Tuesday 3/11/2015 - Lake Hume to Albury

2235km - 2197km

A beautiful sunrise across lake Hume greeted us this morning.  How much better is this than a night of rain and storms.  After a long breakfast, we knew we only had a small day today, we headed out across the glassy waters towards the Bethanga bridge.  The morning sun was hot and with no wind it felt even hotter.

Tinky decided it was time to test out the fishing rod holder in his boat and started to trawl across the lake.  We saw hundreds of carp on the surface and we tried hitting them with our paddles.  With all the fish around, Tinky was still unable to catch anything.  But wait, he has something, it is big, he can hardly pull it in.  The excitement turns to laughter as we realise he as actually caught Thomo.

A nice break on the sand bank of the lake was had before we pushed to the Bethanga bridge.  The glassy waters on the west side of the bridge was again turned into heavy seas on the east side of the bridge, how does that happen?

Janice is waiting for us at the Pines with the trailer and some mufffins (how good was that).  We make two trips with the trailer to ferry the boats around the dam wall.  We one again start our journey on the river down toward Albury.  The river level has dropped quite a bit in the last week as the weir tap is turned off, possible due to forecast rain, the current is running at approx. 2 to 3 kms hr. This stretch of river below the wall is our home turf, so we know it well. We stop at the Waterworks Bridge for lunch and then down to Noreuil at Albury by 3pm.

It is great to see the welcome part as we round the bend at Noreuil.  We are tied, sore and happy to be home for a while.  Now for the preparation for the February kick-off.

Monday 2/11/2015 - Through Lake Hume

2268km - 2235km

It rained all night and at fisrt light we all appear from our tents. It has been a long time since I spend 13 hours in bed.  A few had tent issues and EJ has everything wet but he remains very philosophical. We dry our tents out, have breakfast, empty the rainwater from the boats and set off for a slow day across lake Hume.

The first part of the day was still in the dry part of the lake and it was very interesting to see the old river bed.  We saw many birds, including a huge flock of Pelicans.  The food must be abundant in the shallow upper reaches of the lake.  We are now in the lake proper and enjoy paddling through the dead trees.  Before long we are at the Wymah Ferry where we have lunch.  Thomo has not seen the ferry before and enjoyed a trip on the ferry across the lack and back.  Now he has a goal to ride on every ferry on the Murray.

The wind is getting stronger as we head off down the lake again.  The waves are now getting up to half a meter and the boats are handling the conditions well.  We find a great sheltered camping spot at Drummond point and enjoy the rest of the evening swimming, eating, and talking.  We found we could get phone reception from the top of the hill so calls home were in order.

What a change we have seen in the last few days as we come out of the mountains and through lake Hume.  From here the river starts it long winding path to the mouth.  Hard to believe that the river only falls 170m in elevation over 2200km.  most of this is on the first half.

Sunday 1/11/2015 - Walwa to Lake Hume

2340km - 2268km

We started at Walwa where we finished last night and head off to Burrowye Reserve(36km). Today the rapids became bigger with serious rocks ready to damage our boats.  A portage or two was the order of the day.  After another storm and heavy rain we finally saw some sunshine.  We get past the worst part of the river by the time we paddle around Mount Alfred and once again we enjoy the great mountain scenery and fast flowing water.

We arrived at Burrowye Reserve for lunch and our last visit with our wives until we hit Albury.  It was great to have somebody bring lunch each day.  We loaded the boats with the remaining camping gear which made them quite a bit heavier.  This was the first time I paddled the sea kayak with a load in it and it certainly made a difference.

A nice afternoon paddling as we negotiate the last of the Upper Murray and enter into where the Hume weir should be when it is full.  It feels funny paddling through the high banks with no trees.  The sky is getting darker and we decide to find a camping spot somewhere near Talmalmo.  We stop at about 5pm.  Before we finish setting up our tents the rain starts and before long all hell breaks loose.  Sitting in my tent holding the poles to stop the whole tent from folding over on me.  The wind and lighting last for a couple of hours and I thought I would let it past before going back to the boat to get my dinner.  We all stayed in our tents until the morning so it was not very social.  It was entertaining watching Tinky running around in the storm trying to peg his tent down again.

A few lessons learnt.  New pegs and cockpit covers will be needed for the next trip.

Saturday 31/10/2015 - Bringenbrong Bridge to Walwa

2419km - 2340km

The day has come for us to set off on our adventurer to paddle down the Murray River.  We are at the point where the Swampy Plans River and Indi River (otherwise known as the Murray River) come together to form the Murray River.

After many months of preparation, and many thanks to Sarg for organing the boats and building a boat trailer, we finally hit the water.  The morning is overcast with rain showers about, a great day for paddling, as we thought.  The Upper Murray is beautiful with the narrow fast flowing river and mountain scenery.  We are all excited to experience this part of the river.

Shortly after our first stop at Towong we discover that the low river level will create some challenges for our sea kayaks as we hit the first shallow waters, small rapids and fast shoots.  We soon learn how to read these sections of the river the hard way.  Sarg will have some boat repair work to complete over Christmas :-(.  We enjoyed the new boats that we quickly turned into old boats.

Nearing Tintaldra we are hit with the first storm of the day.  We were a bit slow to get the raincoats on and by the time we got to Tintaldra for lunch we were very wet.  We pulled up under the Tintaldra bridge, which was at least dry, and met our good wives for lunch.   The rain eased off so we hit the water again for the paddle to Walwa.

This part of the river had more rapids and rocks than the morning section. Thomo got stuck in a willow  on one of the bends, but thankfully Tony came through after him, grabbed the front of his boat and yanked him out as he went past. Not really sure what Thomo's plan B was. Almost at last light we arrive at Walwa. 9 hours 15 minutes of paddling – a huge day for our first day out.

After dinner at the Jingellic pub we head back to the Upper Murray Resort to crash into bed.  Sarg, and Tony decided to stay at the caravan park.  A shame it rained all night.  Sorry boys.

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