FIFTYFOURTH DAY – TUESDAY 31ST AUGUST
Slept in a bit this morning. I got up and made a farmers breakfast – probably not as good as what Graeme cooks it though. We travelled down the Murray Valley Hwy towards Swan Hill. We stopped to look at the Tyntyndyer Historic Homestead but unfortunately there was no one there so we had a quick look ourselves and left. It looked as though it had been a good tourist location but it seems to be a little run down now. We entered Swan Hill and Graeme wanted to go to KFC to buy some chicken so he could use it for bait to try and catch some big Murray crayfish. Found KFC, bought some and continued on down the road. There were many beautiful wattles out in flower along the way. We headed for Torrumbarry Weir which was our overnight destination. We checked out the weir across the Murray which was an amazing structure. They even made a special area which they called a ‘ladder’ where the fish are able to go upstream through. We then ventured down the dirt road towards our camp spot. It was a bit touch and go as it had been raining and there were a few puddles along the road. As you have read about our not-so-good track record of going down dirt roads I was a little unsure, however Graeme was confident it would be alright. We found a really nice place near the river after collecting some firewood along the way. We settled down for the evening. Graeme made his usually good fire and we watched and listened to all the bird life settling down for the night too. They made a pretty big noise about it – especially the sulphur crested cookatoos. Boy! Do they make a commotion. We swear that one that landed in the tree above us said “Hello”. Graeme didn’t have much luck in catching any crayfish with the KFC. All he caught were these itsy bitsy little shrimp type things and they were promptly thrown back. We had a delicious dinner cooked in the fire and marshmallows to finish off the evening.