Day 42 – Somewhere to Somewhere
From: Somewhere in the bush
To: Somewhere on a beach
Distance: 40km
Total Distance Travelled: 1452km
Distance to Go: 1037km
Not really much to report about today’s paddle. It was long and slow. I honestly don’t remember much of it because I was in the zone of listening to an audiobook.
The river is definitely wider and the bends have got longer.
I got to my planned campsite at around 3pm. It is a huge beach and there was a nice pile of firewood already stacked up and ready to burn. Perfect.
The next 4 days down to Mildura are all between 31km and 37km. This means I will be able to take my time and start enjoying the paddle a bit more. Not that I am not enjoying it, but the last 2 days have felt a bit like a commute rather than an enjoyable paddle.
Day 43 – Somewhere Else to Another Place
From: Somewhere on a beach
To: Somewhere on a beach
Distance: 32km
Total Distance Travelled: 1484km
Distance to Go: 994km
This morning I had had a bit of an oops occur. It looked like I was going to be treated to a nice sunrise, so I got the drone out and sent it up to get some video and photos. As I was flying it back to the beach, I came a bit low over the trees and next thing I knew it had hit a tree and it was stuck in it. Based on the image on the screen and the GPS location of the drone, I was able to locate it but it was (is) stuck on a branch at the top of a big river red gum. There was no way I was going to be able to retrieve it today, so when I get to Mildura I am going to get some fishing line and some rope and drive back (because the car is in Mildura) and see if I can get it down. I don’t like my chances, but I can give it a go. With any luck it may fall down with the wind before then, which will damage it pretty badly but it may be fixable. It is insured, so I am covered, and also I have my back up drone (yes I have 2 for this very reason) in the car in Mildura.
By the time I had flaffed around finding the drone, I did not get onto the water until 9.45am. This was the latest start I have had all trip. I only had 32km to paddle so I was not too worried leaving late.
In fact, all the flaffing around and leaving late made me realise something today. For the last few weeks (actually most of the trip) I have always been keen to get on the water early and paddle as far as I can, then get to camp, have dinner and go to bed. It became a routine based around getting down the river. Today I cruised down the river, got to camp early in the afternoon and enjoyed drinking tea and reading my book by the river. Today was the first day where I really enjoyed just being on the river and not trying to get somewhere.
The campsite I found was another nice beach. There is a couple of families in caravans at the far end of the beach. They are far enough away that they are not bothering me. Although they are currently watching a very loud movie (sounds like Jurassic Park) but the kids seem pretty young, so I assume they will go to bed soon.
Tomorrow is going to be another shortish day (about 32km). I do paddle near Nangiloc, which has a general store, so to break up the paddle I might go for a walk (about 1km each way) to the store and get some lunch.
