made good progress, about 45 km. We camped only 3 km from the Trentham winery and plan to visit tomorrow on the way to Mildura.

Day 34: Colignan & Nangiloc

Colignan and Nangiloc were such non-events almost to not be worthy of having a post named after them... instead, I could have called this post "Hot Cross Buns".

Colignan was to be like Weiman... no real entry from the river other than a rope line up a bank... but at the appropriate river marker, we saw... NOTHING! We decided to continue on.

Nangiloc was better. We pulled up, walked over to the road at a school and hitched a ride around the corner to the shop. We bought (as usual at these small stops) bread, bacon and beer. But the only water we could find was less than clean looking. It was from a tap at the side of a cricket club. But at last I could stick my head under it and wash my hair... much better than in the river where I have to worry about algae, bits of flating twigs and silt. Being able to wash my hair and eating the hot cross buns fom the Mildura guys we met the day before was really the highlight of the day. The hot cross buns were just like the ones I remember from childhood. We ate them with cream cheese and peanut butter and jam. We are wanting for very little in our travels down the river.

Now (when I wrote this in my journal) it is about 8:30pm and I am writing from inside my tent instead of by the fire... This would be because it suddenly began pouring, not to mention the thunder and lightening. The wind is so loud I can't even speak to Dirk in the next tent over. I hope my tent fly doesn't blow away!

PS. Note that the 2 towns we passed today are each otehr spelled backwards. I wonder which one was named first!

Australian Paddling Snack

It's not chocolate! Enough said!

Day 33: 1050-992 ( or XXXX Gold)

Today is another noteworthy day as the river markers have dropped from 4 digits to 3... That's right! We have now less than 1000 km left to paddle.
It was an ordinary day, as paddling days go. We didn't truly paddle the 58 kms the numbers indicate as we cut off over 10km with more shortcuts (these shortcuts are awesome!). The highlights of the day were passing through shady tree lined lanes in the river (the trees were formerly on islands which are now submerged) and at the 1020 river marker, being invited for pies and beer by 5 friends from Mildura camping at the side of the river. They sent us off with a packet of hotcross buns from Coward's Cakes in Mildura and 2 cans of XXXX GOld!

How to avoid Murray River Encephalitis

Scarier than snakes, are the mosquito-borne diseases present in the areas around the Murray River. Ross River Fever, Murray River Encephalitis, etc... The radio frequently tells listeners to avoid going out in places along the river, especially around dusk and dawn (the very times when we are sitting around outside at the edge of the river). Also, we are advised to use repellent using DEET or ??? (forget the other one). Check. And to wear loose-fitting light-colored clothing. Check. Thanks to Dirk's quick trip to the Cobrum Target many weeks ago, I am able to be the first Canadian kayak-paddler to camp at the river's edge in PINK FLANNEL PYJAMAS! It does, however, seem to be working. The mozzies like me less in these puppies than anything else in my limited wardrobe.

Day 32 & Day 2 of the Second Half of the Journey!

As I write my notes for this post, I am miserable... just had a bucket wash as the river was quite uninviting - murky and with a steep drop - not easy to get in and out. And while bathing, I was slowly being eaten alive by mosquitoes. All in all, a day where Dirk would chastise me for being overly "glass half empty"!
But the day even started wrong. In the morning, I had to get out for a bathroom break and my leg sank halfway up my shin in muck as I disembarked from the kayak... and when we finally reached the little town we were so looking forward to (Weiman), it was disappointing.
Weiman was hard to find... at River marker 1066 on the Victorian side of the river, where the map said Weiman would be, there was nothing but steep red banks... and a faded sign for the Weiman store. No bank. No steps.
Dirk managed to get out and haul the kayaks up onto the bank onto an unlikely slant. We then were able to scale the bank using a thin blue ropeline someone had attached once upon a time. And there it was! One little store with a big tree in front. But more importantly, a water tank with a tap. If I want to see the Day as "glass half full", I guess I could at least concede that it is lucky we won't be drinking boiled silty river water!

Day 31: Lock, Stock & an Empty Barrel

 Above is Lock 15. Below, the dog of the Water Works guy decides he wants to come along!

