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...
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...
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