Day 543 | Near, but not at, Greenings Landing: Murray River

86 km | zzOz total: 17,326 km

The River Murray, as it seems often called, is wide and muddy down here, too wide for the most part for bridges so instead there’s 12 ferries provided by the state government.

You don’t pay going over a bridge why would you pay for the ferry?

That’s OK, you don’t, the service is free and as frequent as they can shuttle back and forth.

The river flats have occasional patches of deep green where irrigation is operational, often for the small dairy herds just finished milking as I bike past in the early morning. It’s a slog now I’ve turned the corner and am heading due north, the wind has noticed and once again I’m smashing into a strong headwind.

By mid-morning I’ve arrived at Murray Bridge, one of the bigger towns on the river where the main Adelaide to Melbourne highway crosses on a major bridge, big enough for both a Coles and Woollies supermarket, time to restock for the next sector to Renmark, another 500 km upstream, big enough for an impressive new public library that comes complete with an unused alcove for users such as myself, two power outlets at a desk with a comfy chair where I can recharge all my batteries, computer, phone, camera and iPod, as I tap out a couple of the latest blogs.

When I’m finally booted out, the library closes at 1 pm on a Saturday, the wind has miraculously swung around the full 180ยบ, I’m now blasted furiously up the river, gee, this is fun, certainly better than the alternative.

Long may it last.