Judy & Brian Tour Oz: Echuca Vic, Moama NSW, PS Emmylou, PS Pevensey

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

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!