Monday, May 2, 2022

Tocomwal to Mildura - the Murray River

 One of my main objectives for this trip was to see the paddle boats on the Murray River at Echuca.



We parked by the Murray River the next morning to have breakfast. At 2508 km long, it is Australia's longest river.


The river is lined by a levee to protect the town from flooding.





We headed to the bridge over the river to Victoria.This road was closed to normal traffic for months during Covid which was very inconvenient for people on either side of the border.


The river.



The southern side is basically a swamp area.


The southern side of the river in Victoria is basically flat as a pancake.



A huge herd of cows.


Since the land is flat, the roads are straight for miles.




We came to Echuca which was a major port on the river.



Echuca has many fine buildings from the late 19th century.

As a port, Echuca was home to many paddle steamers. There is a museum and there will be a separate blog entry which will cover it.



We had lunch at Kerang and then managed to find a toilet at the train station.


There are several largish lakes in the area.


We came to Swan Hill which is another former port city on the Murray River. There is another paddle boat museum similar to the one at Echuca, but one such museum is enough for one day so we did not linger.




Our Google Android Gps took us on some back roads to Mildura.


A long, long straight road. It was quite narrow in parts, and we had to get off onto the dirt when meeting other cars and trucks.


Roadworks! The bane of driving in outback Australia.


We were travelling through an area know as The Mallee and these Mallee Scrub trees have to survive in very poor soil with little moisture. They are renowned for being very tough.


Again, it was an interesting drive and we are both really enjoying the triop so far.






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