Echuca to Blayney

After leaving Mildura we followed the Murray down to Echuca. It’s a beautiful little town right on the Murray, with Moama just on the other side of the bridge into NSW.

For those of us old enough to remember, Echuca is where that wonderful TV series, “All the Rivers Run” was filmed. Kathy has a very soft spot for The Lovely John Waters, but sadly, he was not to be found striding around the river, nor was he navigating a paddle steamer up and down, nor rescuing damsels’ hats. But, we did have a cruise on the PS Pevensey, which was the very boat which was renamed The Philadelphia for the series, so she actually got to tread the same boards. We love paddleboats, and Kathy particularly could happily spend days just chugging up and down the river – so peaceful and slow enough to really appreciate the passing parade. One can buy a paddle houseboat for $150,000 – quite tempting. The historic jetty at Echuca has been partially restored and it’s an awesome sight.

At Moama we experienced the most amazing markets – it was huge, with produce, craft, a country and western singer, food stalls, dozens of sellers. The stallholders told us that this was only a small market, but we have never seen anything quite like it! We bought beautiful sweet mandarins from the Riverina, and some warm socks for Kathy.

We drove to Kyabram, about 40 km away, to visit an animal sanctuary, run by the locals, where we saw Koalas, hairy nosed wombats, an albino kangaroo, and got monstered by a petulant Mr Black Swan, who was protecting Mrs Swan and the kids.

Kyabram Animal Sanctuary

Then we spent a day at nearby Bendigo, which is a fabulous place, full of beautifully restored and maintained Victorian architecture. Once upon a time, Bendigo had trams and once they stopped running commercially, the locals petitioned to retain them, and now they run as tourist attractions. We got to ride on a “talking tram”- a gorgeous and very rattly 1917 number with stained glass windows and wonderful timber decorations – right through the main street, and all the highlights of Bendigo, with all the modern conveyances being forced to give way to the old tram! Bendigo was a gold mining town in the old days, with a large population of Chinese miners who came to work the goldfields. Their influence is still very evident, with a Joss House, still used as a place of worship, a China Town, and lots of Chinese Restaurants! We had a very lux lunch in an unimposing café.

Talking Tram at Bendigo

We met Angela and Leigh at Echuca – lovely couple from Cairns – who gave us lots more advice on safe caravanning. We discovered, to our horror, that the gadget we thought was for undoing the wheel nuts on the caravan actually wasn’t, and that we had travelled half the continent without a wheel brace! Thanks to Leigh, we now have one!!!

From Echuca to Hay in NSW, which is in the middle of the flattest plain on earth. Here was the internment camp for Italians, Germans and other ‘enemies’ during WWII – even if they were born and lived for several generations in Australia! The campsite was chosen because it was so remote, and was later used for the Japanese POW’s who broke out of Cowra. The museum was housed in several railway carriages, which had bought the internees to the area. It was heart breaking to read some of the diaries, witness the artwork of the internees, and reflect on how little has actually changed over the last 60 years.

Dunera Camp at Hay

On a lighter note we visited the Shearers Hall of Fame which was surprisingly fascinating!

Next stop, Cowra, which boasts the most beautiful Japanese Peace Gardens. We hired a golf buggy and spent hours puttering around admiring the design and the immaculate way the planting is maintained. Even Liz, who likes all gardens to be in straight lines, was inspired. Now Kathy wants a Japanese Garden but realizes she will have to have an army of little men to keep it in in shape!

Japanese Peace Gardens Cowra

Kathy wants one of these!

Cowra is just gorgeous, the cherry trees were all in beautiful blossom, and the canola fields were startling yellow as far as the eye could see. We tried to find a Japanese eating place for lunch, having been inspired by the gardens. Our Sat Nav let us down and we ended up in the back blocks, but were rewarded by views of alpacas guarding lambing sheep, and found a very nice vineyard where we were obliged to buy local wine.

Canola near Cowra

Then onto Blayney, 30 km from Bathurst. The highlight here was THREE circuits of the Bathurst Mount Panorama Race Track. Oh, that was such fun. And no, we have never watched The Race, but just might watch a few minutes of the next one, just so we can say: “We’ve done that!!!” We managed 37kph around the Esses!! To be fair, the racetrack is actually on suburban, residential streets, and there are plentiful signs warning of speed cameras and on the spot fines should one fancy oneself as a motor pro rev head!! There are residential properties adjacent to the track – apparently the residents escape to Queensland for the weekend of the race and rent their homes out for $1000 per bedroom!!

A new career for Liz?

37 kph round the Esses! And down The Straight she goes!!

We popped down to The Blue Mountains for the weekend, leaving our van in Blayney, and were treated to a lovely weekend with Val and Ross. Wonderful hosts as always, in spite of Val sporting a very recently fractured arm (she swears she was sober at the time!) Number One Son came up from Sydney for lunch on Sunday, – such a joy. Thank you, guys, it was a rare pleasure to experience a full sized bedroom and bathroom for a couple of days, though for the life of me, I cant work out just what you do with all that space!!!

Our beautiful sister, Telphia-Leanne drove all the way from Sydney to Blayney, with her tent, to share her birthday with us.

Happy Birthday, Telphia-Leanne!!

In spite of freezing weather, we had a very happy time. We visited Carcoar (The Town that Time Forgot), which looks like your archetypal English Village, with church spires, beautiful old houses and buildings. Population – 200, primary school roll -9. Loved it!

Carcoar, The Town That Time Forgot

We are now in Dubbo, but that will be the subject of the next entry!

Can’t get used to how close everything is to everything else in this area of Australia. There is so much to see and so much to do, its impossible to do and see it all. The countryside is beautiful, very green at present after good rains. Cold (frosts in the mornings – max of 13-14 during the day) but we have been told that it gets very hot in summer, and I imagine the green turns brown fairly easily. Prolonged drought over recent years has obviously has a bad effect on some of the smaller towns, which are full of closed and boarded up shops and derelict homes. So sad to see.

We continue to meet interesting and fun people and have the caravan park thing sorted – can go from pulling up to drinking the first cup of coffee within 20 minutes now!!

Tomorrow we will not be available unless it’s a national emergency from 2.30pm for a couple of hours. We will be watching TV as our beloved Dockers sort the Sydney Swans out. GO FREO!!!

GO FREO!!!