Day 23 – Honeymoon Bend to Picnic Point

From: Honeymoon Bend
To: Mathoura (Picnic Point)
Distance: 45km
Distance to Go: 1788km

This morning was cold. As I was lying in my sleeping back I looked at the weather on my phone and saw that it was -4 degrees. It took all my will power (and the need for the bathroom) to get up and start packing things. It actually wasn’t too bad as I was packing because I was moving and keeping warm. The kayak and paddle were both covered in a layer of ice, which made it somewhat unpleasant to pack things and to get the gear organised.

Once I was on the river I was nice and warm. Even though I had my neoprene gloves on, my fingertips were the only things that were cold. I had about 45km to paddle today to Picnic Point and because it was so cold I decided not to stop. I was toasty warm in my boat and it was too cold to get out for lunch. So after 5.5 hours of paddling I made it to the Murraybank Caravan Park at Mathoura/Picnic Point.

Mathoura, or otherwise known as Picnic Point, is not really a town. It is basically two caravan parks , a lot of holiday cabins and one pub/cafe. The caravan park I am staying at is absolutely packed being that it is a Saturday and it is also full of Victorian caravan folk that escaped Victoria before the lockdown.

I am currently sitting by the river outside the Timbercutter Redgum Cafe Bar, waiting for it to open at 5.30pm, so I can have some dinner and some drinks. I have also been invited by some friendly people at the caravan to swing by for a beer afterwards. So I might post this blog now because I may not get a chance later tonight.