Day 96 Report

.Day 96 - 30/9/07 - 205kms Downstream of Wentworth

Steve's Report: Quite windy today and most of it head on. Maybe it was 25 knots. I did achieve 55.8km though, mainly because I passed a houseboat that cruised at 7km per hour so I raced it for three hours. Every time I got caught in weed they would almost catch me. Then I got a lucky break and cut off about a kilometer through a short cut. They caught up at the old customs house where I had an ice cream and two cans of lemon with my vegemite sandwiches. There were six oldies on the boat and one of the guys congratulated me as he had bet the others I would win so he had won some money. And I thought the race was all in my mind!

I met Jonathan at Lock 6 where we also saw Robbie the Lock 5 and 6 Lockmaster. I had met him in Adelaide last year where we were discussing Chowilla regulator gates. Hey Watergates guys, don't panic, he said nothing has been approved yet so the job is still ongoing (I think that's about three years now).

The night was unbelievable. It was too hot to get into the sleeping bags. Wind was blowing through the flyscreen into the tent and at one stage the whole tent blew flat and hit Jonathan. You could hear the gusts roar through the trees and then hit the tent. We didn't get a lot of sleep but I did start laughing when I saw how uncomfortable Jonathan was. Luckily the tent popped back up when he pushed it after the gust went.  
We awoke to cold and breezy conditions but not gale force winds like during the night.

A lump of weed on the deck. Can anyone
tell me what it is? It behaves like
a mini water hyacinth
Passing cliffs Passing a house boat. Here comes a race!
Another milestone A big raft of the floating weed Ah ha a short cut. That kept the houseboat
from breathing down my neck
Another milestone. SA / Vic border More cliffs Sandhills. Must be at the beach?
 
And some more cliffs View Satellite Map Jonathan preparing the camp site