Thursday, May 21, 2015

Canberra ACT

Canberra ACT. May 21, 2015
Well, here were are, back home again.

See you next time!

Holbrook NSW

Holbrook NSW. May 20, 2015

Left Echuca on the penultimate leg of this tour. We told the GPS 'Holbrook' and then ignored its strident and persistent advice to go the longer way around on the Murray Valley Highway, instead choosing to take the most direct route out through the back-blocks and all the little towns (some not so little) such as  Nathalia, Katamatite, Numurkah,  Yarrawonga and Rutherglen before spilling out onto the Hume and turning North.

We made it into Holbrook about 2pm and were just sitting down to lunch when Bev & John arrived on their first day out on their great northern trek. We haven't seen them for months and it was a great chance to have a good old chat, mostly road-talk, where we've been, where they are going, all that kind of stuff.  Bev brought out a nice bottle champers and we toasted each others health before retiring to our vans to get ready for a big night out at the local RSL club where we will have dinner and maybe another glass of wine.

All the best you two - Safe Travels!




Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Echuca Vic, Moama NSW, PS Canberra, National Holden Museum, FJ Holden

Echuca Vic, May 19 2015

Woke up to a drizzly grey sort of day and went straight back to sleep. Finally dragging ourselves out 'before noon' we headed into town with the intention of going to the National Holden Museum, but got as far as the end of the street when we got distracted by an old telegraph station and the original punt crossing of the Murray. The telegraph station turned out to be a private line which worked for a short time in the 1850s before being turned into a private residence for one of the river-boat captains.

Our caravan park is called Maidens Inn Holiday Park, and part from being huge (two parks combined) is right on the river. Right up one end are these 4 old stone columns topped with a plinth. One can only imagine this big hotel where the maidens of the district lived...  The reality is that maiden refers to an ex-convict, James Maiden who established a punt across the Murray river in 1845 and built his inn on the bank next to it. The columns were the portico of the hotel, long since burnt down and gone. The man-made gully leading down the steep bank of the river and you can see the other track on the other side of the river. Apparently he made a fortune selling beef to the diggers heading to the goldfield, but died penniless in Bendigo.




By the time we made it into town we made a decision to take one more paddle-wheeler ride, this time on the PS Canberra, a decision that left us with only an hour before departure. We elected to have an early lunch at the Beechworth Bakery before heading back to Dock #2 and the waiting Canberra. The Canberra was built in 1913 (hence the name, it's when Canberra came into existence), and in 2013 celebrated its 100th year with a big refit and refurbishment.

PS Canberra. Echuca Vic
Marshall Steam engine, PS Canberra. Echuca Vic

We cruised up the river only far enough to hear all about the local boats and the Port of Echuca and its wharf, before heading back down the river to the winery to pick up some stragglers from lunch at the winery. On the way we passed a few of the old girls of the river

PS Emmylou. Echuca Vic
PS Pride of the Murray. Echuca Vic
PS Pevensey. Echuca Vic
We did actually make it into the National Holden Museum, which apart from an interesting, even if tongue-in-cheek, film featuring Graeme (Alvin Purple) Blundell and the first 25 years of Holden cars had a nice array of Holdens, FX and FJ's taking the pride of place. Oddly, they didn't have an EH, which is of course, the iconic Holden. They had this one odd display, where they had half an FJ up against a mirror, and a Commodore on the other side. Made for some odd photos. They also had a slot-car track, reputedly partly built by Peter Brock and which is supposed to resemble Mt Panorama at Bathurst (one needs an active imagination!)

Really nice FJ Ute. National Holden Museum. Echuca Vic
Half-a-Holden. Ha hah. National Holden Museum. Echuca Vic
I wish GMH had pursued this idea though:

Commodore sports car. National Holden Museum. Echuca Vic

Monday, May 18, 2015

Echuca Vic, Moama NSW, PS Emmylou, PS Pevensey

 Echuca Vic. May 18, 2015

May 18? Heck, that means our new Ford is 1 year old and maybe not so new any more. In fact it has 49132 km on the clock and could do with some new tyres on the front and a bath!

Car by Ford. Parking by Judith.
The drive across from Swan Hill is not the most pleasant in the world, it’s not far but the road is quite bumpy and wanders in and out of towns and around old rivers and creeks and dead dogs and anything else that could be used to preclude a straight line been A and B.

We actually stopped in Kerang for a cuppa, which at least let the big truck that was menacing me go by.

We have been to Echuca a few times now, this time we are staying right out along the river in Moama, which is in NSW on the river opposite Echuca.

