Kayak 4 Earth

Day 87 - 21/8/07 - 72kms South of Pooncarie

Steve's Report: We set out for a big day today and managed 42.4km. I ran a marathon in 3hrs 52mins 15 years ago and the same distance today, towing a kayak took 9hrs 55mins. Recovery was a lot slower than usual. My feet really hurt.

Talking about recovery, that is the secret to this sort of thing. At the end of the day I cannot walk properly. This has been the case from the start. But after a rest things start to work again. This time it took longer and I think things are a bit harder as I have lost all my fat reserves. I need to eat about twice as much at night as I did in the first couple of months. The amount that Jonathan and I go though is incredible. At Menindee we had huge steaks with veges and then for desert ordered the lasagne and veges which were big meals in themselves. On the road or the river Jonathan piles my plate up with veges and meat and gravy and I eat the lot every night.

Wednesday is a day off to get the ute serviced, buy a new phone and arrange school meetings in the area around Wentworth, starting with Palinyewah (Elerslie) about 30 road kilometres up the river.

Jonathan's Report: After Steve talked to the kids at Pooncarie state school on Monday morning we set off for Wentworth. Even though he didn’t start walking until 10:30am he still managed to put down 30km for the day. We had a nice campsite set up just off the road and Steve got a very early night’s sleep. This was because he knew the next day would be the last full day of dragging the kayak along the road as the water backs up from the Murray not to far ahead.

With his intention of achieving his personal milestone of 42.2km (the distance of a marathon) for the day, Steve set off at 7:30am. He had a couple more refuelling stops than usual to keep the nutrition levels up and a few more chocolate bars than normal but managed to cross the 42.4km mark at 5:30 pm. Being his son and knowing his determined character I knew he was always going to make it. I think if his legs or feet did decide to give in he would have crawled to the 42.2km point. Thankfully nothing is injured, however he did look like he needed a walking frame to order a midi from the bar later that evening.

Today Steve had the first rest day in 3 weeks and we drove to Mildura where we managed to get several repairs that needed to be done and the Navara serviced. We are set up in Wentworth at present and will use this as a base for the next few days while Steve ventures his way down the tail end of the Darling and into the famous Murray River on Saturday. .


See the power lines right in front of the runway	A wheat crop. Haven't seen anything like this for quite a while

Steve at the tail end of the marathon stint	Steve finishing the marathon effort