Packed up after a great sleep.  Short but careful paddle across the lake to the Yarrawonga township.  Paddled to the nearest spot to where I thought was a good exit and rang the local tourist information center.  As providence would have it she was a paddler.  Told me the spot which was about 100 meters from me.  Offered a car if I needed it,  booked the caravan park and rang me back. Wow!  Yarrawonga is THE place.  I dragged my…  I think it’s going to be called “fantastic plastic”, up on the bank,  fixed the wheels and off I trundled to the caravan park.

Negotiating Lake Mulwala was a careful exercise.  It was a bit  choppy late yesterday and the millions of tree stumps,  of various height above and below water made it a bit difficult.

Bit of  a  rest this afternoon,  charge everything up and then plan for  tomorrow

Started at 7.  Out of Cowra it was wide reaches and then there was a series of creeks and lagoons off the main flow.  I planned this earlier but the reality was much simpler than the maps.  A lot of the alternate paths were blocked off.  The interesting bit was Lake Mallala.  It’s a huge flooded river flat with heaps of trees and stumps.  Just glad I have a plastic boat.

Tomorrow  I have to do the 2k walk through the main street Yarrawonga. This the portage around the dam wall.  Going to be a light day and have a bit of a refresh in the caravan park there.

I am camped on a reserve half way up the lake to Yarrawonga.  Not worthy of a picture.

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Whew!   Once I got past Howlong was hoping to get to Corowa.  Not sure what I was going to do when I got there but thought it would be a good goal. Decided to stop here.  Nice place & arms are tired.  River is running reasonably fast,  about 4 k to 7k in some of the narrows. You can’t always keep in the current though.

68 kilometres.  8 hours of paddling.  Left about 7am when there was enough light to see.

Camp-site number 2.

Arrived about 2:30 after the drive up thanks to Rob. 

Very nice spot with easy access to the  river.  Will try and get away early to make it past Howlong tomorrow.

Not far off seeing my first sunset of the trip.

Had my initial sailing practice at Lake Nagambie. All worked reasonably well. The wind was perfect for what I needed, not too strong. I had trouble getting the tripod arrangement at the base tight enough. I installed it with four ties to the deck and it was pretty hard to get them all adjusted so when the wind hit it they all stayed taught. Got it in the end.

Although it not all that fast it always surprises me how much faster it is travelling across the wind as opposed to with the wind.

3 Days before departure. Double checking everything and compressing and removing where possible.

I will have one day of trying it out before I leave.

The plan is to leave on Tuesday 24th. Thanks to Rob who is going to drop me off.

Packing, repacking and throwing out what I don’t need coming up.

A roll. Getting more consistent,  at about 80%.

This is an exit and an entry underwater using a paddle float. This is the most likely event. Getting tossed over and then getting back in without having to go to a bank.

I have been waiting for a sail to arrive. If it does not arrive tomorrow I will have to delay the departure a few days.

To create more room I decided to try mounting the wheels on the back. Will just have to wait and see if this brings up any problems. Rolling will be harder and it may get snagged on trees maybe. If it does become too much of a problem will have to get rid of some gear and store it inside.

Loaded the whole Kayak with everything except some personal gear.

And put it on the wheels..

Its fine with the weight but I am not going to be able to haul it up any cliffs.
This is the maximum though. All the water (30 litres) and all the food. Probably 2 weeks food.

Visited a friend at Wallan today and on the way home stopped at a creek and had a look around for weed that I can eat. Surprisingly there was a few, but I hope they taste better cooked.

7 days to go.

In a couple of weeks time I will start paddling my Kayak down the Murray River.  The first night will be at a camp-site just west of Albury.  It’s over 2000 kilometers from the mouth of the Murray.  If it’s  two months it will be between 30 and 40 kilometers a day.   I have visualized the end,  as much as possible,  standing  out of my Kayak,  with my paddles in the air,  thinking about it all and that it is done and the people that have got me there. I have also thought through as many things as possible that could go wrong.  Many I have practiced,  but there will be unknowns that I will have to work through. After all many have done this before.

I read once from an aboriginal spiritualist that you really must see the sunrise and sunset every day.  I am looking forward to that.  I am also looking forward to all the other natural life on the river.  The ducks,  the birds,  the fish, the lizards and the snakes.

I spent last Tuesday at Lake Nagambie practicing rolling and packing the Kayak.  At about 3/4 of the weight it felt excellent paddling.  Better that empty, with a earlier secondary buoyancy take up.  My rolling skill level is not 100%. I nail about 3 out of 5. So need more practice.  It rolled no problem loaded.  If in the time left I can get in upside down and roll back up would be great for getting knocked completely over by a speedboat.

I have put, perhaps too much,  thought into food.  Because I am a vegetarian it is a little simpler.  Eggs or oats for breakfast and rice with lentils or pasta or cos cous for dinner.  During the day, nuts and dates and bread with peanut paste.  No lunch.  I have some egg white powder for protein and will get some soy milk powder.  Also looking for a good edible weed book. From my packing practice I found that I can carry 22 liters of water.

There is a leak in the back hatch. It’s coming from the rudder pivot and probably the result of my bad treatment.  Next Tuesday I’m off to the plastic welder to get it fixed.