We had some lunch in Moama before venturing into Echuca proper. There’s only one place it go really and that is the wharf precinct. There is a street open to the public, with old shops fronts and carts and drays and things, and there is the wharf proper, which costs to go onto, and frankly, we weren't fussed to visit it again.  

Wharf precinct. Echuca Vic
Wharf precinct. Echuca Vic
Bones of a barge. Wharf precinct. Echuca Vic
Instead we elected to take a ride on the paddle steamer Emmylou which has a proper steam engine chuffing it along. We sat and ordered coffee and scones but they were gone before we left as something was going on though causing us to leave 10 minutes late. We had just gone up-stream past the bridge when we turned around and headed back. The people we had apparently been waiting for had turned up and the owner had requested that we come back for them. They didn't want a ride, they wanted to film part of an advertisement for Echuca to be shown on Melbourne TV. The talent turned out to be John Waters, who some can dimly remember being in the show, All the Rivers Run about a 100 years ago. They fiddled about and did heaps of takes and yelled at people for getting in the shot (me mostly) and were very grateful and thanked us profusely for the delay to our trip. Finally we were away again and we tootled off down-stream for about 15 minutes and then came back. If it hadn't had an actual steam engine and the scones hadn't been just right then I would have whinged!

PS Emmylou. Echuca Vic

Steam engine, PS Emmylou. Echuca Vic
TV crew and talent.  Echuca Vic
John Waters, aka Brenton Edwards. Echuca Vic
Still my favourite. PS Pevensey, aka PS Philadelphia PS Philadelphia. Echuca Vic

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Swan Hill Vic, Pioneer Settlement, PV Pyap

Swan Hill Vic - May 17, 2015

Swan Hill has one of Australia's lesser known gems, the Pioneer Settlement village / museum.

We last came here in 2002 on our way to Broken Hill. This time we are staying in the Big 4 right next door, and of course we had all day to explore. And talking of days, today was an absolute cracker - absolutely perfect weather. Our plan was to get there in time for the 10:30 river cruise aboard the PV Pyap before spending the rest of the day wandering about. We just made it! The whistle was blowing as we went through the gate. The Pyap is an 1896 paddle wheeler originally steam powered system, but the engine has been replaced by a diesel. I can completely understand this, but it does detract from the paddle boat experience. However, the Pyap's saving grace is that it has been really nicely done-up and or / restored. It's got loads of charm and character with its polished timber work and a graceful staircase leading to the upper deck. The cruise itself was quite different from the PV Rothbury down at Mildura, the river itself is more natural for a start. Mind you we travelled some 3km upstream with a commentary about the local bits and pieces such as the Murray Downs Homestead, the house-boat marina and the PV Temeraire.

PV Pyap. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
PV Pyap. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic 
Judy enjoying the sunshine aboard the PV Pyap. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
Back on dry land, we had a bit of a wander about the village before heading to the new cafe for lunch which comprised an excellent bowl of pumpkin soup with a meat pie chaser, washed down with a nice mug of coffee.

The village has lots of original old building moved into here from surrounding towns, and a few new buildings built in the very best of the original style from original materials. Apart from the turn of the century shops and houses, there are heaps of old machinery and cars and even a clydesdale drawn carriage. Judy took an immediate shine to Harry, and we were taken on a ride around the town. Not happy with horses, we also took a ride in the old Dodge, well maybe a couple of times...

Harry the horse. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
Judy and newest friend Harry. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
Just and the Dodge. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
We've been to a few of these types of places, such as Sovereign Hill, the Pioneer Village at Inverell and Herberton, and this is a really good representation of a pioneer village.

Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
Brian and his new hat. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
Brian discussing the finer points of three-wheel Glasgow Tractor. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
Kaiser stereoscope. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic
Apothecary.. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic

Apothecary. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic

Black Bess. Pioneer Settlement. Swan Hill Vic

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Swan Hill May 16, 2015

Drove over to Swan Hill today, which is in Victoria but you have to start to from Mildura by going into NSW as far down as Euston before crossing back over. Weather is finally looking better, gads it might even be classified as ‘warm’. We made our way to the Big 4 on the river, the sites are a bit narrow, but you back right onto the river and the place has lots of lush green grass. The van park leads right onto the town park and its a truly lovely place. We strolled into town to get some bread and things before coming back for a sit in the sunshine. Only drawback is that the place ‘has a few water birds’ that think that they own the place and are fairly aggressive in trying to mooch a feed. We assume that they get plenty of feed because everyone is sitting out on the bank of the river watching the water slide by. Oh, what’s that? A paddle steamer. Saving it up for tomorrow!

