1584 kilometres from the mouth.

Charged everything I could in  the time I had and left the Torrumberry Weir caravan park just before 10 to make my appointment with the lock master.  Waited for a bit in the lock entrance basin and after he turned up the gates opened just wide enough for me to paddle through.  He took my name and then I dropped about 6 meters.  A bit faster than I expected.  The front gate opened and out I went.

Bit of current and wind.  Lots of campers on the banks.  Fishermen and families and no ski boats.  Surprising how many people considering its a bit out of the way. The water is more murky.

Today I struggled with pain and energy.  Yesterday was tough and it told today.
Barham is at 1524 k so that gives me 60 tomorrow or a 40 and a 20 for  the next day. Just have to see how I feel. Prefer to do it in one hit and rest the next day.
Marginal phone reception since Pericotta which chews up battery.

1524 kilometres from the mouth.  Approximately 600 kilometres paddled so far.
Started early.  The camp last night was the worst but had the softest sleeping conditions,  mud.  Fast current at about 4k if I could have kept in it.  Campers were all packing up after the long weekend and the fishermen all  left without catching anything, as far as I could tell.  Everyone I asked told me they had nothing.  One said it was because  of the fluctuations in level.
The landscape was low,  flat eucalypt forest with the banks about 2 to 3 meters.

Barham is a nice town.  Shops are nearby and I have set up a two night camp.

Tomorrow washing and repairs.  I have to get the wheel bracket built as the current wheels have damaged the middle bulkhead.  And maybe my body will heal a little.

1630 Kilometres from the mouth.  Paddled 538 kilometres @ 44 per day.  Roughly 40 days to go.  18th April is the target.  Will review in a week.
Tough day.  No wind,  no current and a long weekend (lots of ski boats). 
Set off to get to Deep Creek marina to get supplies.  Banks crowded with campers.  Arrived at Deep Creek marina to find the shop was closed and had been for ages.  The marina was jammed packed with houseboats.
Perricotta was the next  stop and a festival was about to start.  This is a special place.  There is a restaurant that overlooks a particularly beautiful bend in the river. My boat was a bit at risk on the steep bank from the wake boats. So headed off.
I got  better at handling the boat wakes after a while.  The Kayak went straight through some of the waves with the  whole boat awash especially if I got caught too close  to a shallow area. If I didn’t have the boat prepared for sea conditions I would have been swimming.
I rang the caravan park earlier in the day to see if they had a site and then at about 5:30 when I knew I was going to make it. 
Arrived at the weir at 7:30.  Think I left at about 8:30 am.
Good caravan park with great service.  Had my first and only beer in a very long time with my fellow campers. 

1678 kilometres to the mouth.
Left Echuca late after some scrambled eggs from the Black Pudding Cafe and some purchases from Aldi.  Said my goodbyes to Aaron and Andy and headed off.  Paddle steamers were maneuvering.

Had a chat to a young guy attempting to travel to Adelaide in a small sailing skiff with a sheet of ply screwed to the gunwales with a tent on the ply.  He was on the bow rowing against the wind  with little success.  I congratulated him on his adventurism and left.  We need more people like him.  Having a crack at it.  While he was talking to me he was figuring out how to get around the problems.  I must admit he had a few,  but I left pretty impressed.
Campsite tonight is pretty good.  It has a kitchen stump and a clothes stump and a platform for the tent.  Just a little grass and it would be perfect.

Slow day and a shorter distance.  Had a proper lunch break Lot of sailing today.

Tomorrow will be close to the first lock.

1714 kilometres to the mouth.

Did a couple more k than  that.  The gps lost battery just before we arrived at the caravan park.
Last night met Aaron and Andy at the Barmah pub who are doing the same thing.  They had come into the camp just behind me.  We decided to paddle together to Echuca.
Made good time but the south easterlies were a struggle. Sometimes sailing but not offen. Passed the mouth of the Goulburn River. Banks are getting higher and exits muddier.
Had to negotiate a high bank to get to the caravan park.  Would have been pretty tough without Aaron’s help.  If any future camps are like this I will just have to leave the boat near the water and carry the essentials up to the camp.
I had planned to buy some bits for the wheels so it didn’t dint the beautiful machine but just had time to get wire to replace the lost clip.

I have be out of Echuca tomorrow as everybody is coming for the long weekend and no campsites are available. I imagine every where else along the river will be busy as well.

1762 kilometres from the mouth.

Started late after a two course breakfast.  Oats and egg white protein.  Yum.  After an hour of paddling exchanged greetings with a camper on the bank  and he called me over for a coffee.  Had a great chat and set off fired up with caffeine. The famous Narrows are a little narrower with a couple of trees down.  Went through the Barmah Lakes which you wouldn’t realise going down the main channel unless you  looked at a map. Huge areas of water either side of the main channel sometimes with just a few meters of vegetation between the two.  From the north there is only one entrance which I couldn’t see through.  I could hear it and was right on top of it with the gps but could not see a path.  This the one Henry and I were looking for  one day. 
Felt good today.  Not sure if it’s the protein from last night and this morning but definately better.  I stated enforcing the hourly stops.  Usually I would slow down,  have a drink and something to eat and then keep going but  today I stopped completely.
Found the caravan park and shop at Barmah.  All within easy walking distance. 