This was a momentous day... not because it happened to fall on St. Patrick's Day... and also not because we happened to cross our second lock - lock 15... In fact, that was a bit of a disaster (for me only). The water was so high, it was flowing over the top of the lock, so we couldn't cross by normal means.We stopped to ask the water works guy who takes care of the lock and he told us to go around the side.
There was a construction sit to the side of the lock where there was flooding into the trees. The water was running fast and as we passed, I hit the bottom.... I had to get out and walk the kayak like a dog... but the current kept carrying the kayak in directions I didn't want to go... It also carried away my paddle (which fortunately, Dirk retreived).
So if this was the case, WHY MOMENTOUS? Well, it was finally possible to say that we had passed the half-way mark! We camped at 1094, about 5 km past the halfway mark. This said, we didn't neglect to celbrate St. Patrick's Day. We had no barrels of whiskey... or any pints of green Kilkenny, but we did have one lone Guinness, which we shared.

Day 29 & 30: Forest of Fangorn?

Day 29 was a difficult one, traveling through what appeared to be the forest from the Lord of the Rings... but dodging poisonous vipers. OK, it was not really so dramatic. Much of the forest we passed through was flooded, making it hard to find flat ground to set up camp on... but we finally found a good spot. It was so flat, in fact, that for both days, we pulled out Dirk's blue tarp (his groundsheet for the tent which he hasn't been using for anything but to keep things from sliding around inside the kayak) for me to use as a makeshift yoga map. It is easy to get stiff sitting in a kayak all day.

Day 30 was much like Day 29 except that we broke camp the fastest ever.... probably in only about 30 minutes. This was due to HUGE clouds of swarming mosquitoes. After setting off, we took a big short cut in order to reach Robinvale in 10, rather than 26 kms.

Day 27 & 28: to Boundary Bend

Unfortunately, I have nothing much to say about Day 27, other than I saw some cool cactii (correct plural?) They had interesting purple flowers on top... Dirk said that if you cut into them, you can eat them and they are somewhat pear-like. Too bad we didn't stop and pick some as I would have loved to try them... but I was (for some reason), not in such a good mood that day. I also forwent the taking of photos. Shame.

On the 28th day of our journey,  we reached Boundary Bend. It was a good day. We woke up, had tea and paddled to above-mentioned destination. We were welcomed on the boat ramp by a couple in a caravan (covered from a bus which had been used by Red Cross to take blood).  The couple (Jill and Jaap) offered us a "cuppa" and cake. Very civilized! I went inside to chat with Jill while Dirk had coffee at the nearby picnic table with Jaap. We were able to dry out our shorts as we talked of such things as caravan rallys and Jill's upcoming trip to Calgary. We exchanged addresses and she gave me a parting gift of a pair of earrings that she made.

 

 

After our visit, Dirk disposed of all the trash he had been collecting along the river (see above) to do his part in keeping Australia clean and we continued on to the "servo". There we bought the usual... bread and bacon and filled up the water containers at a nearby tap.

For me, the most notable part of the day was that we broke the 1000 mark! We camped at 1194... as we started at 2108, that means 1004kms paddled! (for Dirk, the noteworthy part was meeting 2 jetskiiers who were also making their way down the river).... More later. 

Update

Sorry... I know this post should be Day 28, but I will get back to it and tell you all about Boundary Bend and Robinvale when I reach the next town. Unfortunately, the time has come for me to get back to paddling. Sorry and see you all later. One week later to be exact... I will update on arrival in Mildura (PS. It is actually Day 31 today! One month+ living in tents and paddling the river!)

Scary Snakes?

Everyone warned about the scary spiders and snakes in Australia... and I am scared... and I am cautious. Believe me. However, we have as yet only seen ONE snake... it was crossing the river and struggling in the current. We were too far away to see much other than its shiny head and its body kind of waving in the water as it tried to get back to land.

Apparently, there have been fewer snakes than usual due to the flooding... and hence some of the people we met predicted a plague of mice. It seems to be true. In the last couple of campsites, we have been able to hear them rustling around the tent at night. One morning, we found these ones (can you see both of them?) huddled under the kayaks for wind shelter.

