29/10/18 Camping on the bank of the Murray, imagining bygone paddleboats steaming past, inspired us to follow the river further west to the town of Echuca. During the 19th century, this was a bustling river port where paddleboat transport linked with the rail junction to Melbourne. These days, Echuca is still a thriving town but the world’s largest fleet of operating paddle steamers no longer carries wool bales and wheat up and down the Murray but tourists like us.
We camped in Moama, the adjacent border town on the northern side of the river, just over the bridge in NSW, and spent a few days exploring Echuca’s historic wharf precinct and the nearby city of Bendigo. The paddle steamer P.S. Emmylou took us upstream from the Echuca wharf for a pleasant morning tea cruise, complete with fresh-baked scones and jam, washed down with barista coffee. The P.S. Emmylou featured as the P.S. Providence in the 1984 television mini-series “All the Rivers Run”.
While the van stayed in Moama, we drove an hour south through Rochester to Bendigo, where we started off our exploration with a tour along the main street on a vintage tram. A derailment of another tram further up the line resulted in a delay, and we continued our look around the city centre on foot, visiting a few art galleries, and strolling through the Dai Gum San Chinese gardens and temple. Bendigo has a lot of lovely old homes and community buildings that celebrate its affluent gold mining past.
On our last day at Moama, we met up with Michael and Elizabeth, friends from back home at Scarborough, who were coming through on the homeward leg of their motorhome adventure around Australia. It was great to catch up with them and the four of us enjoyed a meal just up the road at the RSL Club. In the foyer of the club was a diorama and display featuring what is claimed to be the original bell that hung around the neck of Private John Simpson’s donkey at Gallipol. It’s quite amazing how some things end up where you find them.
The next morning, we farewelled Michael and Elizabeth on their way north and headed off ourselves in the opposite direction. It was a late start as I think we were all rather reluctant to say our goodbyes. South of Echuca, we turned west off the highway to avoid major roadworks being carried out in Bendigo, and followed backroads through the small townships of Raywood, Bridgewater, Newbridge and Eddington to free-camp in the village of Laanecoorie, below the road bridge over the Loddon River. Interestingly, this reinforced concrete bridge was designed and built in 1911 by John (later Sir John) Monash when he was a Civil Engineer, before becoming more notable through his military achievements in WWI.
Laanecoorie was one of many small communities found throughout rural Australia that cause you to wonder how they manage to still exist. From what we could see of the township as we took a walk, it comprised only a few streets, about a dozen houses and a couple of commercial buildings that had long ago ceased to operate. The door of the general store appeared not to have been opened this century, and two very faded signs on its façade for “Peter’s Ice Cream: The Health Food of a Nation” and “Paul’s Extra Cream Ice Cream” brought back childhood memories of cardboard tubs of ice cream eaten with wooden spoons. Post boxes located on the footpath out front suggested the store once provided postal services. Also out front, the bus stop timetable advised potential travellers of the once-a-week service operating only on Fridays. No signs of life were evident on our walk and it was impossible to determine if all of the houses were still occupied as many showed signs of long neglect. Recent vehicle tracks were often the only giveaway. I’m sure that if not for the reasonable proximity of a nearby regional centre, small towns like these would have gone the way of many before them.
This blog item was written from a chair located under a shady pepperina tree, with a view across the Loddon River to a small mob of sheep grazing on the opposite bank – quite a lovely scene – perhaps one reason why people continue to live in small communities such as this.
The weather has continued to be glorious, with mild days, clear skies and very cool nights.
“You’re not in Tasmania yet? You do realise you have to leave the mainland to get to Tasmania.” – Son, Andrew, checking in on our progress.
Kruising Around Australia 