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.
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....
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