Day 26: Tolleybuc's Fete

When we arrived back in Tooleybuc in the morning, we discovered there was a school Fete (pronounced "fate" in Australia!) going on. This was pretty lucky for us as we were able to have a second breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast and buy books for 20 cents each!  After buying a few groceries and walking around a bit, we went back to the boat ramp to push off only to discover a family (the mother was barely distinguishable from the children except for a foul mouth) all running around in the muck near the boat ramp. Apparently they were there some weeks ago and there were so many fish flopping about caught in little pools of water that they were able to catch them in their T-shirts. Why oh why haven't we been lucky enough to catch any?

Anyway, we enjoyed Tooleybuc as there were many old timers who knew something about the river and have even paddle lengths of it themselves. (Not the usual comments we have been receiving of "Ah, I wish I had done that at your age!" (I think they don't really realize how old we really are... we are just without responsibilities!) They also told us how luck we really are. With the river so high, we are able to see out over the riverbanks... that ubiquitous view of gum trees and forest. Also the occasional glimpse of pasture. Apparently, under normal circumstances, the banks are high and the water low... so all one is able to see is the riverbank... like paddling a small creek at the bottom of a gorge.

All, this was a good day and we made good progress on our journey towards Boundary Bend. Only unfortunate point was then we we stopped for dinner, we discovered that a tube if basil had burst in the heat. Gross. And even more gross, we scopped some of it off the tupperware and made fake pesto pasta that night!

Day 25: Are you counting?

 Above: the Speewa ferry... Below: our colorful campsite of the night before.

On day 25, we started at the 1366 mark and paddled only about an hour when we passed a bridge.
"Bridge Number 10! Nyah Bridge" said Dirk.
"Huh? Are you counting?" I asked. It appears that yes, Dirk is counting bridges and Nyah was only the 10th one since we started paddling in Albury! After passing under the bridge, we stopped to eat a mid-morning snack of an apple... a snack we would normally eat while floating in the middle of the Murray. It was just nice to pull over at a boat ramp and get to sit on a park bench.
Unfortunately, the place we stopped later for lunch was less nice... in fact, it was nasty, mushy, mosquito-ridden and smelled of evil (this last was an impression not shared by Dirk). I had to point out how many bites I had received just while eating lunch, and Dirk replied, "What? Are you counting?" No. And it is a good thing I am not. I can't count that high!

After this nasty stop, we were surprised to find that if we had just waited a little longer... there was yet another small and charming town. Wood Wood! This town was situated at about 1342 (if you haven't noticed... the numbers get smaller the closer we get to the mouth of the river).  The lady at the shop was talkative, but unimpressed with the news (yes, I forgot to tell you) that we had seen a lone black llama (yes, a llama!!!) wandering around the river bank. Wood Wood was a nice stop with a general store, post office, caravan park and a brand spanking new boat ramp. None of this was noted on the map we had.

Finally, we camped on an "island" (not really so much of an island as a little big of land separated from the town of Tooleybuc (marker 1320) by a mushy wet bit. Yes... and yet another town. Before camping, we only ventured in to see what was available in the town: a bar (selling T-shirts emblazoned with "Where the f_ _ k is Tooleybuc?" Charming! It was an uncomfortable sleep for me. I mean, the "island" was so small, what was I to do if I had to pee? I could put too little distance between me and the tents.

Next town... Boundary Bend!

Day 24: March 10th?

I can't believe that it is now autumn in Australia and that we are already partway through the 4th week of paddling. For me (inexperienced as I am), it is unbleievable that we have paddled over 800 kms... a mark we passed as we journeyed on from Swan Hill.

In truth, although the name is fabulous, Swan Hill was a little disappointing. There were no swans, no really good (or at least good-looking) restaurants... it ended up just being a refuge for a day and a bit while the weather was truly rotten. We didn't have to paddle in the rain.

