Day 42: Happy Camper

 If you lock closely at the fuzzy picture above, you should see the shadow of an emu!

 Above is Darb enjoying a tinny on his tinny. Note Dirk's stylish "river shirt" - a $3 special from Salvos.

ABove photo, is us, stick in an agricultural canal - NOT a shortcut!

At the time of writing notes for this post, we had travelled 108 kms since Wentworth, with onlyy 80 to go to Old Custom's House, after which we would truly be in South Australia! (When we first started the journey, whenever anyone asked us where we were heading, Dirk would simply answer South Australia. At the time, in our tiny plastic kayaks, the mouth of the river seemed an almost unbelievable goal).

On this day, I am not sure why,. but I was truly happy. Paddling - the same thing we had been doing every day for the past 41 days... past the same scenery (gum trees, meandering river), I had a rare sense of contentment. Everything was all right with the world. Not worried about the fact that I have no job lined up for afterwards. Not sure if I would get into grad school. No thoughts about papers to mark or anything that needed doing. Ordinarily, I would ahve to attend a grueling Bikram yoga session to actually be able to clear my head of anxieties like this. But this was like Bikram... without the heat or pain.

Anyway, as a day, it was pleasant. Dirk spotted an emu (my first), wild pigs, kangaroos... and we met again with "Darb" (Steve Darby - Lockmaster) on his tinny. As I was paddling, a tinny came right at me full speed. Seems he recognized us from the day before when crossing the lock and came to let us know of the status of the locks to follow. In addition, he also offered us a refreshment. We pulled up to his tinny, cracked a few tinnues and chatted as we all floated down river together. Nice way to spend a while. He also advised us of a few short cuts. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn on the first one and ended up in a agricultural canal of some sort. Trying to get out, I slipped on a rock and fell on my butt in the river. Swimming mid-day is beginning to become a habit for me.
Later, we ran in to 3 paddlesteamers on their way to Renmark (like us!). They stopped before the lock and invited us to stop with them, but we continued on, passed the lock by about 8 - 10 kms and camped. We swam in the river that evening... ON PURPOSE!