2088km to 2058km (30km)

Ok, so we are now 22km on from Corowa and I have managed to get the internet way out here in the middle of no where!  It is very slow with uploading photos (even when the files are made smaller).

We left Corowa around 11am after stocking up on food, Neil got a bit of orange sticker fever when he went into Woolworths - nearly everything he got had an orange sticker on it - except the schmackos and dog food.  He did buy a treat for Kouta - 2 fresh hamburger patties.  He had one just before we left and then he will have the other for dinner tonight.

Below is a photo of the Federation bridge which is just before you come into Corowa (about 3km out) plenty of camping around here, generally the caravaners all stick together but it is a long foreshore that is available for camping.

 The next bridge you come to is the John Foord one which is a one way bridge which is controlled by traffic lights.

 Here is a close up ...

 so we just pulled in past the bridge, not much anchorage for kayaks but enough for us 2.
As you can see the skies are very grey, no rain yet but we might get a few drops later on.
The river is going south wards now and there is a stiff southerly blowing, the flow of the river is a little slower so you have to work.  There is alot of camping opportunities after Corowa, and one of the last opportunities is at Stanton Bend (about 2070km mark) it is a popular spot and I managed to get a photo looking back on it ...

 it is like a caravan park along there - again there is a long foreshore but I personally would camp before or suffer and find another spot further on!
Not long after this it began to rain a little bit.  The river markers are far and few in between - according to the maps there is none but we did spot one or two so we updated our maps.
Chatting to Gordon this morning and he mentioned the 6 kayakers from yesterday said that after Corowa there is a shortcut that cuts out around 17km of the Murray, I had a look at the maps and saw there is a branch - it is long so it doesn't make it 17km shorter maybe 10km shorter as a guess BUT 2 things nag me about this - 1. there hasn't been any real spring rain so it might be dry in places or downed trees exposed and so portaging might occur in dry spots or even a blockage which forces you to turn around and 2. why bother kayaking the Murray if you are going to take shortcuts!  So when we get to our campspot there is a fisherman who Neil chats to and says that diversion or shortcut is just as wide as the Murray and it is flowing! so I wonder if Gordon or the 6 kayakers took the shortcut?
Speaking of our campspot it is really nice, at a guess we are about the 2058km mark and it is a designated camp spot according to the Spatial vision maps and it couldn't have come at a more opportune moment - my arms (and Neils) were about to fall off, so we were relieved to come to this spot ...

 decided to camp on the sand rather than the grass - less ants, but sitting up here on the grass there doesn't seem to be many.  Last nights spot they were just relentless we even considered getting some sort of ant powder to put around or camp spots but we think we may have to get another kayak to carry that powder since we will need alot of it!
Neil had a brain wave while unloading his kayak, he will try to use Koutas tub and sun shade as a table, we generally collapse the sun shade and use the tub upside down but his one we just tip upside down, it is a little unstable and wobbly so we might just try it for the Trangia.

tomorrow we will try for another 30km or so, although we are about 44km from the start of Lake Mulwala and we may have to either have a rest day or continue on without a rest day - depends on the wind direction - you don't want to do this lake with a wind in front of you!