Tony’s
nephew is putting us up for the night in Echuca and he kindly came to get our
wheels from Barmah so that I can paddle my first leg with Tony. We’ve got over
50km today, ‘an easy run’, he says – I’m not so sure!
Well, it
was plain sailing, I don’t know what all the fuss is about, I could do this
marathon no problem if I wasn’t driving! Actually, it was tough work. I was ok
up until lunchtime about four hours in, when we had a basic meal – sardines and
bread never tasted so good! And I got some extra protein from all the flies
landing on my sandwich as I was shoveling it in!
After that
I paddled as fast as possible sometimes because I just wanted to reach our end
point and get out. I had to stop paddling quite often and just float along for
some rest as I was getting really tired. I looked at Tony and marveled at how
effortless he made it look - I think I was trying too hard, not working
efficiently and wasting a lot of energy. There were points that we’d turn a
corner and be facing a headwind, and we just had to dig deep to plough through
those stretches so that they didn’t slow us down too much.
The
landscape was similar throughout the journey – mainly banks a few metres high
and gum trees galore. We passed by a long-necked turtle perched on a fallen
tree but other than that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, just ducks
and other common wildlife. It was a hot and thirsty day too - I got very hungry
along the way.
There were
a lot of houseboats, some plain but some more modern and most of them with joke
names like Liquid Assets. There were some parties going on riverside and a lot
of speedboats cruising around pulling kids on rings and people on boogie boards
and skis. Most of them slowed down for us and kept clear so their wakes didn’t
affect us too much, but there was one group of idiots that came straight for us
like we were playing chicken but Tony stared them down and scared them off with
one of his booming guttural river roars – nice one, fella!
All around Echuca
were paddle steamers & houseboats, some of them glorious old relics. This
morning they had a race where a bunch of folks run along the bank trying to
beat a steamer. Also love the sound of the annual water-skiing competition they
have around this area in February, I’d love to catch it next year, but I think
I’d just watch safely from the banks! We were pretty jealous to see the
tourists and locals having a leisurely drink on the boats and up at the pubs on
the rickety old historic wharf, but they cheered us on and I was happy to be on
the home straight. At one point we were paddling slowly and taking in the
sights and there was a paddle steamer ahead which I thought was pulling in, but
all of a sudden it blared it’s horn and I realized I was staring down the
barrel of two four-metre water wheels – better get out of the way, and fast!
The driver didn’t seem to care either, he just ploughed right ahead – well, I
suppose we shouldn’t have been over that side. Almost chewed up by a paddle
steamer – Tony cracked up and said he’d never seen me move so fast!
I was
elated to see the town’s bridge, our end point at last! But then Tony delivered
the bad news that we were now going to go further downstream and left down the Campaspe
River, which runs past the end of his nephew’s house. Well, I hate to think how
I looked right then but I wasn’t happy! Disheartened, I cracked on to the
finish line and was relieved to get out onto the muddy bank that awaited us.
All in all,
we covered around 65km – not bad for a day’s work and a first paddle. Tony
congratulated me for my effort but I think he may have been flattering me a bit
when he said I was a natural in the kayak! Thanks, buddy!
I was
already in awe of this challenge Tony’s taking on, but now I have a new-found admiration
of him, it’s no mean feat just doing a day’s paddling, so over a month of it
every day without break is astonishing! I don’t know where the man gets his
energy from… maybe it’s the peanut butter and sugar sandwiches that do the
trick! This is a really impressive journey and good on him for all the planning
and preparation work he put in, and the work he’s still doing, to raise money
for the Australian Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.
A special thanks
to Mozzi Boat Loaders ( http://www.mozzi.com.au/ ) for their generous donation to
the foundation.
I managed
to lose Tony’s photos of today when I was transferring them which I’m very
annoyed about, so sorry there’s no pretty pictures to see… : (
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