Blogs from Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

We're a bit weary after a late night of conviviality, so we bypass breakfast and move straight on to a very pleasant lunch. "Spoons" restaurant is apparently a Swan Hill institution, and we dine in an idyllic setting on a large deck among the gum trees overlooking the Little Murray River. Issy's still feeling a bit tired after last night's libations, so I head off on my own to the Pioneer Settlement, another of Swan Hill's river-side institutions. It was opened in 1966 as a re-creation of a small pioneer-era Mallee town, complete with church, school, Masonic hall, blacksmith, houses, and Main Street shops - post office, bank, newspaper printing office, dentist, barber, etc. The dentist's implements look every bit as scary as today's versions, which is a bit worrying given I'm fairly sure that the ... read more

After an early morning coffee in Deni, we drove firstly to Barham and then across the bridge to Koondrook in Victoria. Victoria is where Lenny was born (and we will get down to Gippsland soon). Kerang is on the Murray River (west of Koondrook) and has a variety of small lakes and other bodies of water which make it ideal for irrigating (and bird-watching). We spent some time looking for (and at) birds and they spent time looking at us before flying off!We came across several monuments relating to the Burke and Wills expedition and wondered how the explorers could have performed such travelling feats. They travelled over 3,000 kilometres (from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria) in less than six months.Upon entering Swan Hill, we saw a large sign advertising the Regional Art Gallery so ... read more

Day 19 – 11/3/2015 Drove across the border into NSW to get a closer look at Murray Downs homestead. A very large rural property with a house on it that looks like Southfork out of the TV show Dallas. The property adjoins the world class Murray Downs Golf Club & Murray Downs Resort complexes. Spent the rest of the morning taking a casual stroll along the shopping precinct in Swan Hill. In the afternoon we again hopped in the swimming pool & lounged around on the recliners before returning to the pool again, holding conversations with several couples. Another evening BBQ (why cook inside when you can cook outside?) before chasing mosquitoes in the caravan that were obviously immune to the half a tin of insect spray I smothered them with. Two hands were more effective, ... read more

Geo: -35.3426, 143.564All set up with a cup of tea at 11am in Swan Hill for the night, once again right on the Murray River. Drove through Vineyards, Olive Groves and Almond Orchards to get to Swan Hill, beautiful areas and a good trip, looking forward to having a look around Swan Hill, seeing this was the main shopping centre for us 38 years ago.Well we could not remember much about the place, Mick remembered The White Hotel where he had teacher conferences, or that is what he told me and we both remembered the Pioneer Settlement.Had lunch at the Bakery Tearooms and looked around the settlement, the PS Gem used to be a restaurant but today is a museum object with a restaurant built next door. Travelled around Swan Hill and it has changed so ... read more

When we were still at Perthville just outside of Bathurst Dave hauled a bottle of port out of the wine cupboard which had use rolling with laughter. It was a 1983 bottle of ”Kalgoorlie Gold Nugget Vintage Port. The description on the back of the bottle follows. “The grapes of this wine were grown on the south west side of the Fimiston slime dumps where the mercury and lead in the soil allow for a full body flavour. The grapes were then crushed at the Oryoa plant and pressed at the Kalgoorlie Dry Cleaner. The must was settled in tailings dams then fortified in cyanide drums. This wine has a crisp tang of sulphur dioxide and should be drunk as soon as possible. Should you wish to decant this wine the sediment ... read more