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.