Judy relaxing over  toastie and tea. Swan Hill Vic
Murray River. Swan Hill Vic
Corellas galore in the pool. Swan Hill Vic
The 1896 lift bridge. Swan Hill Vic

Friday, May 15, 2015

Mildura Vic, Mourouong NSW, Gol Gol NSW, Orange World, PV Rothbury

Mildura Vic May 14, 2015

Another day in Mildura, another boat ride. Well, you just have to have a ride on a paddle-wheeler on the Murray when it's possible. We've done this a few times before, both here and in Echuca, both on steam powered vessels. Last time here we were on the PS Melbourne but this time, apparently it has Friday and Saturday off, for no specific reason and is being replaced by the PV Rothbury. We were early so I had Judy take this then-and-now photo of me and a steam engine:

Brian and K175 a W class locomotive, 1976. Mildura Vic 
Brian and K175 a W class locomotive, 2015. Mildura Vic
The Rothbury was built in 1881 and used as a tug and freight boat up and down the Murray Darling river system. It's last work was carting timber for the timber mill at Mildura and later pulling a barge with a crane on it for building things up and down the river. In 1959 she ceased work and lay idle on a slipway for 10 years until bought by Captain Alby Pointon, who already had the PS Melbourne, and  who then converted it to diesel and the tourist trade.

It's a shame I think, that the steam was taken out, the boat just feels soulless without the heat and noise and smells from a proper steam engine. Anyhow, we travelled down the river, through Lock 11, around to the downside of the weir and back again, exactly as we had done in 2002.

PV Rothbury. Mildura Vic (Actually, it's legally in NSW)
Not content with the excitement of the cruise, we then headed to Orange World. Can you imagine it? The info people and the park people had said it was a 'don't miss' tour, so who were we to argue and bolted for the 2:30pm tour.

Orange World is in Mourourong in NSW, which is just over the river from Mildura. You pull up at what is obviously an orchard and go into the shop. The shop is a small room with a cashier desk, some tables for drinking orange juice at and of course 10,000 articles to spend money on that may have a tenuous link to oranges. The door to the orchard is closed and says No Entry, so we all just hung about reading the paper and ignoring the orange peelers, fridge magnets, fluffy dolls, spoons, snowballs etc etc until the little man came in and organised us into a tour group. But not before giving us the sales pitch on the orange peeler, a plastic thing you use, to score around the orange's middle, then use the end of to lift the skin away from the fruit. A must have - if you don't have thumbnails.

Anyhow, we pile out an onto the orange train (an orange colour tractor pulling a train of orange coloured carriages). As we make our way around the orchard, Mario the owner, gives us the whole story about oranges and lemons (and the bells of St Clemens for all I know, I was tuning out a bit). We did stop and were given a mandarin each picked right off the tree, nice and juicy and fresh. The tour went on and we heard all about the market, the grafting, the right and wrong fruits to grow at home, various types of other citrus fruits and five hundred other miscellaneous fascinating facts of fruit farming. Enough already, here's a snap or two:

Mario and his orange train at Orange World. Mourourong NSW 
Orange World. Mourourong NSW
Totally drained by the excitement, we finished the day with a coffee and cake at the Gol Gol Hotel. Does it get any better than that?

Gol Gol Hotel 1917. Gol Gol NSW 
Gol Gol Hotel 2015. Gol Gol NSW
Actually, it's a rather pleasant hotel with a big decked area out the back overlooking the Murray.

It's getting better tonight. We are going to the Two-hatted Stefano's restaurant at the Grand Hotel. We went here in 2012 and it was really really good with a degustation meal based on the fresh produce that Stefano had found around the district that day, and a sampling of wines selected to match the day's fare. I did get alarmed over the last two days when it started to become apparent that Stefano was no longer there and that his chef had taken over and that it was not the place it had been. Fortunately, my concerns were put to rest when the lady at the info assured me that the experiment had not gone well and that the man himself was back at the bench. We'll see and tell you about it tomorrow.

One other thing that the nice lady at the info found out and told me about was the current whereabouts of the following Chaffey Pump. The Chaffey bros came to Australia from America and invented the irrigation systems that turned the area into the fruit-basket of Australia. This is his first ever pump, designed by him and built just down the road from Mildura. This photo was taken by my mother on one of the family tours in about 1965. That's myself and my sister Pamela on top of the pump. The picture was probably taken at Irymple, now a suburb of Mildura.

Brian & Pamela Black on the Chaffey pump. Irymple Vic, c1965

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Mildura Vic

Mildura Viic May 14 2015
Flashed down from Broken Hill to Mildura, 300km or so. Heaps of wild goats running wild everywhere, but thank heavens they tend to run away from the road, not like roos or emus. Also a few sheep wandering about and who knows what they will do? It’s 265 km BH to Wentworth with nothing much in between. There is a servo / roadhouse at Coonbah, but it’s too early to stop for anything. Those goats continued to show themselves in increasing numbers, we even saw one group with a few fairly new kids, which we haven't seen very often. They certainly way outnumber the sheep and you have to start wondering what impact they are having on the pasture and environment.

