Day 30 – A Grey Day – Barham to Murrabit

From: Barham
To: Murrabit
Distance: 38km
Total Distance Travelled: 1039km
Distance to Go: 1485km

Once again it poured with rain overnight. By the time I got up and out of the tent (around 6am) it had settled down to a light drizzle.

My first job for the day was to go to the bakery, which opened at 6am, to get a coffee and some bakery treats for breakfast. I had a good chat to the bakery owner about my travels and he was keen for me to promote his bakery… so if you are ever in Barham at 6am and need a bakery, go to the Barham Bakery. There you go… I have done my job of promoting them.

This morning I was tired and motivation was lacking. I think the last couple of days of long distances had taken its toll a bit. However, I eventually got everything packed up and I was on the water by 8am. I think the coffee kicking in helped the motivation.

It pretty much drizzled all morning and it was a very grey sort of day. Fortunately I only had about 38km or so to do today, so I just cruised my way down the river. To my delight, the river got a bit narrower and the flow had increased, so I was doing about 10kmh for most of the morning. That meant by just after lunch I was already approaching my planned area (near Murrambit) and it was already time to find a campsite.

As I was getting closer to Murrambit (which is about 3km from the river) I saw a spot on Google Maps that looked like it might be a boat ramp within some parkland. As I approached it, it was indeed a boat ramp, but I noticed some warning signs up the top and I was worried they would say “no camping”. Fortunately they were just signs about fishing limits and it was a good spot to camp.

So here I am… an early afternoon, sitting by the river under my tarp to keep the drizzle off, enjoying a relaxing afternoon by the river. The best bit is my feet are dry and nothing is muddy. Well they are still muddy from the last few days, but no new mud.

The next 2 days are also going to be fairly cruisey (I am probably jinxing myself). Tomorrow is about 40km and then then about 35km the following day to Swan Hill. Swan Hill is the location of my next day off and video edit.