Day 15 1497km - 1470km

 Thursday 21st May = 1497km to 1470km = 27km
Total distance = 242km

Today we woke and I wished Neil a happy birthday - 56 years young!  We were surprised that it was so warm this morning - around 11 degrees - it was cloudy though.  We were away by 8.30am.  I had forgotten to mention that while we were in Barham at some point the river rose 1 meter - the campground owner mentioned it to Neil so we assume that some water must have been released at Torrumbarry Weir.  Lucky as one of the campspots we had before Barham was on the waters edge so that would now be under water!  Hopefully tonight they don't release any more water as we are close to the waters edge again tonight!
We passed the entrance or exit of the Little Murray River about 10km up the river

 and just around the corner was the remains of an old wool loading wharf

 Although we feel that we don't see as much wildlife as we do on a pushbike (I still feel it is because we cover more distance on a pushbike so naturally we would see more!) we do get to see some birds close up - like the Azure Kingfisher, this time I came across this Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
 we see millions of these (we hear them first!) but we only see them flying in the tree tops and very rarely close up unless it is a pet!  But this one was sitting on a snag and as Neil passed it didn't budge so I decided that as I floated pass I would try to take a photo and it sat perfectly still for me and didn't fly off even after I passed!

Just up the river from this we went under Gonn Crossing Bridge

 so lots to look at this morning.  While approaching the bridge which looks younger than the one at Barham I took this nice photo of Neil and Kouta
 We had a cuppa on a beach in NSW and I am really hesitant to set foot on this part of the river - there are so many signs saying no tresspass or private property but we were desperate as Victoria offered little opportunities to beach the boats.  So this one had a private property sign but we still landed and had the quickest cuppa ever!  Mind you it was a shady spot and the southern wind was blowing through so it was cold.

Relieved to get back on the river and out of the exposed winds and back into the sunshine.  This didn't last very long as the clouds soon came over!  We came across this pipe and pump station

 At first we were astonished at the size of the black pipe and thought that it is for some serious irrigation and then I referred to the map and the remains of old steam pumps and upon a second look you can see that the left corrugated sheds are the old steam pump sheds while the small add on shed on the right which is newer is the current engine room for this pump - there was also a set of power lines running from this site so I suspect that the electricity is there to run the new pump!

Not far from this and just before we found our camp spot I spotted yet another wallaby - watching this one was funny as it saw Neil and Kouta and watched them intently completely ignoring me but when I passed it it jumped out of its skin when it saw me!  It was so busy watching Kouta that it forgot that there could be something else coming up!

 So just before the 1470 marker there is a beach on the Victorian side - now beaches on the Victorian side are crap but this one was okay - it was incredibly sheltered from the wind and also it was exposed to what sun was coming through the clouds so we decided to pitch here despite the tent being on a lean towards the river!
 For dinner Neil had a korma curry for his birthday meal, we did have an extra slice of fruit cake as a birthday cake!

 This is a lovely spot we chose - we got to spend the afternoon in the warmish sun and out of the wind, unlike yesterday where our camp spot was open to the cold southerly that blew through in the afternoon that it was too cold to sit outside.  So it was nice watching birds pass by.

We do have 2 birds of prey that flew off as we arrived but hung around - very hard to get a photo of them - this is the best I could do in the evening

Just before we were to retire we saw a group of Kestrel birds fly in - there was about 15 of them (there were a few crows chasing them) and they glided around the trees just behind the tent, they glided for about 15 minutes and then we think they settled in the trees behind the tent - I hope they are quiet tonight!  There are sheep across on the NSW side and they are noisy at the moment!
Tomorrow we will more than likely be camping on Pental Island which is about 8km away from here.