Gundagai to Home

All dressed up and ready to go to dinner last night. We decided on a Chinese Banquet which included dessert of Fruit Salad and ice-cream - Wayne encouraged Phil to up-grade the dessert to Pavlova, Fruit Salad and ice-cream - once again a magnum was held to his head - a bad influence!!

It was a little chilly when we left Gundagai this morning and there had been a very heavy dew. Fuel is no longer available in town so we set off for the fuel station just out of town next to the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox'.

We said our farewells at morning tea near Goulburn - this has been a most enjoyable trip, we had a great time together and look forward to other such trips in the future (when Phil has lost the weight forced upon him by Waynes extravagance!)

Mulwala to Gundagai

After a beautiful sunrise over Lake Mulwala we set off for Gundagai for our last night -  at the Top Tourist Park (photo).

We drove through Albury and then came across two very wide loads being transported on trailers - they took up almost the entire width of the highway -  the drivers of the trailers contacted us on our CB's and advised us that they would, when possible, wave us through when they figured we had room - thank goodness for the radios.

After setting up we took the history walk through the town. This included a walk down to the river to see the 'Old Bridges' - the traffic bridge is now in a sad state but it was part of the road link on the Sydney-Melbourne road until 1977. The rail bridge was built in 1903 and must have been an incredible project in those times - this bridge is about 900 metres long. We also visited the old Railway Station - this was in beautiful condition, well maintained.

This is the last night of our fantastic trip (we will be home tomorrow) so we will dine out at the local club.

Swan Hill to Echuca to Yarrawonga

Last night, by recommendation, we dined at the 'Java Spice' Thai restaurant. The ambience, food and wine were excellent. We dined inside but could have been outside in bure type bungalows - it was all very well done and we can also recommend this restaurant.

We set off from Swan Hill towards Kerang - this section of the road had been flooded but we did not have to detour until just out of Kerang - there was much water beside the road (photo).

We continueed on to the Old Port area at Echuca. This is most interesting - we see old paddlesteamers, smithies and woodturning shops and many others places of interest. We made the decision to push on to Yarrawonga for our overnight.

We had lunch at Nathalia in a park beside the river - very pleasant. It was then on to Yarrawonga where there is a huge lake - water skiing - we drove across the bridge to Mulwala, set up in the Big 4, washed our cars and vans (many, many locusts) and explored Yarrawonga. Water was flowing very strongly through the weir (photo). Back home for happy hour - another great day!! 

Mildura to Swan Hill

We left the Mildura crickets behind (thousands of them everywhere, including in our washing off the line) and set off for Swan Hill. Morning tea was at a rest area beside the Murray (photo) just out of Robinvale.

We set up in the Big 4 at Swan Hill - this is an excellent park with large, grassed sites and outstanding amenities. After a little shopping we headed for Lake Boga (photo) and the Catalina Museum - they are restoring a Catalina (photo) in a new building which was actually built around the plane. Lake Boga was a maintenance facility for catalinas and other flying boats during World War 2 - there is a very interesting Museum here including video footage of Catalina attacks on shipping.
Until recently the lake was dry but is now close to overflowing - sand bags were in place.

We then drove to the banks of the river to once again see it in all its magnificence.

Tomorrow we have a short drive into Echuca for our overnight.