FRIDAY THE 13th.

The weather has been lovely, although a bit of rain would be quite welcome. The drought continues in earnest, dominating the news and conversations country wide. So I took the kayak down to the river to take advantage of the lovely conditions and paddled along the Gellibrand towards the river mouth. It is a beautiful and peaceful way to travel, accompanied by the sounds of various birds in the tall reeds which line the banks, the splash of the paddles and the rippling of the bow wave as the kayak cuts its way through. On the return leg, approaching Princetown, a car was putting in a jet-ski at the boat ramp just next to the old bridge and had some trouble getting back up. I stayed to watch, a bit of free entertainment for the afternoon. He was pretty well stuck, the exhaust pipe of the white station wagon was underwater and was bubbling away, making a funny noise like blowing a straw into a glass of water. The girl who was with him was looking a bit worried. A guy with a ute tried to tow him out but his wheels were spinning. I mentioned that I had a 4WD up the road but no way to get there. Ben offered to take me to it on the jet-ski. Cool. We flew up the river from where I had paddled and in about 2 minutes we covered the distance it had taken me about 40 minutes to paddle, great fun. I drove the ute to the ramp and hooked up and towed him out. As Ben’s car made it on to level ground he shouted “SHIIIIT”. His car had filled with water while sitting with its back in the river and it all rushed forward as the car levelled out, gushing out the doors. He was taking this girl out for the first time and I do not like his chances for a second date. She got her bag out from the front passengers floor and pulled her dripping wet digital camera out, but luckily her mobile phone was spared. I put the kayak back on the 4WD, I had probably had enough by then anyway and was saved the paddle home, so all in all a fun afternoon for me!