Why hello again!
Welcome back to The Sauce of the Murray.
It's now Day 26 of this two-month river odyssey and I'm writing from Echuca: a veritable hive of activity on the Murray.
Right now this place is humming. The Murray Marathon paddlers are in town (a measly 400km race from Yarrawonga to Swan HIll) and every pub and cafe is full of tourists queuing up to take a ride on a paddle steamer for the afternoon.
I've even heard the phrase "the next Byron Bay" being thrown around... but let's not go crazy
Things are hectic for Ian and I as usual. We paddled into town late yesterday afternoon and after having a great night at 'The Shamrock' with throngs of groupies (visiting family-members) we launched into our routine of unpacking, washing and preparing ourselves for the next big stretch of our trip to Swan Hill.
On top of this, we're doing our best to keep up with the media attention we've been receiving (big shout out to Julia Bradbury back in Sydney for this!) as well as working with Cam and the support team to put on great fundraising and awareness events in each community.
This is all fantastic. And it's really so satisfying to see our plans coming off so well. But ultimately Ian and I are finding that our "rest days" aren't really that restful.
After our busy day in town today we've got to pack up our boats again in the morning and face the reality of another 70km paddling to keep to our schedule.
We're also both really starting to feel the strain of paddling such long distances day-in, day-out. Sore shoulders, arms and back are becoming standard. This blog is G Rated so I won't tell you how sore our bottoms are. But they're starting to get pretty sore...
I know what you're thinking.
Stop whinging. This was your idea and we're only reading this because it is a silly idea and we want to read about Ian getting eaten by a Cassowary.
So let's get down to business.
Day 23 [ Saturday, December 25th ] : Cobram into Barmah State Forest (70km)
Christmas Day!
After a great Christmas Eve with the remnants of our support team and the scent of Christmas Day barbecues wafting in our nostrils, Ian and I set off downstream for Tocumwal.
Twenty kilometres later, it was time for some Christmas cheer ... in the mud
The Christmas Lunch
Chris : Burrito Wrap. Tuna.
Ian : Burrito Wrap. Peanut Butter.
Gourmet!
The culinary adventure didn't stop there.
For dinner we had bigger plans.
The Christmas Dinner.
Rice, Tuna, Peas, Capsicum, Satay Sauce.
Straight from the North Pole!
Wild Pigs
For most of the afternoon we'd been hearing the grunts and snorts of wild pigs along both sides of the river.
At first this was great and we both really wanted to grab a glimpse of a pig or two from the safety of our boats. But as the afternoon wore on and we moved deeper into Barmah Forest, we had a feeling that it was going to be a nervous night on the river.
Wild pigs can be very dangerous and extremely territorial. In the lead up to the trip we'd heard all sorts of stories from former Murray paddlers about their encounters with wild boars.
Allow me to paint a picture:
Two hours after we went to sleep, I'm laying stiff as a board on my back in my tent.
Heart rate is exceptionally high.
Torch. Ready.
Knife unsheathed.
Plan : to leap from the tent, shout and hopefully scare it off.
Or : jump in the river.
Meanwhile:
Ian is sleeping (and snoring) oblivious to all impending danger.
The sound of one big pig in particular was causing me to be in this state of tension.
The shrieking was getting louder and louder and the sound of trees cracking was getting closer. Then it stopped ... silence except for the blissful sounds of Ian sleeping
A few seconds later the pig stepped out of the scrub, onto the muddy bank where we were camping and walked directly toward our tents. The footsteps stopped.
At this point I was expecting to (a) implement my above Plan, or (b) experience a tusk to the face.
Fortunately! Neither eventuated ... and at the very least I saved myself a swim in the river
For some reason the pig decided not to mindlessly maul us in the dark
This was a definite win for humanity vs pigs and a smashing way to round out Christmas Day!
I barely slept for the rest of the night and the next day I would gladly have set up a rotisserie in Barmah Forest to teach the entire species a lesson...
Instead, I thought a lot about why we were doing this trip in the first place and why we would put ourselves in such a dangerous situation.
For Lifehouse at RPA (The Chris O'Brien Cancer Centre)
Day 24 [ Sunday, December 26th ] : Barmah State Forest (70km)
Boxing Day
We left our camp site as soon as we could on Boxing Day and we got settled into another long, hot and beautiful day on the water.
Today we moved along the river toward "the narrows" : one of the most spectacular places in Barmah Forest and (from what we've heard) the Murray itself
Picnic Point : a magic camping spot
By 7:30pm, we were nearing our goal of 70km and we were both really tired, sore and hungry.
Unfortunately, we had just crossed into an extensive flood plain just below Lake Barmah that had been completely filled by all the recent rain upstream.
We faced the prospect of having to paddle a few hours into the night to find a camp site above water when around the corner we stumbled across an old (and seemingly abandoned) paddle steamer.
Perfect.
We climbed aboard, set up our tents on the roof and enjoyed the sunset.
No pigs tonight
Day 25 [ Monday, December 27th ] : Lake Barmah to Echuca (60km)
Today we came across one of the first truly sandy 'beaches' we've seen so far.
Up until this point the flood waters have swamped most of the attractive campsites and have left us wallowing in the mud.
As we head further west, we're hoping to find more of the beautiful sandy river banks we've heard so much about.
We had a fantastic few days paddling through Barmah Forest. Our short stay in Echuca has also been superb and we're looking forward to the next week as we move toward Swan Hill and the next stage of this journey
Help us, help beat cancer.
Go to www.ayac.com.au to help AYAC raise money for lifesaving cancer treatment and research at Lifehouse (The Chris O'Brien Cancer Centre)
Chris
Donate online at www.ayac.com.au
