Saturday 9 May = 1670km to 1649km = 21km
total distance = 63km
It was a warm night last night and we could hear the wind blowing for the bulk of it which results in a mild 12 degrees at brekky time.
We had a little treat this morning - we saw 2 kangaroos on the opposite bank in NSW. We managed to get away at 9am again and no soon had we started we saw another kangaroo - can you spot him in the photo below?
I did manage to get this great silhouette photo of it as it bounded off ...
so the arms are a little weary at first and the wind is blowing from the west and unfortunately the bulk of todays kayaking is into the wind ...
we tend to kayak 6km first which takes us about an hour and then we get out to stretch the legs, the photo below is a good birds eye view of the loaded kayaks
our next stop is for a cuppa at around the 12km mark - by this point I am tired and are greatful for a cuppa coffee and something to eat - the river is particularly wide now and there is not much flow as we get closer to the weir
like yesterday around lunch time it is pretty miserable - very windy and cold and today we had a brief shower of rain - it is warmer to get back in the kayak and paddle!
After lunch the arms were really feeling it fortunately the route of the river changes and there is less into the wind like it was before lunch - but add to that we had some rain and oh my lordy it was miserable! poor Kouta he should have complained less about his house with a roof and it would not have got wet at all today!
There was more willow trees along both banks and so it was difficult to find a spot to stop and shelter so we continued on in the rain! Our target today was the 1650km mark - we had to go an extra 1km to find a spot to beach the kayaks. We are not far from the National Channel which is a major irrigation channel - hopefully I can get a photo of it tomorrow morning.
So this spot is nice - not on a high bank which is a relief so we don't have to carry all or stuff up the embankment. Clearly this is someones regular spot to camp as it is cleared and lots of handy nails in the big gum trees!
So we had our first Murray river cuppa - out came the filter ... this is Neil filling up the "dirty water bag"
and we gravity feed it into the pot and our bladders ...
the water is actually not that dirty but it is best to be safe than sorry! The cuppa was lovely!
So here is our camp spot for night 3 ...
there was a big board on the ground so we leaned it up against a tree and it provides us with a wind break ...
here are where the kayaks are beached and next to it is a makeshift jetty that extends from the bank to a big log - someone has put 2 eyes on the log as it looks like a crocodile!
not having the bikes we had to come up with an alternative to the trailer to put our collapsible bucket on and Neil came up with this idea to use the frame of the Helinox chairs - genius!
so we have just had a major shower of rain so we are all in the tent - I wasn't expecting this sort of wind coming from the west - it is a very lazy wind and is cold to be in - I think I would prefer a freezing cold morning with clear sunny skies than this lazy cold wind! Lucky we have our warm woollen clothes with us.
Tomorrow we will camp just before the weir and go through it on Monday morning.
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