Exploring northern Victoria
Pinnaroo Hotel, technically not in Victoria or on the Murray!
Over the years I have done quite a few road trips in the UK, explored the North Island of New Zealand and went around Tasmania. But I hadn't explored mainland Australia, the distances are so great I tend to fly between places. This all changed recently as I did a 5 day road trip along the river Murray to Wodonga in Victoria so I could visit the Bonegilla Migrant Experience (museum).
I saw a lot of the river and crossed it several times! The first crossing was the Swanport Bridge near the town of Murray Bridge in South Australia. From Murray Bridge I followed the road through the Murray Mallee to my first stop of the small town of Pinnaroo. I was surprised to see how young the towns in the Murray Mallee area were, Pinnaroo was only established just before the railway arrived in 1906. It does have a beautiful old Australia pub with an iron lace verandah, some nicely preserved heritage buildings, a small museum and some very clean and modern public toilets! (Road trips in cars is when you begin to appreciate nice public toilets!)
Victoria buildings, Pinnaroo
Pinnaroo is a few minutes from the South Australian and Victorian border, cross into Victoria and the time moves ahead by 30 minutes. The next section of road is very dry and goes through some small towns that are very 'rustic'!
My first stop was the river town of Swan Hill, I was surprised to see it was quite a big town. It's home to a big fish or as its officially known 'The Giant Murray Cod'.
Australian rural areas seem to have a love of 'big' things, the Big Pineapple, the Giant Rockinghorse, the Big Galah, the Big Banana (which might have been the first 'big' thing) Swan Hill is the home of the Giant Cod and it can be found next to the town's railway station.
Swan Hill has Pioneer Settlement, it began life as a folk museum in the early 1960s. A collection of buildings were relocated to a site by the river and the settlement was built around a paddle steamer.
The Gem at the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement
The Gem worked on the Murray right up until the 1950s, she then spent time as a boarding house in Mildura before being bought and towed to Swan Hill to serve as a centrepiece in the outdoor folk museum that was being built, in 1963.
Pioneer Settlement
Swan Hill Bridge
The area along the river is a park, so very pleasant to walk around. The bridge across the Murray was built in 1896, it's now heritage listed. There is a lift section that is raised to allow paddle steamers through. The other side of the river is the state of New South Wales.
The next stop on the road trip was further along the river to Echuca, this was s short hop of only 90 minutes from Swan Hill.
Echuca has a strong paddle steamer history and had been a major inland port, the Port of Echuca Discovery Centre does a great job in giving visitors an insight into 19th century life on the Murray. I've already written a post on the Discovery Centre.
Port of Echuca Discovery Centre
Port of Echuca entrance
Just a short distance away from the Port of Echuca, there are some heritage buildings with some old time shops. My favourites were the Christmas shop and the second hand bookshop. (Purchases were made from both!)
Christmas Shop, Echuca
Book shop Echuca
From Echuca it was on to Wodonga, it's a major regional centre along with Albury, just across the river in New South Wales. The destination I was after wasn't Wodonga (that ended up being my lunch spot!) but the small town of Bonegilla. Just outside Bonegilla is the Bonegilla Migrant Experience, a museum created in one block of what had been the Bonegilla migrant camp. It's estimated that over 300,000 migrants had passed through the camp and one in 20 Australians (including me!) have a family member who was at Bonegilla.
Block 19
I'll write a more detailed post on the museum at Bonegilla in the future.
Having achieved my objective to see the museum at Bonegilla, I made the return journey along the Murray.
One the return leg I made a stop at Tooleybuc, simply as I liked the name! I did remember I had been through before on the way to cross the Hay Plain. Tooleybuc has also got a heritage bridge, a one lane bridge, you wait for the on coming traffic to clear and then cross the bridge. It's very pretty along the river at Tooleybuc and I enjoyed a homemade jelly slice from the local store!
Tooleybuc Bridge
Another surprise for me was that the town of Tooleybuc was in New South Wales, I thought it was in Victoria! It was a shock to cross the bridge!
Bridge Keeper's Cottage
There's a small heritage cottage down by the river, it's the Bridgekeeper's cottage. It's currently been used as an 'Op shop' the Australian version of a thrift store.
From Tooleybuc I drove up along the river to Mildura, the road crosses the river into New South Wales and then over the Chaffey Bridge into Mildura.
The River Murray at Mildura with the modern Chaffey Bridge in the background.
Mildura main street, with the fountain from Rio Vista.
Free concert in the Mildura Mall
I happened to be in Mildura at the same time as their annual Country Music Festival. I stumbled across this free concert in the mall as I was walking around. People had brought their folding chairs into the mall area, there was a stage set up and different singers performed. It was great!
