Home – Mildura to Sydney

So this will probably be the last post for a while. I just got home to Sydney, after 2 days of driving (via Mum and Dad’s place in Binalong), and I am now joining the rest of Sydney in lockdown (which just got extended for another week).

It is really nice to be home with the family and the dog. It might take me a few days to get used to having people around all the time and learning how to cope with normality again, but I am sure it will come back to me pretty quickly.

I did just step on the scales to see how much weight I lost. Over the last 2 months I have lost 7kg, which is about 8% of my body weight. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to put that back on… but for now I will need to get used to my pants feeling like the are going to fall down.

Then there is the question everyone is asking about whether I am keeping the beard… I am not sure yet. I might do a bit of a trim tomorrow and see how it feels. Since all the barbers are closed at the moment, I might need to give myself the old Covid haircut again with the clippers because I have got a bit boofy on top as well.

So lots of people have been asking me how I am feeling since having had to stop the paddle. If you haven’t watched my video (see previous post) I explain it all in there. However, having had a couple of extra days to reflect on it all, I am feeling good about it. Now that the decision has been made (for me) and I no longer have the uncertainty of “will they or won’t they” let me in to South Australia, I am feeling a lot happier. I know realise that the stress of it all was starting to weigh on me, so it is nice to get that monkey off my back.

So what now? Well tomorrow I am getting my first vaccination jab. That was always going to be priority number one on returning. It will then take me a few days to unpack and clean all the gear. I am then going to spend the next couple of months working on some of the ballooning projects I have been working on and exploring a few new ideas that I have had while being on the Murray.

But I’ll tell you what… I am also really looking forward to going for a paddle again. I thought I would want a break from it, but I think having had a few days of not paddling, my body is starting to crave it. I am also looking forward to paddling a lighter boat without any gear in it again. I might even go for. a bike ride sometime too and see what it is like riding on the relative flat and not be pushing it up hills.

So at this stage I think I will realistically be restarting the Summit to Sea trip in mid-October. I have a few things on between now and then (e.g. the National ballooning championships and a driving holiday in WA). Plus from all reports September is a terrible month to paddle the SA section of the Murray because it gets really windy.

I will keep you all posted on when it looks like things will start happening again, but in the meantime I just wanted to thank everyone for all the support that you have been giving me through this blog, Facebook and YouTube.

In the meantime, you can follow my regular blog at https://robbo.blog/

See you back on the water soon!