It was a little daunting leaving Wentworth, knowing (as we did) that it was going to be the last long stretch without any real towns... about 190 km... and the stop after that 190 would be just a store, not a town... and then another 68 or thereabouts. We started as per usual on the first day of these long stretches, with the kayaks riding low in the water.
After our first break, there was a mishap. After pushing off from the bank, I leaned over to wash my shoe in the river and didn't see a log which was bent over the water. I started paddling and struck the tree sideways, putting out my hand to soften the blow... but the current draggin on the tree was strong, so my hand held me in place, but the kyak went "pop" and slipped under the tree, out the other side and continued down the river. I was dumbstruck for a moment (hanging on to the tree), but then grabbed the paddle and swam after the kayak. Dirk paddled over and held the kayak while I got back in (a tricky maneuver in the middle of the river), then he went on after my flip flops which had floated away.
Anyway, that was the big event for me on Day 41. After lunch, we passed through Lock 9... I know, the first was 25 or 26 and seems like we should have passed through a lot, but many of the proposed locks were never built. (Below is a rather sad photo of the lock).
Note: This day was the frist day of Formula 1, so Dirk was pretty excited to set up camp and listen to the radio.
After our first break, there was a mishap. After pushing off from the bank, I leaned over to wash my shoe in the river and didn't see a log which was bent over the water. I started paddling and struck the tree sideways, putting out my hand to soften the blow... but the current draggin on the tree was strong, so my hand held me in place, but the kyak went "pop" and slipped under the tree, out the other side and continued down the river. I was dumbstruck for a moment (hanging on to the tree), but then grabbed the paddle and swam after the kayak. Dirk paddled over and held the kayak while I got back in (a tricky maneuver in the middle of the river), then he went on after my flip flops which had floated away.
Anyway, that was the big event for me on Day 41. After lunch, we passed through Lock 9... I know, the first was 25 or 26 and seems like we should have passed through a lot, but many of the proposed locks were never built. (Below is a rather sad photo of the lock).
No comments:
Post a Comment