The weather was kind enough to enable me to fit in a two-night paddle of Katarapko Creek before I head off on a work trip to southern Africa. After a late start from Loxton, we paddled north up the Murray, stopping at a nice sandy site for the first night. This short you tube (courtesy of Greg) gives you an idea of the bird noise at the site: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pvPDPAFp0tg. These birds were not shy! In part of the video you might just be able see me and my purple jacket tucked under a tree where I was on a zoom call on my mobile with colleagues from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. I’m only mentioning this because I am regularly overawed by the communication options we have at our finger tips these days. Arriving in Australia 1987, I was writing aerogrammes to keep in touch and phone calls were too expensive. Now I can choose from at least 3 video call options plus I can watch a colleague’s powerpoint presentation at the same time. Kayak camping on the Murray … this is digital nomading at its finest. In truth, it is not quite as spectacular as digital nomading in the heart of the Kalahari, but it is lovely nonetheless. Enough of that and back to the camping. There was an abundance of wood at the site so we were toasty the first night and we loaded up the kayaks in the morning so we could have another warming fire in Katarapko National Park. The wind was against us the next day and our wood load wasn’t helping, but we eventually reached the pelican welcoming committee at the Katarapko Creek junction. They generously let us pass and a few joined us for lunch after we crossed the weir. I say ‘we’ and ‘crossed’ when in fact Greg gallantly dragged both our kayaks across the stones that formed the weir, which was much quicker than the portage option. There began easier paddling: wind protected and gliding along through glassy water, creating images of paddling among the trees. We did this paddle over approximately 2 days and I would encourage others to linger longer in the creek section. Here’s a short video to give a sense of the pleasantness of the paddle: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TZoHRqfwLRk.