Day 4 - Marker 1266 to Boundary Bend - (Melbourne Cup Day)

According to Simon the sky was a clear as it gets when he got up in the middle of the night. Fortunately he decided not to share and I was having a good sleep despite the hard ground. Another cold start - the southerly wind continues all day although it only reaches down to the river on some bends.

An early start saw us cover 16 km by 9.30 am. We pulled onto 1 of the many beaches we saw this morning. It had a camper van on it - all closed up, the occupants still in bed. No doubt they were wandering why these to strangely clad visitors from the Planet Kayak decided to have morning tea in their secret haven.

Another 8 km we arrived at the junction with the Murrumbidgee- a little underwhelming but still a significant place. The “Bidgee” was known as the clear river by the paddle steamer captains having clearer water than the Murray. I paddled over to get closer look and you could definitely see where the Bidgee water met the Murray. Simon paddled into the river entrance and thought the change in color was one of the highlights of the trip.

At 12.30 we pulled up on a beach opposite Narrung Cutting for lunch - our last hard boiled egg each with cheese and crackers. I was finding the wind very cool while Simon was happy in the shade. After lunch we paddled around the island nature reserve rather than take the shortcut through the cutting which would have saved us a couple of kilometres.

We arrived at Boundary Bend about 2.30 pm - checked in at the caravan park and then dragged our kayaks on the trolleys into the park. After we set up camp I went for a jog - the area is surrounded by orange groves and almond orchards.

We had dinner in the servo which allowed us to have a beer with our meal - another great day, will be cold tonight down to 4 degrees - oh dear I am struggling with the cold. Good news is the weather is warmer from now on.