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Published: December 10th 2018
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Firstly I'd like to apologise to all my followers for the tardiness of the blog for the final day, especially my Nigerian friends and the lady enquiring how long it would take to float a caravan down the Murray. All I can say is that the celebratory dinner at the Wellie Hotel was exceptional and involved Wilko singing a rousing song to the tune of Old Man River which elicited cheers and applause from the other diners (although it did get us kicked out of the hotel at 6.30), the Adelaide Test, a channel 7 weather reporter and a 3 day drinking binge which culminated in Wilko and I waking up naked in bunk beds surrounded by toys.
We set out from the Wellington Hotel and headed towards Lake Alexandrina. The route is initially well marked but after a kilometre or so the markers end and then you are on your own. Conditions varied from relatively smooth to pounding chop. I asked Wilko if his back was OK, but he just took a Voltarin. There was plenty of birdlife on the lake and we also found a seal. Finally we arrived at what was going to prove to be our
last lock. It was a little smaller than anticipated and the howling wind did not help. The lockmaster said "what the f@#k are you guys doing out today can't you see the weather's s&*t. Yep we had noticed but we had to complete our mission. From the lock we headed to the Murray Mouth. I have to confess that Wilko and I whimped and didn't attempt to cross the bar. Mike and Brooksie did though, in fairness we did a great job of rescuing them and were able to keep our unblemished record of no deaths on any trip we've organised.
Back through the lock and then Brooksie and lunch at Goolwa, the home of the famous Goolwa mullet. Wilko and I caused another mini Exon Valdez incident re-fueling and then we were off back across the lake. The going was better and it was a comfort to see Adam (who had been a little nervous especially when Mike started talking about the likely conditions) up the front of Brooksie's boat wind in his hair and seaspray up his nostrils.
Brooksie and I had a little race back which made you wonder why he'd bought that brand new
honda 100hp 4 stroke which barely beat my 12 year old 90hp 2 stroke. Back at the hotel we arrived to a heroes welcome and the most of the town had turned out, although that may have been because it was Friday. The Social Club presented both Wilko and Mike with some fine examples of local wines, although that may have had something to do with the raffle.
Later talking to the locals, one bloke who'd lived in Wellington all his life was amazed. He had never heard of anyone crossing Lake Alexandrina, arriving at the Murray Mouth, crossing the bar and getting back alive. In fact his quote was "Not in one hundred years". He also said we were f@#ken idiots.
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