We spent three nights up Big Tom’s Beach, on the Murray River near Cobram, on the New South Wales & Victorian border. The new roof racks on the Triton came in handy for hanging out the freshly-washed laundry that I took with me. The weather was glorious, once one got through the chill of the morning.

The river level was the lowest we’d ever seen it there, making carrying the Pedalfish 10 to the water a bit of a slog. You can see the pedal assembly in this next photo. Once in the water, one drops the pedals through the bottom. The shape of the hull underneath means water doesn’t come in much. I found that quite astounding.

There was an island upstream from where we camped, made bigger by exposed sand. We decided to just paddle to it, not pedal, because of submerged timber. I love this next photo, taken with my phone. Because it’s a fishing kayak, the width of the Pedalfish 10 makes it stable: never once looked like falling out. We didn’t do any fishing, of course, but that’s something we’ll do in the future.

It was a fair effort paddling upstream, despite how flat the water looks, but going back took a fraction of the time.

Before we’d left home, the Autumn break had brought plenty of rain and it was a pleasure to come home to a green landscape.

I’ll share it tomorrow.

Really. 🙂

Big Tom’s Beach again to take advantage of some lovely autumn sunshine
😊

It’s extremely dry here and the kangaroos nibble any grass shoots as soon as they appear. We have some grass in our yard which only grows over summer and it had been well-grazed while we were away. The kangaroos are pretty hungry and can often be seen closer to homes than usual during the daylight hours, trying to fill their tummies. This little fellow was in my yard last night.

One of his feet seems bigger than the other, so he may be recovering from an injury.

He looked at me for awhile, and went back to eating.

Later, he lay down for a rest. Even later still, I put out a tub of water for him. He watched me, but didn’t bound away. He was gone this morning.

In much of southern Australia, the Autumn break – usually claimed when rainfall exceeds 25mm – has yet to arrive. The outlook seems bleak, reading The Bureau of Meteorology’s prediction. Things won’t improve much over April and May.

The above photo taken this morning, looking over the farmland behind our house.

Thanks for looking.

🙂