Slid into Mildura without stopping, no reason to as Wentworth is only 33 km from Mildura, and we’ve seen the lock, the confluence of the rivers and the old goal a few times already. So press on, and we did. The poor old GPS got a bit confused when trying to find our Big 4 Deakin, on Deakin Road and opposite to Big 4 Crossroads, as they are literally on corners next to each other.

As it turns out this isn't the park we thought we had booked. Got a bit confused as to the one we stayed in before which is up the road a bit, but this will do. We went into town and had a feed at a Hudaks Bakery, which appears to be an clone of the Beechworth Bakeries that have proliferated across the Murray in recent years. Judy reckons that the vanilla slice is as good, that the cook must have learnt the recipe at Beechworth. 

Wandered around the shopping mall in town, which had lots of empty shops, before going over to the riverside park where the paddle steamers were, then back to the info centre and back to the van park. As luck would have it, there is a largish shopping mall right over the road so we walked over and had a sniff about. Judy found the local Millers (is there one in every town in Australia?) and seemed satisfied with her few purchases.


Having had enough fun for one day, we went back to the van and drank wine and ate potato crisps while the pumpkin soup simmered away ready for dinner as well as some home made chicken rolls.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Broken Hill NSW, Sulphide Street Railway Museum, Steam locomotives, Y class, T class

Broken Hill NSW May 13, 2015

Art Gallery day, starting with the Regional Art Gallery - nice building....

Actually, they had several big displays on of Aboriginal art, well not the traditional dot paintings, but a whole bunch of what looked like necklaces made from anything that could be found, a whole room of colour-splash art and a grouping of portrait photographs of the Elders from Blacktown. I thought the photos were excellent, must have a go at this portrait lark one day.

They also had a whole gallery of an eclectic mix of old 'proper' paintings, impressionist, dot paintings, modern and contemporary, who knows. The two old proper ones were the standouts, in that they were in the traditional model where the models are almost lifelike. Had to laugh though, at the top of the stairs, in the top of the stairwell, they had their entire Brushmen of the Bush collection: a few Pro Harts, one Jack Absolom and one other somebody. 6 in all. That was it. Not too good considering these artists are the ones that put outback art and Broken Hill on the map. Oh, there may have been a small Sidney Nolan hidden in another gallery with a couple of Rupert Bunney

We followed up by going to a gallery we went to last time: WendyMartin and if we hoped to see another similar to the one at home we were to be disappointed. Just like Eric McCormick yesterday, their art seems to have moved on. Judy took the consolation prize of some handmade jewellery.

We filled the car up and then went and filled ourselves up at the local cafe. We then had a parting of way: Judy went shopping, I went to the railway museum.  As mentioned, they built their own tramway (not railway, that was illegal) from Broken Hill to Cockburn in SA. The NSW government finally brought the train to town, and built their own station, naturally. Note that the railway gauges were different between NSW and SA, so to go from Sydney to Adelaide, you got off at Broken Hill railway station and walked the two blocks to Broken Hill Tramway station and off you went again. I assume that this was one of many train changes until the Indian Pacific made the journey in one piece in 1970.

Silver ton Tramway Company station. Broken Hill NSW
Silver City Comet. Parkes - Broken Hill, 1937 - 1989. Broken Hill NSW
Silver City Comet, 1st class. Parkes - Broken Hill, 1937 - 1989. Broken Hill NSW
 
Silver City Comet kitchen. Parkes - Broken Hill, 1937 - 1989. Broken Hill NSW
'T' class loco. Broken Hill NSW
Broken Hill NSW 
Broken Hill NSW
We made one last tourist visit, this time to Bells Milk bar, advertised as a 1950's sort of place complete with museum. It makes its claim to fame by just still being there and the fact that they produced their own syrup for the milkshakes. We were not really impressed, it is fairly forgettable.

On the way back I snapped a picture of one of the old mine heads, this one looks like its about to collapse (they are usually straight up and down on the lifting side). The mine is the Rasp mine, named after the fellow who found the silver and lead deposits at Broken Hill in 1883.

Mine-head. Rasp Mine. Broken Hill NSW
I'll throw this one in as well, it's the mine that was a tourist attraction for 30 odd years up until it closed in 2007. Mervyn and I went underground on this very tour in 2002. BHP have since sold the mine and the new owners are mining under it from the Rasp mine, thus making it unsafe for tourists

Mine-head. Delprat shaft BHP mine. Broken Hill NSW