2019/11 Australia trip - Echuca |
|||||
Tuesday November 19th
I’d thought to visit Murrumbidgee national park, only 80 miles or so away, but the forecast for the area was for 41C, about 105F. We were also running out of clean clothes so we decided to head south and make our way back to Melbourne, staying overnight at Echuca, about halfway. Along the way we stopped at Lake Boga to look at the restored Catalina flying boat, but admission had been priced beyond what the casual visitor would be willing to pay.
We followed the south bank of the Murray, with the intention of stopping off wherever there were wetlands and backwaters and nature reserves. The Murray winds through some beautiful woodlands, as shown above.
 |
Murray River birds (0.55) |
 |
|---|
We found some wetlands and walked to a bird hide giving us a view of what they called an ibis tree, but the current occupants were spoonbills. There was also a good mix of other water birds.
We followed a few side roads which took us nowhere worth stopping for, except this herd of cows being moved by a very skilled dog.
We passed through Kerang where Carolyn used to work and arrived in Echuca in late afternoon. We checked in at the Echuca Motel, a place John and Edna had stayed at before. 
We walked around Echuca Wharf admiring ancient machinery, a locomotive, and numerous old paddleboats.
Echuca used to be the country’s major inland port, the closest place on the Murray River to Melbourne, but today it is just a pleasant and interesting tourist town with plenty of old buildings and restored machinery. 
This family of ducks were out on the lawn, with Mama Duck teaching her ducklings how to prosper from the tourists.
|
Echuca ducks (2.18) |
 |
|---|
We drove over the river bridge to Moama in NSW to eat at the Bowling Club but the place was very busy with a table wait of an hour or more, so we came back to Echuca and found the Royal Hotel, where Tuesday night was Parmi Night. Parmi is the Australian rendition of chicken parmigiana; in this case about a dozen meals with different meats and cheeses.
Echuca’s forecast for Wednesday was 44C, about 112F. South Australia already had that weather and the resultant catastrophic fire conditions. We would be leaving the Murray behind and following the Goulburn River towards Melbourne.