Echuca plus a bit

8th – 11th March 2017

Wednesday 8th

Went for a walk around the river in Echuca just after we arrived. Lovely to see the Paddle steamers on the river. Imagination can make it feel romantic – I wonder if it really was though.

We checked in to the Murray River Tourist Park ($33/night) in Moama (NSW side) and relaxed while we waited for Maree and Carl to arrive from Melbourne. They took an onsite cabin. Pleasant, small well-cared-for caravan park.

Great time had by all - with Maree and Carl.

Great time had by all – with Maree and Carl.

After much talking, laughing and catching up we walked over to the Bowls Club for a meal (average). Wow it was quite the Club though – big money in gambling.

Thursday 9th

A lot more of the same today – we had a lot of catching up to do! A walk around the old Port area with its historical buildings and artisan shops was really interesting. We watched a couple of houseboats go out – that looks like fun!

Relaxing by the Murray with Carl and Maree.

Relaxing by the Murray with Carl and Maree.

Dinner tonight at the Thai in Moama – excellent.

Friday 10th

This morning we had a farewell coffee with Maree and Carl at a trendy little coffee shop. We still hadn’t run out of conversation when it was time to say goodbye. Great time guys – thanks so much for coming up to join us.

We moved on to the little town of Leitchville, its raison d’etre being dairy farming. However the big dairy company of Murray Goulburn has done the dirty on the suppliers and many farms have folded and many people left town.

We’re at a truly excellent free camp in town, with separate bays divided by well tended gardens. It’s beside the pool (hot day, cool pool!) and across the road from the bakery where they make arguably the best vanilla slices in Australia. Yes, we did support them too – it was the least we could do.

I swear this is the World's BEST vanilla slice!

I swear this is the World’s BEST vanilla slice!

A local elderly lady came over and handed out tourist information and chatted with me for at least half an hour telling me all about the town – great service. Top little town for travellers.

Saturday 11th

Sad to leave Leitchville this morning. We went for a walk around town – nice, well-cared-for homes and gardens, big, active bowls club, 10 grass court tennis courts … the signs of a prosperous town – I hope it stays that way, despite Murray Goulburn.

We want to see Mungo National Park, but temperatures are very high (37C there today) EXCEPT for tomorrow and Monday when it’s in the 20s before heading back up again. So today we head to Balranald, ready for an early start for the park tomorrow. At Kohuna we stopped at the Tourist Information told the lady where we’re going – very helpful (I thought), then to the grocery store to pick up a few groceries, fruit, veggies, etc. Not a word was mentioned about the Pest Free Area we have to pass through on our way, not carrying any fruits or forbidden vegetables. Not happy!

Lovely drive again. The dairy country morphed into vineyards, which were replaced with almond and pistachio trees. We lunched by the Murray at Swan Hill, then crossed it into NSW at Toolybuc and followed it for awhile. It’s still a muddy, fast-flowing river, not very wide.

Finally at Balranald we camped in the free camp in the swimming pool car park, near to the sporting complexes. Do we never learn! Saturday night and the band played till midnight, then cheery customers wandered noisily past our motorhome on their way home. Still not happy!

To see the photos from these few days CLICK HERE.