David hat
Ken and Irene left this morning to begin their trip back
home to
Ballarat. We have been invited to drop in and stay with them on our way through although we haven't planned if we are even going to Victoria yet.We all got along
well and its great to meet new friends on a trip like this.
By the time we arrived at the canoe hire all the two-man canoes had been taken. We were given a three-man canoe for the same price but they didn't have any double paddles. David and I became so frustrated with our paddling it almost became funny. Usually the heavier person would sit in the back of the canoe and lighter one in front. We started off like this but my
seat was in the middle of the canoe and the
seat was so wide I couldn't reach my arm and paddle over both sides without shifting my seating position. Consequently, each time I did this the canoe would make a sharp and sudden dip to the other side almost placing David in
the gorge! Finally, we switched
places but it was such hard work paddling from the back that sometimes David's strokes would overpower
mine and we would end up zig-zagging across
the gorge and colliding with pandandas and tufa.
We kept the canoe for 3 hours and then returned to lazing about in the tyre tubes. We perfected somersaults and barrell rolls with no hands whilst having our butts jammed into the tyres. Silly.
To keep our fridge battery charged we needed to take the car for a spin and it was good to explore some of the tracks and take in the spectacular scenery. We found some
ruins of a
mine and took a few photos and then tried to setup a drive-by photo of the car spewing out bull dust with a typical gulf savannah backdrop. David would drop me off by the side of the road with the camera and then drive off a few kilometres, turn around and then send up as much bull dust as he could as he raced towards me. I took quite a few of these photos so I hope they turn out because they would really show what its like to be out here driving.