Blogs from Mildura, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 2

After enjoying our days beside the Murrumbidgee River, it was time to head south and west to Mildura. For us, we wanted this to be a special highlight with several things to see and do. The journey took us back through dry region pasture (wheat and cattle) until we came back to the Murray River. All of a sudden, we were back in highly productive fruit and viticulture, particularly on the left side of the road which was closest to the river and irrigation system. The area around Mildura is known as Sunraisia. It is just staggering the area under intense cultivation. But Mildura was not about horticulture, but the historical paddle steamers on the river. Putting a time line on the history here is interesting. The six of us were booked for a lunch cruise ... read more

Mildura has tripled in size since I last saw it back in the late 90s. Leaving the peaceful banks of the Murray River at Merbein last Monday morning and driving into Mildura was a shock, a non too gentle reality check and reminder of the surburban sprawl that is creeping too fast through this beautiful land and devouring natural habitats and destroying the landscape. Traffic lights, vehicles driving too fast to who knows where, new housing developments and untidy vineyards and orchards sprawling across what were once beautiful Mallee plains. To be honest, I was very disappointed in Mildura and its surrounds and was pleased to move on when we did. Our time in that area was probably not helped by the weather … the winds howled and the temperature dropped again making it difficult to ... read more

After the cold weather on Friday, Saturday 2nd August presented us with a clear cold morning that turned into a warm sunny day. After breakfast we visited the library to check emails and as the system was very slow we headed to McDonald’s to update and issue last weeks Blog and of course enjoy a large flat white coffee. After lunch we then headed to the banks of the mighty Murray River that flows past Red Cliffs and it's famous 'Red Cliffs'. Stunning scenery of the cliffs and the river from a newly built board-walk and lookout. It was then back to St Marks to finish the rest of the weeding. Always good to finish a task for the Church we are at. Sunday 3rd August was the first Sunday of the month and the Sunday ... read more

The PS Melbourne was firing beautifully with all the aromas of steam and fire with a little oil thrown in. Add a lot of sunshine, space to move on the boat and spectacular scenery and a lovely 2 hour ride was experienced. The panoramas are taken from the back of the boat as we head west or downstream from Gol Gol which is where we turned around. Some of the house photos are in NSW in what is known as "Millionaire's Row".... read more

Today we travelled from Mildura to a little town called, Darlington Point. (a very little town) We had to drive across the Hay Plains to get to Darlington Point. The Hay Plains are a part of the Murray River Basin. At the start of the trip the predominant vegetation was Mallee gum trees. As we drove out onto the Hay Plains the countryside and vegetation changed. It became very barren and flat, with round clumps of saltbush and dry grasses. We were also lucky enough to see about six different rainbows on the way across the Plains as there were big storms on either side of us. We then passed through a large region of cotton growing. The cotton had all been harvested and rolled up into big yellow bundles. It was an interesting drive today. ... read more