The new month dawned cooler than on previous days; so much cooler that Rita had taken refuge inside the barge (the frogs were also keeping her awake) leaving me to have the rear deck all to myself in the middle of the Garonne.

After breakfast, I realised I needed to do something about the generator which would not start last night. So, remembering that I had bought a set of "jumper leads” in 2011 when we were cruising with Amarok, I found them in the engine bay and connected one of the engine starter batteries to the generator battery. After a few unsuccessful attempts at cranking, the generator kicked into life and ran like a charm. We left it running for several hours to recharge the house batteries, and hopefully also the generator battery.

While checking email, I saw another photo of the breach in the Garonne Canal wall near Berry. The volume of water now being lost was very significant. Word on the grapevine indicated that VNF had now decided to drain the canal between Buzet and Berry in order to plug the leak.

In the meantime, Rita continued writing her paper on Music Therapy for the International Steelpan Conference being held in Trinidad&Tobago in August. Sadly, she can’t attend, but at least her work with the Marysville bands can be shared with a wider audience. At least she has a nice “office” in which to do her work. While she was doing that, I was grading my final (late) exam, and sending marks off to Monash.

Since I finished my paperwork first, I decided to have some fun by using Murrindinghy to clean the sides and waterline of Kanumbra. After I had done nearly half, Rita took over with the pair of noodles and finished off the rest. The waterline of Kanumbra has not been as clean for a long time.

In the early evening, we upped anchor and headed down to the point where the Garonne joins the Tarn, since Veronique and several of her friends were coming along that evening for a campfire and singalong. This is the same spot where they joined the band members for a campfire last year.

As we headed downriver, the wind increased markedly so that by the time we got there, the water was quite choppy. Nonetheless, we managed to turn the barge upstream and anchor a bit more than a boat length offshore (to allow for any change in wind direction). Rita then loaded her stuff (and herself) onto Murrindinghy and rowed to shore. We were not sure how this would work with the increasing crosswind, but the dinghy was surprisingly manoeuverable and she got there with little trouble.

Before too long, the music and singing had started, while I joined them (in spirit) with a glass on wine on the rear deck.

The music on the point continued till midnight, with a roaring campfire illuminating the night. In the meantime, I had watched another beautiful sunset and moonrise from the boat.

After the festivities had finished, Rita jumped in Murrindinghy again for a torchlight ride home to Kanumbra (with no mishaps).