2018 Road Trip - Day 3 – Echuca Port

Gaz was up and at ‘em early again, doing his exercises in the pool. It’s a very nice tourist park with good amenities, and the water in the pool is warm enough, even for Gary! I was tempted to also have a swim, but I had other fish to fry.

  

As pre-arranged the night before, Marian and I left on our bikes at 9am to do a reccy of the Echuca Port in order to ascertain the plan of attack for the day. Having sussed it out, we raced back to tell the boys to get ready as we needed to be back at 10am to board our paddle steamer cruise which began at 10:15am. The paddle steamer was The Pevensey, built in 1911, and was the one they used in All the Rivers Run. It was a nice one hour cruise where we got to see a little bit of the Murray River and learn a bit about the history of the river trade and paddle steamers.

  

After the cruise it was a short wait until our guide, Jenny, joined us for a one hour walking tour of the historic section of the Port of Echuca. We were regaled with stories, facts and figures, and generally learned even more about the history of the town and the river trade, as well as recent efforts to restore and promote the history of the area. It was fascinating and Jenny was an awesome guide with a colourful history of her own. She gained her masters ticket on a paddle steamer in 1987, something almost unheard of for a woman in those times. She was certainly the font of all knowledge in regards to all things Echuca and Murray River.

    

The cupboard was getting a little bare so Gaz and I did a some shopping after the tour and then headed back to the cabin for lunch. I had forgotten my secret stash of chocolate sultanas so was overjoyed when Gary reminded me and that topped off a great meal. At 2:30pm Gaz & Kev headed off to golf and Maz and I were back on the bikes exploring. A lady had stopped us this morning and told us about some bike tracks we could try…so off we went.

It was pretty hot and windy which made for a gritty experience when we were on dirt tracks but we also found some pathways and reasonably quiet streets as well. I think we did pretty well – we rode for well over and hour through bush, over bridges, on tracks, roads, and pathways, and eventually found our way back home. We had forgotten to take water and were VERY thirsty, finally finding a bubbler only minutes before we got home. It was a good ride.

    

With it being my turn to cook dinner, I then did some prep, went for a quick swim, and then joined the others for happy hour when the boys got back from golf. My beef goulash went over quite well, we polished off Gary’s chocolate peanuts for dessert – the chocolate sultanas were long gone – and about 9pm sent the Priests back to their van with promises to be ready by 9:30am in the morning to head off on our next adventure.

2018 Road Trip - Day 2 – Gundagai, Corowa, Cobram, Echuca

Lower overnight temperatures ensured a comfortable night’s sleep in our cosy cabin at Gundagai. We made another early start with Gary continuing to exclaim at the wonders of the early morning, something he has rarely experienced in recent years. We packed the car and headed into Gundagai, stumbling across the old railway station and the other end of the historic ruin viaduct bridge – of course I had to take more photos. We grabbed some fresh bread rolls, salad and meat, fruit…and a verrry nice vanilla slice and headed off to our first rendezvous, Corowa.

  

We met up with Kevin & Maz in the Main Street of Corowa and spent some time reminiscing with Maz who taught there for a term when she first became a teacher. She said the population was 1,000 then and a lady in a shop told us it’s now 10,000! After coffees for the other three, and a shared scones, jam and cream for Gary and me, we headed off for Thompson’s Beach at Cobram, our designated lunch picnic spot.

  

Thompson’s Beach is fantastic and was a great spot for a picnic lunch. We waded in the Murray River and enjoyed a pleasant lunch for an hour or so. It was hot but not unbearably so. All in all a lovely spot. We then headed off on the last leg of today’s journey and an hour and a half later we arrived at Echuca, our base for the next four nights.

  

We quickly checked in to our cabin and then raced off to see the National Holden Museum, spending an interesting hour there. They had lots of cars there, dating back to the 50s and we enjoyed checking them all out. Gary pounced on the 1964 model he had always coveted but was never able to own. We saw the same Kingswood we owned and did lots of other reminiscing. They also gave an air bag demonstration that was quite interesting.

  

We had a quick look at the river and the various paddle steamers, that we are sure to see more of in the coming days, and discovered a new variety of tree - a thong tree! 

  

After unpacking the car and settling in, we decided to eat out tonight and spent a nice evening at the Rich River Moama Golf Club before returning back to the cabin for a reasonably early night, all to prepare for our first full day in Echuca tomorrow.

2018 Road Trip - Day 1 – Berrima & Gundagai

Wanting to get away at a reasonable hour, I was up before 6 and at 6:30am I went and woke Gary. Staggering out of the bedroom a few minutes later, he was seen to exclaim, “So, this is what 6:30 looks like!” We had finally packed the car and headed off only to find us driving through a deluge. It was slow going with lots of water on the road, but we took our time and made it to our pre-arranged lunch stop at Berrima.

  

We had a lovely lunch at the Courtyard Café at Berrima and met up with Kevin & Marion, our travelling companions. We spent an hour or so wandering around Berrima. What a lovely place! We didn’t have time, but there is a nice Riverwalk along the Wingecarribee River that we saw a bit of and put it down as something to do next time. We came across the historic Berrima Gaol, the courthouse, and some older houses. Thankfully the rain had finally stopped so we stayed dry … but it was pretty cool at 15 degrees.

   

By 3pm we were back on the road and it was another two and a half hours until we got to Gundagai and our first overnight stop. We got a bit lost and went for a bit of a scenic drive looking for the caravan park – we rang them and asked for directions and said we were next to the golf course. Turns out we were on one side of the golf course and they thought we were on the other side! Anyway, we finally worked it out and made it. 

After unpacking we wandered around the park and discovered the lovely Murrumbidgee River right behind our cabin and some amazing disused railway and road viaducts and bridges. By this time it was after 6pm and was now 26 degrees. I think we saw about 3 seasons in one day.

   

Kev & Maz put together a great BBQ dinner, we had a beer/cider or two, and then decided an early night was on the cards. Big plans for tomorrow as we head off to Echuca.