Camped right on the rivers edge well away from the red belled black snake I came across while talking to Rob on the phone.
Quiet day distance wise.

Tomorrow Echuca I hope.  Now into the mud banks…  Ugly getting in and out. 

1790  kilometres from the mouth.

From Sandspit Creek to Picnic Point Caravan Park.

Didn’t have the same energy today,  but got here.  I must be running out of vegetables.  Haven’t had any for a while.
Barmah Forrest is huge and very similar all the way.  Very low banks almost to water level sometimes and masses of low gum forests which appear lower at times than the Murray. Seem to be lots more small birds.  There was a colony of wrens at the camp and each time I moved they checked where I had been for anything new. 
All the creeks are blocked off with gates to hold the water in the Murray. No beaches with the banks dropping off steeply into deep water.  Came across a school group scrub bashing beside the river in reasonably rough country. 
I hauled the boat up on the bank last night and must have flicked off one of the wheel clips on the tall grass.  Pretty lucky the

wheel didn’t fall off during the morning.  I have half fixed it but need a bit of wire to 3/4 fix it.
I will probably make Barmah tomorrow.  That will be the first shop I have stopped at since Yarrawonga.
Been little or no phone reception for the last two days.  Expect it will be like that till Echuca.

Left at about 9 after breakfast. No wind and a bit cooler.  Experimented with different strokes to try and stop the tops of my shoulders (or bottom of my neck) hurting.  After a few styles I figured out the best.  I was able to up the average a bit.  Generally today I felt pretty  strong.  Came across a couple of people to talk to which are included in the times.

Went through my first annanabranch today.  A very short one called “Paddy Hennessy Cutting” .  Was partially full of  logs and a reasonable current, but  got there without any trouble.  I have been keeping away from these as they can be too full of logs to negotiate.
Was concerned that there wouldn’t be any camping spots in the Barmah National Park,  but there have been a few. Not as many as further upstream but enough. 

No phone reception therefore no uploads. Probably the same tomorrow.

The fish are splashing here Rob.

Also while I remember..  Somewhere north of Cobram a massive swirl appeared beside my boat.  Not an ordinary upwelling effect but  the swirl you get when a fish  takes off.  The swirl was about 3/4 of a meter across.  It would have been a massive fish.  Can’t remember the exact location :-).

Tomorrow will get to Picnic Point and get into the caravan park,  have a shower,  wash  some clothes and charge everything up. No shop there though, but have enough supplies till  I get to Echuca.  Maybe two more days to Echuca after Picnic Point.

This spot is 1826 kilometres from the mouth.  Next week I’ll work out an average and project a finish date.

Last night was wet and a little windy.  Steve warned me about storms but luckily were pretty tame in this part of the world.  The storms bought a change with gusty winds.  Packed and left as early as possible hoping to catch some of the wind.  The best was 12k in the downward reaches.  Into the wind was a struggle sometimes but the thought of the downhill run kept me going. 
Day before yesterday came across a group of people in Canadian canoes. They were travelling from Yarrawonga to Cobram.  Not long after setting off I came across them again and stopped for a chat.  They were very skilled at judging the current flow and used it to  great effect. 

Food: I have been sticking to the 5 days eating and two fast days.  Thursday and Sunday are the fast days.  So today is a fast day and nothing all day.  Don’t ask me where the energy comes from but I had little problem putting in the days paddle. On the eating days I have been having a egg white protein or lentils in a curry with rice and vegetables if I have them.  Breakfast is oats and soy milk powder.  Breaks during the day are nuts and dates and peanut butter sandwich if the bread hasn’t run out.  I cook with river water.  This should be fine as rice and lentils etc take a while to cook.  When I hit a town it’s eggs.  Scrambled mostly.
Water: I stared with 22 litres and have reduced that to about 15. Tonight I am boiling river water to replace my 6 litre drinking supply.  This has lasted 3 days.  I’ll see how the boiled river water goes and might ditch some more down to about 10 maybe.
Batteries: It took me ages to figure out how best to manage the devices. So I went with a heap of disposable batteries.  I wasn’t sure how the gps was going to go as well so I have a pile of laminated maps.  The gps ran it’s first set of lithium batteries out this morning.  So constant use for 4 days.  Alkaline usually don’t make a day.  I hated the gps at first but it’s pretty much indispensable now.  I have one more set of lithium and then a heap of alkaline to use.  It’s a garmin and I flick between the map and the trip meter which is what you see in the photo every day. 

Left at about 8 after the short trundle to the ramp just below the weir wall.  Straight paddle all the way. Being a Saturday there are many campers,  fishermen and a couple of ski boats. 

Am about 16k out of Cobram. Very nice site.

The river is running at about 3k. They are letting water out of the Lake above Yarrawonga to kill weed so it should be a bit faster than normal.

Today’s numbers.  Just above what I have to do each day.