26 Feb: Echuca
We drove down to the historical port of Echuca to see the old
wharf and
the famous
Echuca
paddle
steamers.
We went on
a guided
tour of
the old wharf and the
nearby
Star Hotel
with its
secret
underground
bar and get-away
tunnel.
The port
of Echuca
was the
biggest
inland port and the third
biggest
port in
Australia at
the
beginning
of the 1900's.
Paddle
steamers
used to
dock at
this
historic port on the river
Murray
heavily
laden
with wool
and red
gum wood. The paddle steamer
we cruised
on dated
back to
1923, but
there is a
fully restored
working
paddle
steamer
which
dates back
to the 1860's. After the
river
cruise we
did some
fudge
tasting
and some wine tasting on the
wharf,
before
heading
further
east in
the campervan to a
beautiful camp
spot on
the river
for the
evening.
The girls did
their
homework
and we
cooked
steaks
and good old fashioned mashed
potato on
the gas
stove. We
could
hardly
hear ourselves talking over dinner as
the
resident
cockatoos
made so
much noise until well after
sunset...
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| Echuca
historic
wharf
with its paddle steamers |
Paddle steamer
on
the
Murray River |
Lovely camp
spot
by
the river |
27 Feb: Albury
This morning we drove from our idyllic riverside camp spot in
Yarrawonga
to Albury,
arriving
at 11 am.
We were
lucky to
get the
last free
site at
a campsite
we'd
selected
in a guide
on
the
way.
We
spent
the
rest
of
the
morning
doing 4
loads of
washing
(yes 4!),
hanging it
all out to
dry and
catching
up on our
e-mails.
After
lunch we
had to do
a spot of
food
shopping
and buy
Jenny some
new
sunglasses
because
her old
ones broke
beyond
repair
this
morning... We
then went on
a
short
drive into
Albury to
the river
where we
had
hoped
to
swim in
the river.
It wasn't
very
inviting
so instead
we
took
the
girls
to
the
town's
swimming
pool with
a water
slide.
They loved
whizzing
down the
slide;
Gaelle
looked on
small form
however with
her arm
dangling
by her
side all
the time.
It's
still not
recovering
as rapidly
as we had
expected...
Then back to the campsite for a spot of homework, a BBQ and an
Internet
session to
Skype our
parents.
It's nice
to have a
calm
day
once
in a
while
to
recharge
the
batteries.
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