Crossing the Border

The Missionaries' Paddle Steamer

The night is cold and I woke at 5:30 feeling it, so put my jacket across my feet and turned on the heater. 

Today is farewell to the Atisha Centre and the Great Stupa. It's been a very pleasant place to stay. Everybody is incredibly friendly.

Last night I spent some time trimming my itinerary for the day, to be a little more realistic in terms of arriving at my destination before dark. I will try to avoid driving in the dark, even driving at dusk, because I have seen the size of the roadkill and my not so little car definitely would not enjoy an encounter with something the size of a large Forester kangaroo.

I drove into Keiser for my physio and then headed towards Echuca, passing by a church I'd noticed previously that has a bell tower that looks more like a mining gantry  than a bell tower.

For some obscure reason, maps chose to take me off the Midland Highway and send me via the back roads.  No idea why!

As I drove, the landscape was dominated by greens and yellows. The yellow weedy oxalis flowers gave way to wattle and then fields of canola which are rather beautiful.

As I passed a branch of the Bendigo bank, I was reminded of a snippet of information from yesterday's talking tram ride. The Bendigo bank had its origins as a financial institution that provided loans to miners so they could buy the essentials when they arrived at the goldfields.

As I travel further north, I noticed the fruit trees have more and more blossom, white and pink is everywhere through the towns.

At Echuca I go to a paddle steamer office to be told that they're not running today, but then I'm directed to the opposition further up the street. They are able to accommodate me on the oldest paddle steamer running on the river, and after checking with my anticipated destination for the night and finding that their reception is open till 8:00 p.m. I commit to a ticket and find somewhere I can park my car for a sufficient length of time before sitting in the park to eat my lunch, looking up at the trees, which just starting to produce their soft green buds.

Private Paddle Steamers on the Murray

The paddle steamer trip on the river is rather lovely with quite a bit of history of the paddle steamers, which were of course designed to carry freight, not passengers, so seating wasn't the height of comfort. Echuca boasts I think, 7 out of 18 of the functional paddle steamers in existence in Australia, including one which is a missionary boat providing church services into the 20th century. 

We also got a bit of history of the area including passing where the original swimming baths where the original swimming baths where. They were just an enclosed section of the river, back when the river was slightly cleaner than it is now. The filthy water is due, at least in part, to the increasing number of European carp which are bottom feeders and muddy the water. Though the technique of turning the pedal steamer around downstream was interesting and certainly would contribute to muddying the water. Basically the skipper beached the vessel, let the tide turn the back of her and then the paddles we used to pull it off the bank. 

Stirring up the md

We also heard a bit about the floods, both the 2022 flood which was marked on the old railway bridge and the highest known flood before that which was some significant level higher. In fact the mainstreet, at that point, was 3 ft underwater. 

The marker for the 2022 floods

 The river in flood also erodes around the tree roots and it's a wonder how some of the trees are still standing 

Erosion exposing tree roots

We passed a beach and were told it's rated one of the 10 best beaches in Australia. I'm not quite sure why, Tasmania has many better than that, but let's not tell anybody. 

One of Australia's top 10 beaches?

From there I was in two minds about visiting Cactus Country but Google suggested, and its website confirmed, as did the sign at its gate, that it was closed today. So my dilemma was solved and I proceeded to Urana.

As I travelled, I'm not sure how many times I crossed the border between Victoria and New South Wales as my route took me to and fro across the mighty Murray.

This is clearly canola growing country, sometimes with field after field of it in flower.  As I drove, I thought it looked very much like a brassica and a quick conversation with Google verified this.

The Urana caravan Park is delightfully located on the shore of an artificial lake and when I arrived I was told I could pretty much take my pick the of sites that weren't occupied - both powered and unpowered, even though I had requested an unpowered site. However, since the powered sites were dreadfully close to a couple of vans travelling with a small, yappy dog, I opted for one of the unpowered sites a little further away and close to the water. 

The view from my campsite

I set up my camp with my awning over the main part of a picnic table, so I can sit sheltered in my comfortable chair but also use the picnic table rather than needing to set up my folding table. 

Ready to relax

The camp kitchen and the amenities block are adequate.

I sat enjoying dusk with a glass of wine and some cheese and biscuits to the sounds of kookaburras, frogs, and waterfowl while a lone Pelican quietly sailed it's way across the water. 

I tucked into my sleeping bag as the full moon was rising through the trees, the light from it was rather lovely.