We continued west along the Murray toward our next Stop Echuca. Along the way we took a diversion to check out Barmah National Park.
Barmah was another beautiful camping spot along the river, we were considering staying but decided to keep moving on to Echuca.
We arrived to a bustling town, filled with activity, which was opposite to what I had expected. I had thought it was a small town that had passed its heyday as a port on the Murray.
We managed to get one of the last places in the caravan park and then went for a walk through town to grab some lunch. The Main Street had 5 large active pubs in the first 2 blocks and many other restaurants. It was clearly a major tourist spot, which I hadn’t realised.
We then walked through the old port before heading straight to the pool at it was mid 30s. It was like walking onto the set of Cocoon!!
The following day we did a Paddle Steamer wine lunch, with a 1hr ride on the paddle steamer Canberra broken up with a lunch stop at Morrisons wines.
It was a great day, such amazing boats. The lunch was delicious and really made the experience special.
We were on the road to Swan Hill the following morning. We took the route via Barham and hit our first dirt as we entered Mallee Country, defined by the low growing eucalypts that have adapted to the region.
Swan Hill was exactly how I expected Echuca, a lovely quiet town on the Murray. As a guy said in the camp ground – “it’s no Echuca!”.
We had a great campsite right on the river where we could watch the local Paddle Steamer go buy.
We started the following day with a visit to Swan Hill’s claim to fame, the Pioneer Museum.
It was a great park, quite big and covering so many things from the time. What really struck me were all of the things that were the height of invention and resourcefulness in their day, and are now redundant. Particularly relevant in the context of what AI is bringing.
The best part of the day was taking a ride in a vintage car. 101 years old!
In the afternoon we went for a ride around town and along the river trail. A lovely way to see the town.
And then had another fish at dusk.
Where I caught a large, unlucky turtle. I tried to get the hook out but it broke the line and now has a lip ring.
No fish again, but another great stop along the Murray.