From Mildura I then did the 120km (very boring!) stretch to Renmark in South Australia. For nostalgia's sake, plus I knew there was a nice bakery in the main street I stopped in Renmark. They were also having busy weekend with a market and a Harley Davidson reunion, I watched them all roar into town.
I enjoyed the road trip and it motivated me to plan some more and explore different areas of country Australia.
Over the years I have done quite a few road trips in the UK, explored the North Island of New Zealand and went around Tasmania. But I hadn't explored mainland Australia, the distances are so great I tend to fly between places. This all changed recently as I did a 5 day road trip along the river Murray to Wodonga in Victoria so I could visit the Bonegilla Migrant Experience (museum).
I saw a lot of the river and crossed it several times! The first crossing was the Swanport Bridge near the town of Murray Bridge in South Australia. From Murray Bridge I followed the road through the Murray Mallee to my first stop of the small town of Pinnaroo. I was surprised to see how young the towns in the Murray Mallee area were, Pinnaroo was only established just before the railway arrived in 1906. It does have a beautiful old Australia pub with an iron lace verandah, some nicely preserved heritage buildings, a small museum and some very clean and modern public toilets! (Road trips in cars is when you begin to appreciate nice public toilets!)
Pinnaroo is a few minutes from the South Australian and Victorian border, cross into Victoria and the time moves ahead by 30 minutes. The next section of road is very dry and goes through some small towns that are very 'rustic'!
My first stop was the river town of Swan Hill, I was surprised to see it was quite a big town. It's home to a big fish or as its officially known 'The Giant Murray Cod'.
Australian rural areas seem to have a love of 'big' things, the Big Pineapple, the Giant Rockinghorse, the Big Galah, the Big Banana (which might have been the first 'big' thing) Swan Hill is the home of the Giant Cod and it can be found next to the town's railway station.
Swan Hill has Pioneer Settlement, it began life as a folk museum in the early 1960s. A collection of buildings were relocated to a site by the river and the settlement was built around a paddle steamer.
The Gem at the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement
The Gem worked on the Murray right up until the 1950s, she then spent time as a boarding house in Mildura before being bought and towed to Swan Hill to serve as a centrepiece in the outdoor folk museum that was being built, in 1963.
The area along the river is a park, so very pleasant to walk around. The bridge across the Murray was built in 1896, it's now heritage listed. There is a lift section that is raised to allow paddle steamers through. The other side of the river is the state of New South Wales.
The next stop on the road trip was further along the river to Echuca, this was s short hop of only 90 minutes from Swan Hill.
Echuca has a strong paddle steamer history and had been a major inland port, the Port of Echuca Discovery Centre does a great job in giving visitors an insight into 19th century life on the Murray. I've already written a post on the Discovery Centre.
Port of Echuca Discovery Centre
Just a short distance away from the Port of Echuca, there are some heritage buildings with some old time shops. My favourites were the Christmas shop and the second hand bookshop. (Purchases were made from both!)
From Echuca it was on to Wodonga, it's a major regional centre along with Albury, just across the river in New South Wales. The destination I was after wasn't Wodonga (that ended up being my lunch spot!) but the small town of Bonegilla. Just outside Bonegilla is the Bonegilla Migrant Experience, a museum created in one block of what had been the Bonegilla migrant camp. It's estimated that over 300,000 migrants had passed through the camp and one in 20 Australians (including me!) have a family member who was at Bonegilla.
I'll write a more detailed post on the museum at Bonegilla in the future.
Having achieved my objective to see the museum at Bonegilla, I made the return journey along the Murray.
One the return leg I made a stop at Tooleybuc, simply as I liked the name! I did remember I had been through before on the way to cross the Hay Plain. Tooleybuc has also got a heritage bridge, a one lane bridge, you wait for the on coming traffic to clear and then cross the bridge. It's very pretty along the river at Tooleybuc and I enjoyed a homemade jelly slice from the local store!
Another surprise for me was that the town of Tooleybuc was in New South Wales, I thought it was in Victoria! It was a shock to cross the bridge!
There's a small heritage cottage down by the river, it's the Bridgekeeper's cottage. It's currently been used as an 'Op shop' the Australian version of a thrift store.
From Tooleybuc I drove up along the river to Mildura, the road crosses the river into New South Wales and then over the Chaffey Bridge into Mildura.
I happened to be in Mildura at the same time as their annual Country Music Festival. I stumbled across this free concert in the mall as I was walking around. People had brought their folding chairs into the mall area, there was a stage set up and different singers performed. It was great!
From Mildura I then did the 120km (very boring!) stretch to Renmark in South Australia. For nostalgia's sake, plus I knew there was a nice bakery in the main street I stopped in Renmark. They were also having busy weekend with a market and a Harley Davidson reunion, I watched them all roar into town.
I enjoyed the road trip and it motivated me to plan some more and explore different areas of country Australia.
Comments
Post a Comment