Tony
Session
One: Sturt Reserve – Tailem Bend
We make an
early start and the sun is again rising over the river as I leave Murray Bridge
heading south-east. I just want to knock this section over and I paddle in a
kind of hypnotised state, not really looking around or taking much scenery in,
instead reminiscing on the last five weeks on the Murray.
It was an
ordinary journey and I never had a break to refuel, just stopping once for the
call of nature, and even then I jumped out, did the deed and got straight back
in and soldiered on, no messing about! I pass the 100km to the mouth marker,
which are now buoys rather than signs on trees, and I wonder – will there be a
marker at the end stating ‘000’ or ‘The End’? I think there should be one
saying ‘Now get yourself a beer, you awesome, intrepid swashbuckler!’ or ‘Ok,
you’ve arrived, now try again paddling upstream, you whimp!’
The wind
gave me a bit of trouble for a while near the end, I felt like I might have to
pull out early and start further back tomorrow, but a lady said I only had 4km
to go so I thought I might as well get there. The bend I was on seemed to last
forever, I kept looking just 100m down the river at a time to give myself a
series of shorter goals to complete and I think my river advisor had seen that
I was ready to get out and intentionally understated the distance to encourage
me to go for it – nice move, I’m glad I covered it!
Session
Two: Avoca Dell – Sturt Reserve
So, after a
lunch break in which I hardly eat anything – I guess it was grand finale nerves
in anticipation of my official finish event and our last planned meeting with a
Lions club – it’s back down to Avoca Dell reserve in front of our caravan park
where I got to yesterday. Hylton of the Lions of Murray Bridge has organized
for the club ‘Murray Bridge Paddlers’ to join me on this short stint.
We wait a
while watching the speedboats pulling and it turns out my companions today are
waiting for me a bit further downstream rather than starting here with me. I
get off eagerly, soaking up the speedboat wakes without any dramas but then the
steam-paddler Captain Proud is heading straight for me. I remember when Pan
almost got chewed up by one in Echuca and it doesn’t seem as funny now! I try
to get out of it’s way but it just veers further towards me… I end up missing
it by just five metres, If we’d gone any further to my left, I would have been
deep in the bush! I guess it was really my fault – I probably should have been
on the right side of the river.
With that
bit of excitement over, I’m soon at Thiele’s Landing, where there are eight or
so people from the club floating in wait. It’s great to have them join me and
they tell me about their fundraising club – the women in the club have all
survived cancer and now raise money to donate to various charities. Any other
ladies in the same boat as the amazing Murray Bridge Paddlers, do get in touch
and join them!
Hylton had
the honour of drawing the raffle, delving deep into the bin full of tickets,
and the winner is… Ollie from Yarrawonga – congratulations, you’ll soon be the
proud owner of a well-travelled, Murray-mud-covered, sweaty cruising kayak!
You’ll receive it in approximately one working week and the delivery charge is
just $9,000 which will make our total fundraising to $20,000. Oh, sorry, did we
forget to mention the delivery charge, which you
I’m quite
happy that day on the river is over, there’s so many people carving up my
Murray in their speedboats and things that it’s hard to find a flat area of
water!
Distance paddled: 30 km
Pan
I’m awake
very early, this has become the norm over the last month, and I can’t sleep for
properly for hours, then get out of bed at 5:30. I say good morning to Tony and
go straight back to my tent to break it down. Halfway through, Tony pops out of
the van saying “Pan, we’re staying here again tonight”.
“Yeah, I know”, I reply, which draws a puzzled but amused look from Tony, and just as he’s about to ask why I’m taking down my tent, I look at it, flat on the ground now that I’ve pulled the pegs out, and think ‘Oh, bloody hell!’ It was pure force of habit that made me pull it down first thing in the morning, because we usually only stay anywhere for one night and I like to drive straight to our next meeting point after Toy’s hit the water in the morning. I leave the tent as it is, have a shower to wake myself up a bit and drive Tony to Sturt Reserve in Murray Bridge, where we’ll be meeting the local Lions club this afternoon, but Tony is paddling the section after that now to get the most out of the morning.
“Yeah, I know”, I reply, which draws a puzzled but amused look from Tony, and just as he’s about to ask why I’m taking down my tent, I look at it, flat on the ground now that I’ve pulled the pegs out, and think ‘Oh, bloody hell!’ It was pure force of habit that made me pull it down first thing in the morning, because we usually only stay anywhere for one night and I like to drive straight to our next meeting point after Toy’s hit the water in the morning. I leave the tent as it is, have a shower to wake myself up a bit and drive Tony to Sturt Reserve in Murray Bridge, where we’ll be meeting the local Lions club this afternoon, but Tony is paddling the section after that now to get the most out of the morning.
We’d like
to thank The Murray Bridge Lions Club and the Murray Bridge Paddlers for
getting involved, for the food they put on for everyone and for their kind
donations.
And the Avoca
Dell Caravan Park for donating two nights to us - loved the location behind all
the people water-skiing, wakeboarding and jet-skiing and also the crazy golf!
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