Day 28 – Falling Asleep at the Wheel – Torrumbarry to Perricoota

From: Torrumbarry Weir
To: Perricoota
Distance: 52km
Total Distance Travelled: 949km
Distance to Go: 1576km

I woke up this morning to the peaceful sound of rain pattering on the tarp. It was not heavy and it was nice just lying there listening to the rain while snug in my sleeping bag. I was glad that I put the tarp up over my tent last night because it meant the tent was still dry and also I was going to be able to organise my gear under shelter.

I wanted to be on the water right on sunrise because I had 50+ kilometres to paddle today and I would need as much of the day as possible to achieve it. I also had a 500m walk through the caravan park around the weir to the boat ramp.

The paddle today was very enjoyable. There was a little bit more flow because of the small amount of water they are releasing out of the Torrumbarry Weir. Today’s section of the river was very remote and I did not see a single person or sign of civilisation all day. I didn’t even bother looking at a map, because the river is remote, windy and bush on both sides for 100km between Torrumbarry and Barham (which I get to tomorrow). I had no planned campsite, so I just paddled until I had done more than 50km.

The rain was very light and only lasted for the morning. After lunch the sun poked its head out for about 20 minutes and then it clouded over again. There was a bit of a head wind but it wasn’t too bad.

I had an interesting thing happen this afternoon, which was certainly a first for me. I fell asleep while paddling. It was a bit like falling asleep while driving. I was on a long stretch of wide river and I was tired after a long day of paddling. I remember closing my eyes and next thing I know I woke up again. It was only a micro sleep and I was still paddling, but it was a very weird experience. I nearly did it a couple more times after that. In the past (and over the last couple of days) I have experienced trance like mindsets while paddling for long periods, but this was definitely the first time I have actually paddled myself to sleep.

After I had hit the 50km mark, I started looking for a suitable campsite. I soon found a muddy bank with some rough stairs carved into it and decided to have a look. It took me up to a narrow peninsula with a decent enough campsite. Since it is the day after the long weekend, there is a bit of rubbish around which is not great, but the upside was that the previous campers had left some chopped firewood behind. I had not planned to have a fire tonight, but I managed to get my booties wet and muddy getting out of my kayak, so I decided to wash them and use a fire to dry them out.

So tomorrow is another long day of paddling, with another 52km down to Barham. I have a campsite booked at the Barham Caravan park, so I should be able to grab a pub meal and a beer after a couple of long days on the water.