Day 3 Campsite 38 Katarapko Creek to Moorook 30 km

Early morning Campsite 38

Early start as Simon starts wandering around before it gets light. Muesli and coffee before packing up and getting on the water by 8.00 am. Ants had invaded our kayaks during night, fortunately they were not bitey but for the next 2 hours ants kept crawling around the cockpit. I (Joe) waited until they were within reach before pitching them overboard test their swimming ability.

Down the long straight river

There was some wind assistance and our speed at times was up to 7 kph but not for long. After a short break after 2 hours we started to tackle the longest straight stretch so far encountered. Fortunately the wind was behind us. We planned a lunch stop but then couldn’t find a good “get out”. When we did we were only 2 km from Moorook.

There is a camping area on the foreshore at Moorook. When we arrived the sprinklers were going full blast and this continued all afternoon. We bought a pie and a drink from the general store before going for a walk around the Main Street. There is a club with a bar and bistro and not much else. These small SA towns have these clubs which fill the role of the pub

We went for a swim in the river and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the shade. About 4.30 pm

the council workers drove up and turned of the sprinklers so we dragged our kayaks onto the campsite and tried to find a dry site.

We went to the club for dinner, Joe had the buffalo burger after asking the waitress about the emu burger, her response, “its not my taste”. The buffalo was excellent. Simon had a pizza. We were able to eat dinner watching football from a couch in front of the television so we were pretty happy.

Back at camp Simon broke out the beef jerky before bed, not a bad way to finish the day. During the night the sprinklers by the river front came on for about 30 minutes. Despite the drought there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of water here on the Murray for green grass by the river.