Anyway, we left Swan Hill at abut 11:00am on Day 24 and set off at a good pace.... but with the disappointment still trailing behind in the form of the uncomfortable stench of blood from the Swan Hill abatoire that we passed just a few km out of Swan Hill.

Lunch, however, was an event on this day as we discovered a partially submerged picnic table with a gangplank connecting it to the riverbank. Score! It was next to a site where people obviously worked and were unafriad of theft as there were two abandoned tinnies... one complete with a newish-looking motor on it. Unfortunately, as we set about making lunch, we discovered birds had gotten into our bread and we had to cut those bits off before stuffing the rolls with roast beef and onions.

The site where we stopped was at the end point of a shortcut, so although we only paddled 34km, we covered 40km via the river markers! Another Score! The only downside to this day was that although Dirk had been given a "stump jumper" by a guy in the Swan Hill caravan park, we caught no fish. 

Possums in the BBQ Hut

 

I am afraid that I forgot to mention something huge about our stay in Swan Hill... our dinner guest! While cooking our salmon in the Swan Hill Caravan Park BBQ Hut (20cents per 4 minutes of BBQ time), we were visited by this guy. We fed him some baby spinach leaves, but eventually, he ran off to find his mate who was making noise in a nearby tree. My first possom!

Day 22/23: SWAN HILL!!!

The title above is in capital letters because we have reached the end of the course for the Murray Marathon (from Yarawonga to Swan Hill). That marathon is about 440km long and is paddled in 5 days with each day divided into about 5 sections, each of about 6-25km long and can be paddled solo or as a part of a kind of tag team... It is also paddled in long sleek kayaks and it met at the end of each day with a camp already set up and a team of YMCA-trained masseures at the ready! How wonderful that would be!
So although we are not travelling as slowly as Tom (see former post), we are a lot slower than the racers... but are also in less streamlined kayaks whick are furthen burdened with gear and groceries.. not to mention that Dirk's kayak also has our 2 chairs and a bucket strapped to the back of it.... and an unslightly white basin tied to the front for items which need to be accessed easily... like the map and the sunscreen.
Anyway, we have now covered 788 kms! Can't wait to pass the 1000km mark!

PS. Although the name "Swan Hill" was promising, I am a little disappointed.... it is a lot less pretty than Echuca... although, like Barham, the caravan park provides easy access to the river.

 PS. The photos above are not really of Swan Hill... they are of bridges the likes of which are seen at Swan Hill. I was stressed in Swan Hill to have my camera not working. It turns out I locked the card at the last stop. Anyway, the bridges like the ones are interesting to me... they exist all the way along the river (starting from around Echuca). In the middle section, the road part lifts to allow the paddle steamers to get through.

Days 22 & 23

I am afraid that I haven't much to say about these 2 days, other than we saw more gum trees... and had to step out in much every time we wanted to take a break or camp. These two days were spend on the river and the nights camping on narrow strips of land. Unlike other spots, the banks were like little raised ridges which dipped down again to become swampy moats separating us from real land. Our ridges couldn't have been more than a meter or so across... so there was a lot less privacy than in other campsites. There was no hiding from other boats coming down the river (not that there were any)... or each other.

Day 19: Sister Cities (Barham & Koondrook)

Photos to come - Barham?

We finished our 19th day well, paddling past a little town on the Victoria side called Koondrook and finially pulling in early (earlier than what we would ordinatily camp) to a little town called Barham on the New SOuth Wales side. I forgot to mention (in the last post), that along the river, each town seems to be connected to another town on the other side of the river by a bridge. Examples: Albury - Wodonga, Echuca - Moama, and now Barham - Koondrook.
As we navigated a bunch of trees to arrive at the boat ramp, we floated past a large party of people dressed in there Sunday best perched on the grass at the side of the caravan park's boatramp. It turned out to be a wedding. Dressed in our paddling bests- used men's dress shits stained with river mud that we picked up for a dollar each at Vinnie's (St. Vincent de Paul?), we ambled up past the wedding goers.
The lady at the caravan park. a tall blonde, older slim-ish woman in a black see through dress was happy to welcome us as she mentioned that the whole wedding party had watched us approach. She allowed us to camp in the grass right next to the boatramp... SCORE! No portage! And then we went to have dinner in the hotel's pub... run by the caravan park owner's son.

