Echuca

---

For once, we had a lazy start to the day, relaxing by the river and putting the world to rights with our neighbours Gary and Kirsty. They’ve been travelling for ages, had reassuring words and sage advice about camping over Easter, and have persuaded us a visit to Canberra would be a good idea! Valerie’s been drooling over their van ever since; it had a proper bedroom, bathroom, fully equipped kitchen, HUGE fridge and freezer, 3 piece leather suite and remote control tv! ... and a trailer to carry their smaller car - ideal for getting the best spots on the sites, and leaving everything in situ before going off to sightsee for the day in the car. (and parking must be a doddle too!)

Eventually, we got going and visited the nearby town of Echuca. Although still part of the Goldfields, its real importance was as a river port. Apparently, two convicts, transported over to Oz on the same ship from Lancashire, realised that there was a crying need for a better transportation system and set up the ports both here and nearby Moama. (This was after one of them had served as a policeman for a few years ... after he’d been transported to Oz for handling stolen silk!) This is reflected in the town - it’s fairly large and sprawling (by Australian standards) with a few interesting older buildings. However, the port area stands out. Why? It’s outstanding! Every building retains a period character, various relics line the streets, the roadside gutters are wood lined, and even some of the paths are of wood block construction.

The star attraction for us was fittingly the Star Hotel. When the railways took hold, the river traffic declined and many of the hotels in the area were de-licensed. The Star defied its loss of license by keeping a basement bar going, complete with secret exit. Today’s visitors can see the “gin-joint” basement returned to something of its former glory - although it was such a well kept secret most patrons seemed oblivious of its existence! Ironically, the previous owners of the building had had no idea that it was there - it was only when it was purchased by the Town of Echuca that it was rediscovered (although they had to excavate the years of rubbish that had filled the space).

Along the river-front there is fine collection of paddle steamers some of which run tours “up and down” the river. Unfortunately, parking restrictions meant we had to get back to the van. We decided to head up to Ned Kelly country and set up camp by the Murray again. We were about 100km into another boring drive, studying every letter box in the hope of finding another interesting one, when suddenly the most amazing lake appeared before us with a forest of dead trees rising hauntingly from its waters. We couldn’t believe our eyes as we screeched to a halt to take some photos. It was strange to see a boat picking its way round the trees - I should imagine it’s hazardous to say the least!

The next amazing sight was our campsite, Valerie’s excelled herself again finding one of the loveliest free spots on the banks of the Murray River - even better than yesterday’s and I thought that would have been impossible! More laughing kookaburras and, as the night fell, a brilliant moon, shimmering off the river, helped illuminate our little clearing. Life doesn’t get much better!

---