Day 10 - Shooting the rapids of the Shoalhaven River

Another big day, but tomorrow we go home, so we're up and away really early. Kym and Ricky were held up leaving while they tried various ways of extinguishing their fire. The dam wall was only a kilometre away but we had to carry the canoes and all the gear around the dam to the river beyond where the rapids start.

The canoes are really heavy so firstly we carried all the gear around then came back and tackled them. Don‘t remember who suggested it, but the canoes were much easier when all eight of us struggled with one at a time. This worked well until we headbutted Aaron for some minor misdemeanor and surprisingly. he stormed off, and wouldn’t help after that. It wasn't long before Jake found an excuse to quit too.

Finally all the boats were back in the water and we pulled out into the swift current, and headed downstream. The first rapid was big, flowing over a huge log then swirled around a couple of boulders making big pressure waves. Some of us thought it would be better to drag the canoe past, but eventually everyone shot the rapid without mishap. This was a cinch.

Lunchtime. Out come the barrels. Lets see what we‘ll eat.
Ricky, always on the prowl for a feed, scored a clove of garlic from Nic and gobbled it down.
The blissful look on his face soon screwed up into a contortion of agony but he didn't dare spit it out.
This was food! Later on he asked if could have another.

“How do you cook ‘Potatoes and More'" someone asked.
Nic pointed out there were cooking instructions on the backs of all the food packets
“Peanut Butter doesn't?" was the response.

At each rapid all the boats pulled over and we would walk down the river bank and study the current, looking for the best route through the rocks and hazards.
Each boat would then go through one by one.
Well this worked fine until our two most cavalier canoeists found themselves ahead a bit and looking at a very long rapid
“Lets just do it!“
“Yeah!”
By the time we got there they were out of sight around the bend.
We waited while Nic went to see if they were still alive. Sure enough, they lived, and even walked all the way back up the bank and waded across the deep rapid to see us.
Nathan got bored with Michael calmly telling them off . “Enough of this calm bullshit, Lets punch them in the head"

At a big rapid with a wicked sweeping current, Aaron and Jake nearly capsize when they hit a rock.
Jake clings to the sides of the boat but Aaron, up front just kept paddling
“I’m not real strong in the legs but I’m good at paddling" was his humble answer later.
Michael and Mark’s boat kept spinning around and ramming the bank on many of the rapids They can't figure out why but Michael is convinced its Mark's fault.

Its our last night, so we were pretty picky, trying to find the perfect campsite.
Flat grassy tent spaces, right beside the water and a big open area in the middle for a large fire - that’s perfect Ricky was a champion at skipping stones (even weak with hunger) and Aaron had a wonderful time washing all his pebbles, carefully collected on he trip.

A special dinner by the fire with Nic and Ross cooking us pancakes. Blueberry, Banana, Apple and Cinnamon and Golden Syrup flavor. Absolutely delicious We had a good chat around the fire, then wandered off to bed.