The caravan park... and the grass was lovely, but marred by one serious problem... more mosquitos than we had seen anywhere up to that point. After dinner, instead of sitting around reading/talking in the open camp kitchen, we headed to the RSL for a drink. At least it was mozzie-free and airconditioned. I read my book and Dirk won $20 in a slot maching. Good for us! Drinks on Dirk. That night, on the way to the bathroom, I heard a strange and alarming animal sound ... followed by rustling in a nearby - my first possom sighing!

Day 18: Your Riverbank or Mine?

In case you are unfamiliar with Australia and/or the Murray River (as I was), I should fill you in a little... It is over 2000km long; Dirk and I are paddling the 2198km stretch between Albury and the mouth of the river... which is most of the River. It starts in the Snowy Mountains (which aren't actually really snowy at this time of the year... I know because we drove through them on the way to Albury from Canberra) and continues to some where not far (relatively speaking) from Adelaide... which is likely where we will fly from when we finish.
In the initial parts of the river, the left bank of the river (paddling downstream) belongs to the state of Victoria, whereas the right bank belongs to New South Wales. Today Dirk noted that I tend to always paddle on the Victoria side whilst he paddles the other. I am not sure why, but Victoria seems friendlier, perhaps because private property owners can't own the ??? meter strip that borders the river. Hence we can camp with impunity almost anywhere on the Victoria side. In addition, there are more national parks on the Victoria side.
However, New South Wales has advantages too... it is the side we are ore likely to spot wineries and pretty houses... and Dirk keeps spotting wildlife I would have missed: wallabies, kangaroos, foxes, etc.

On the 18th Day, we camped about the 1562 river mark in a great spot. The riverbank was muddy... which meant no swimming in the river for me, but rather washing in a bucket of greenish bracking water... lovely! However, the site was great. There were crude wooden benches/shelves here and there and a stone campfire spot. We cooked on the stove over open fire, rather than on our tin camping stove for the first time. We had a sweet potato that we cast directly into the fire and that was a bit of a treat...

 Below is an example of some of the many private property signs on the New South Wales side of the river... My favorite one...

Day 17: Our first Lock on the Murray

For me, this was an exciting day. We arrived at Lock 26 at about lunchtime. We went to the kiosk for an expensive and less than healthy snack as we waited for 1pm - the proposed time for the manager of the lock to open it up and let us through.
Although Dirk had been through many (32 to be exact) locks on the Mississippi, this was my very first! I was excited. As we sat at the higher park of the river, the gates slowly opened and we paddled our way into a little enclosed pool. The man operating the lock, leaned over to chat as the water level slowly dropped. He told us that only about 60 boats go through the lock in a year. I guess our passing would be something of an event them. He also took our names so that if anyone should come looking for us, he could pass on the information that we had, in fact, made it through Lock 26.

After paddling past the lock, the rest of the day was hard. The currents werre strange and seemed to be pulli8ng us on many directions and while it could have just been an optical illusion (it most certainlymust have been), it seemed like we were paddling uphill for the rest of the day!

Day 16: Ghost Marina

Nothing much to say about Day 16 except to say that the whole day, we had been looking forward to a little treat at a spectacular Marina which was mentioned both in a map book and a blog Dirk researched before we set off on the paddle. Finally, after a hard slog, we reached the Marina after km after ah of nothing but floating algae and docked houseboats.

Alas... it was empty. We walked around the shop, the hotel, the restaurant. Not a soul in sight. We looked through the window of the restaurant at the taps behind the bar longingly. Even a Diet Coke would have done... but instead, we filled the water bottles with water I later refused to drink. A litle too muddy for my liking.

We camped at River Marker 1640... 1640 more km to go.

