We spend way too much time packing and repacking all the ridiculous amounts of stuff we carry. Everytime we change from bikes to foot or plane, or train, or canoe, we completely change our configuration: what's in what bag. Several bags sit folded in the bottom of another bag, empty most of the time. So on Christmas eve in the morning, we figured out what to put in what bag yet again.

From the hotel to the river was about 1 mile. We only briefly considered carrying everything. In addition to everything else, we had 2 cases of soda and 1 case of beer.

Luckily, the guy at the bike store (who incidently told us he had once ridden from Albury to Melbourne in 1 day!) had suggested a place called Dash Deliveries to move our stuff. He even gave us their phone number. Joan called them and they said they could carry the boat and everything for just $10! So we arranged that they pick us up between 9 and 10 am on Dec. 24.

Before they arrived we tried for the first time to put everything into the canoe. It was a very close call, but everything just barely fit. The 16 foot canoe seemed even smaller than that. I noticed that the seats were closer to the middle of the canoe that on most boats I have paddled.

We packed it like this: -Water thermos and lunch box cooler in the tip of the bow in front of Joan; -Joan's panniers directly behind her seat; -Homer (our giant dry bag containing tent, sleeping bag, thermarests, coats, and day pack) behind Joan's panniers; -2 water proof barrels and the spare drinks behind Homer; -the cooler behind the barrels and directly in front of me; -beach chairs at my feet; -my panniers behind my seat; -and finally, our boots tucked in the tip of the stern.

We fit everything in, but would it float? 2 guys arrived from dash deliveries, Dave in a sport utility vehicle and Chris in a "ute" - 1/2 ton pickup. We quickly loaded everything in the ute and they tied the canoe on in no time (it had a ladder carrying frame). The sport utility vehicle was just for carrying us.

Dave turned out to be a really warm friendly middle aged guy. He was very interested in our trip. We really liked him. They helped us unload at the river then waited until we had the boat loaded and proved that it could float. We got in and went for a mock paddle so that they could get a photo of us with our camera.

When we tried to pay Dave, he refused. He said to consider it a Christmas gift. He had made us feel really good. First, he made our departure more of an event than it would have been. But also, he made me feel somehow Christmasy. I had been afraid during the hot week and busy provisioning, that Christmas would pass suddenly and I would feel like I had missed everything. That would be depressing for sure. So receiving a gift on Christmas eve marked the fact the Christmas was here.

We had taken steps while provisioning to make sure Christmas didn't pass unnoticed. We got pretty much the same things we bought for Thanksgiving dinner. Also we bought an 8 inch tall mechanical Santa Claus that played songs and moved it's arms, a 10 inch Christmas tree, several tide red ribbons and some plaid straight ribbon, and a dozen little drums.

After we loaded the canoe at the boat ramp in Albury, we decorated it for Christmas. Santa went on the bow with the help of lots of duct tape. The Christmas tree went on the stern. We taped the plaid ribbon on top of the gunwhale and attached the red ribbons and drums at intervals along the sides. Quite festive really.

The only bad thing about the put-in was that once we were already to go, we had a couple more errands to run in town. We had to develop some film and mail a few things yet. So Joan ran into town and I waited. For over 2 hours I waited. Several people came by and talked to me. They seemed to be mostly Australians on vacation, making a brief stop in Albury. They expressed real interest in our trip. Two women asked me how I kept the creases in my clean new dress shirt so stiff. "I bought it yesterday," I told them.

All I did during that wait was go to the Ampol gas station across the street and buy as much ice as I could possible get in the cooler: 31 pounds worth.

By the time Joan returned, we were hungry so we made sandwiches before we left. While we ate, a van towing a trailer full of canoes pulled down the boat ramp. A youngish man came over talked to us at length. He ran the canoe hire/backpacker's hostel place in Albury. He had gave us some very good information about the first part of our trip: how far to the next town, where to find good camping, etc. He knew a guy who paddled the whole way to Adelaide in kayak. He wanted to start an annual full-length paddle of the river, supported by vehicles on shore. We remain dubious about his idea. If someone can afford to spend 6 weeks on the river, wouldn't they rather do it by themselves rather than spend all that time with people they don't know? But I guess that's the way we are.

He warned us briefly to watch out for the current, it's stronger that it appears and trees hang over the river in many places. The advice annoyed me. I kept wondering, "Do we really look so inexperienced?" Then I worried that my overconfidence would be my downfall. This, in turn, made me more determined not to do anything stupid.

next: we finally start.

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