Richardsons Bend to Police Paddocks - 1st November 2015

We awoke to the sound of birdsong and a clear sky however the rain radar promised rain so we had a muesli bar, packed up and launched around 7.00 am. It started raining and we endured 2 heavy showers before it cleared away.

This picture was taken during a heavy shower and shows a rainbow over the river. 

We pulled over to a sandy bank and made breakfast. I boiled some water for coffee and we ate muesli as we dried out. The rest of the morning was sunny and warm. As we passed Doolans Bend we met a family group who were just setting out in their kayaks. They were paddling to Howlong the next town on the river. We had a nice chat with the parents. They were paddling in a mix of kayaks and I felt a bit sorry for the kid in the "sit on" trying to keep up with the parents in Daggers.

We left them behind and reached Howlong by lunchtime. The riverside park was lovely and my map seemed to indicate that we could camp there. We walked into town to buy some pies and coke at the bakery across the road from the pub in the photo.

When we walked back to the river we discovered that there were "No Camping" signs at entrance to the park. Oh well it too early to stop anyway!

After checking the map we decided to aim for Shaw's Flat. As the afternoon wore on there was lots of lightning and thunder. Just before 4.00 pm I told Simon that I thought we should pull off the river however he thought we could still reach Shaw's Flat. Then it started to rain....heavily.....!!

We pulled off the river at a spot where there were some people camping in caravans and tents. I quickly wandered over and asked if they minded us camping there. Ross and Chris, and Nigel and Joan and the kids and Nelson and Tanner the dogs made us very welcome under the shelter of their canvas awning as it bucketed down for the next 2 and half hours. After that we were able to set up our tents.

Ross and his family camp at this spot regularly and were very gracious even offering us dinner. Their camping was very civilised, cheese and bickies with wine for Joe and beer for Simon before dinner then spaghetti bolognaise. Joe had 2 helpings and some wine.  Later we sat around the fire for a while before heading to bed. 48 km covered for the day and a free meal, an excellent day!!