Day 15: River Cred (Tom and his Tinny)

While ensconsed at the caravan park in Echuca (which incidentally involved a portage), Dirk madea new friend - Tom! TOm was truly an interesting guy. Like us, he decided to make his way along the Murray utilising his own muscle to get him to the end... He ad sourced an old tinny fitted out with oarlocks and was planning to rown it all the way. TO this tinny, he had added a kind of canvas roof, shelves (one to function as a bed) and mosquito netting all created with watever materials he could find in Albury (?I think that is where he started).

On the 15th day of the Murray River Paddle, we were about 10km out of Echuca when we came across Tom and his tinny. He was relaxing in his tinny reading a magazine named "Slow" - fitting reading material for his approach to the Murray. He would wake up early... paddle about 10 km, then spend the hot afternoon tied to the riverbank reading, playing sudoku, napping and drinking tea.... after this, he would paddle 10-15 more kms before docking for a good night's sleep under the mozzie net.

Meeting Tom was kind of a highlight as we meet few people as we travel along the river... and also, having now travelled from Albury and living on the riverbanks, I realize that we have truly become River Rats and gained some of what Dirk calls "River Cred".

Day 13 &14: Echuca - Paddlesteamer Capital of Australia

Echuca - After Yarawonga, it was great to be reaching another larger town... The excitement as the kms drop off and it is clear we will soon be seeing a bridge (indicating a town) is palpable.  Something other than muddy riverbanks and gum trees.  As we paddle, wildlife generally scatters, buyt we are welcomed to Echuca by a family of ducks which. instead of ducking underwater, working frantically to become airbourne, orswimming off in the opposite direction, swim straight at us. Unfortunately, we have nothing to feed them. The provisions awe carry are planned so that we have only just exactly enough to get us from town to town.

In Echuca (Day 14), we availed ourselves of internet, the post, Telstra (to recharge the phone), and shopping... Target, Safeway, Big W and all of the goodwill shops are always on the itinerary. And after a hard day of running around, we actually ate out. Squash pizza in a restaurant which (while lovely) had as many mozzies as the park in which we were camping.

Day 12: Better to carry a heavier load than paddle in a puddle

Since we exchanged kayaks on Day 2 or 3, Dirk has been paddling the orange one, which lets more water in and leaves the paddler to sit in a puddle all day long. The alternate green kayak has a "hatch" in the back and hence is packed with more of the load we are carrying... a load that is abviously heaviest when we are paddling on the first day between towns which are further apart.
On day 12, I think Dirk must have had enough of bearing the buddle burden alone because as he shoved the kayak (with me in it) out into the river, it tipped, ejecting me and quickly righting itself. Ah, starting the day off with a little swim in one's clothes is always refreshing.
To make matters worse, the day's paddle was a hard one. The water was still as the land was flooded. After what seemed like eons of hard paddling, we would pass a river marker to discover, alas, that we had paddled all of... 2km. On this stretch, we saw an abandoned paddleboat, an outhouse half submerged in water, picnic tables in the same state. The combination of the slow state of paddling and the submerged landscape was a recipe for disaster. After a few km, it was necessary to stop (for a wee), but there was nowhere to pull over. In agonizing need, we paddled 26km before we reached small town called Barmah....

Barmah was oone of those town which you could miss if you blinked while driving by. We walked into a little general store which contained a fridge with drinks and an ice cream freezer. We asked after the grocers to be told, "This is it!" There was nothing there! We walked on to the hotel to find slightly better pickings. We bought an onion (the onluy vegetable on offer in Barmah). some back bacon. It cost a fortune for almost nothng, but made for a decent dinner of pasta with the back bacon, olive oil and the onion. Have to wait for the veggies till the next town.

Day 11 (40km paddled): Respect to the River

Day 11 now seems an eternity away and not having regular access to the internet... nor being very good at taking good notes in journal form means I am at a loss what to say! I guess the highlight of Day 11 was passing a herd of wild horses (thin Man from Snowy River) and finding a good campsite! Although the site had clearly been used by others (as could be witnessed by the numerous VB cans littering the area), it had the benefit of a picnic table - an incredible find in the middle of nowhere!

Dirk did his duty and collected the cans to dispose of in the next time... Paying our respects to the river.

We camped at River Marker 1786 (meaning we have that many kms left to reach the mouth of the river).