Total distance = 130km
I tell you 2 things I am over and that is this damn cloudy weather and also the damn clay! That clay just sticks to everything - every morning I clean my kayak and then I look over to Neils and there are huge clay streaks where his feet are and there is clay on his foot pedals ... if I wasn't always last to get ready I would go over to his kayak and clean it!
So this morning is probably our first real cold morning but we are still tucked in out of the south westerly winds that are still blowing - today they aren't so strong only in the 20km per hour range! Funny enough the air temperature was about 7 degrees yet the river water is warmer than that and it was a relief to put your cold feet in the warm river!
So I am struggling immensely with this clay and my ability to load up the kayak with jandals on to protect my feet from the stoney, rough ground (I need Brendas' feet mum!) I am slip sliding everywhere and it a slow process that is really beginning to annoy me ... I know dad you would be saying right now that I should have gumboots to keep the feet warm, but this is not 2cm deep clay this is clay that sinks you up to your mid calf and sometimes up to your knees so gumboots would not work! what I am thinking is very tight aqua booties that won't get stuck in the clay when you move your feet - Neils aqua shoes are loose and they constantly stay in the clay while his feet come out! Jandals don't work as when you walk up to get your gear your feet slide right out of them and you end up walking on very hard, stoney ground. So we have until next year to sort this problem.
So we were off just before 9am and the sky looked promising with more blue sky than grey so we were hoping to charge up the batteries.
I tell you there is not much wild life around, for some strange reason I thought there would be more around - especially bird life but I suppose we are only covering 20km a day so not much wildlife can fit in that short distance compared to cycling where we cover a greater distance.
The birdlife is small and hard to see at times, and the wallabies and kangaroos are more camouflaged that the Australian SAS. Neil is now called David Attenborough as he spots them, here is a local wallaby which are not afraid of us at all and just sit there watching us
whereas the kangaroos tend to bound off when they see us.
Another problem I am having is my feet are freezing when I kayak - I think I will try socks tomorrow! Mind you both mine and Neils feet didn't defrost until lunchtime - it was like having a refrigerator effect on your feet then the wind blows over wet feet.
Our lunch spot was excellent today and we were really hoping that our camp spot would be this easy and simple - it was a beach on the Victorian side which up to now have been crap and the NSW side has the better beaches but this one should be in Hawaii - it was all sand so there was no scraping of clay of the feet!
as you can see we were out of the wind and in full sunshine - Kouta loved it - it was a warm spot!
So going along this river it must be like a city along here in Summer - most of our camp spots have been regularly used and sometimes as we paddle along we can see the remains of camp spots - here is one
So our goal today was to get to a beach on the NSW side that was just after the 1582km mark - well that was a crap spot and we decided to go opposite it on the Victorian side which was nicer. We look at wikicamps and see that we are camped on Gunbower island. This is a massive island but at the moment the other river on the other side of it which I think is called the Gunbower river is not really flowing and is dried up in places. Alas this is a nice camp spot but there is bit of a walk up to our spot but we need the leg exercise!
Decided that it was too cold to sit outside so we huddled in the tent sheltering from the cold wind.
Tomorrow we will attempt to go 20-25km again.
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