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In the 1870’s the town was Australia’s largest inland port. Steam-driven paddle boats would arrive at the wharf where the goods were unloaded and then loaded onto trains to be taken to Melbourne. The historic wharf has been heritage listed. Echuca was a very busy place and at one time there were over 100 pubs/hotels in the district.

The expansion of the railways and the fickle river conditions combined to lesson the importance of the inland port and the population began to move elsewhere.

Today the major industry of Echuca is tourism which adds some $250 million a year to the Echuca economy. The Port of Echuca has one of the world’s largest fleet of operating paddle steamers and thousands of tourists each year take a cruise on the quaintly named paddle steamers. PS Emmylou, PS, Canberra, PS Pride of the Murray, PS Alexander Arbuthnot, PS Pevensey ply the river taking tourists for sightseeing, lunch and dinner cruises.

The historic wharf district contains many restored buildings and the Port of Echuca Discovery Centre which contains displays and access to the restored redgum wharf. Access to the Discovery Centre and the wharf is free.

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The town streets near the wharf area have retained their heritage feel with verandahs and heritage signage while the newer modern shopping area is a few blocks away. Echuca is a popular tourist destination all year round.

After a wander around the historic wharf we headed to The Shamrock Hotel for some lunch. These Irish Pubs just seem to draw us in. The Shamrock Hotel is well known for its Parmy menu. They have 101 Parmy dishes to choose from. It has a great atmosphere (almost like a pub in Ireland except much much bigger) and they even have Guinness on tap. I loved the red pressed metal ceiling in the bistro.

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We wandered along the historic shopping street but it was getting colder, more windy and looked like rain so we thought it might be a good idea to start looking for a camp for the night. WikiCamps showed a camp at the Rotary Park just 3km from the historic wharf so we thought we’d give that a look see.

The Echuca Rotary Park is huge with plenty of room for many rigs of all sizes. You must be self contained. It is a small donation of $10 for camping and $5 to use their dump point and fill up with water. We think that is very reasonable for this great facility. We used their dump point and filled up with water before finding a nice flat spot on the gravel down next to the Campaspe River. When I looked out the window I could count about 15 camps, mostly caravans but a few motorhomes too. There was another Esperance right behind us.

We had just set up camp when the rain came down however it did not last long but it was very cold so it was a good time to update my blogs and for Rich to catch up on the news.

We stopped in the tiny town of Picola to view the Silo Art. The work is by Melbourne artist Jimmy DVate and depicts the flora and fauna of the nearby Barmah State Forest. The painting includes a Superb Parrot, brumbies, a Peregrine Falcon, a kangaroo & joey, a Freckled Duck, and Emu, an Eastern Great Egret and contains a hidden fishing hook. The artist included this because Picola was once known as ‘The Hook’ as it was the ‘end of the line’ when the railways were being built. It took a while to find the hook hidden on a branch in a tree.

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We stopped a little further along the road in the little town of Barmah to check out the River Punt that has been lovingly restored and put on display. The Barmah Punt is the earliest remaining example of a cable punt ferry crossing the Murray River. Punt ferries were once the most common form of deep river crossing.

The majority of the punt is made from red gum timber and put together with forged nails and spikes. It has a loading ramp on each end that was raised and lowered using steel cables and pulleys. Prior to 1953 the punt was manually hand winched across the river by the ferryman however the punt was motorised in 1953.

In 1929 the NSW Department of Main roads took over operations and commissioned the construction of this punt. The punt was in continuous use until the new bridge was built in 1966.

In 2017 a $200,000 grant was given for the conservation of the Barmah Punt and it has been lovingly restored and displayed next to the river where it used to make its regular crossings.

Interestingly the Ned Kelly Gang once used the punt to cross the river. They played a game of cards at the Barmah Hotel and Ned bought a horse for 50 pounds before continuing on their way to Jerilderee.

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We crossed the new bridge over the Murray River that replaced the punt in 1966 and we were once again in NSW for a short time. It was even more windy than earlier in the day as we made our way to Moama. It was so dry that the wind was whipping up the sandy soil and blowing it around creating a hazy day.

One question we get asked repeatedly from people wanting to know more about motorhoming and particularly free camping is how safe is it. I have to say that in all the years we have been camping and mostly free camping we have never felt unsafe. That is until last night!

We were camped at a gorgeous spot right on the Murray River at Yarrawonga Common. This is a free camp provided by the local council. It is a loop road along the bank of the river and there are many campsites all the way along. There are no facilities so you must be self contained. There were no signs to say how long you could stay but it is a lovely spot for a few days. You can walk into town from there. Camp fires are permitted so we made use of that and got our little fire pit out and cooked our dinner on our Bidgee BBQ.

It was a lovely spot with fabulous views of the river. On the opposite bank is a golf course and we could occasionally see golfers as they made their way around the course.

We met some lovely people who were camped next to us along the river bank in their motorhome and they came over after dinner and joined us around the camp fire. This is one of the most enjoyable things about camping….meeting new people. We had a most enjoyable evening with lots of laughs and good conversation.

The only thing that spoilt this great spot was a camper further along the river who was either on drugs, had serious mental health issues or was very drunk. He has set up his camp and looks like he’s been there for a long time. Late at night when it was very dark he started yelling and oh my gosh! The language was very colourful. It was a bit scary listening to the rantings of this man, who sounded a little crazy, so we decided to call it a night and retreat to the safety of inside our motorhome.

We made sure we packed up everything outside and then locked ourselves safely inside. We have never felt the need to do this before so it was very disappointing that the actions of one person can affect so many. I’m sure all the other campers felt that same as we did.

The local ranger did a drive around the loop road just on dusk so they must be aware of this long term camper. It’s time they did something about him and moved him on so people can once again enjoy this lovely scenic spot.

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I bought a kayak! After trying my cousin Catie’s kayak I really wanted to get one of my own but where to store one in our motorhome? Catie stores hers on the roof of their car as they have a 4WD and caravan. I don’t think I could get one up on the roof of the motorhome.

I did some research and discovered inflatable kayaks. I found one on Amazon for $120 and thought what have I got to lose? It looked like it would pack up neatly and maybe would fit in one of our outside bins. Not sure that Richard will happy to ditch the Webber but I could only ask. Turns out he was OK with that as we have our Bidgee BBQ if we want to cook outside. So the bin that used to house our Weber BabyQ now houses my kayak.

The kayak arrived in quick time from Amazon. It is an Intex Challenger and comes complete with collapsible paddle and hand pump. It is quick to inflate and the whole set up takes about 15 minutes to have it ready to put in the water. It has a detachable skeg that you put on last thing before you get in the water.

I tried it out on our dam at home and thought it was a lot of fun so next thing is to try it on a real river.

There was a good launching spot not far from our campsite at Yarrawonga Common so here I am on my first paddle on the Murray river.

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I paddled for an hour, up to the weir where the water from Lake Mulwala enters back into the river. I got right up close to the buoys and the noise of the water as it comes across the gates was very loud. It is very peaceful out on the water and although there were a couple of fishermen on the bank and one in a little fishing boat, it was really only me and the birds on the water.

Great flocks of Corellas swarmed overhead as I was returning to camp. They are such noisy birds! I was glad to see Richard at the bank as I returned as I dont think I could have got it up the steep bank on my own. Back at camp her had the fire pit going and it did look inviting.

It took about half an hour to deflate the kayak, towel off the water and pack it back into its bag. By this time it was dusk and I was cold, wet and had sore arms. A hot shower was very welcome before I joined Rich out at the fire.

Fancy being able to free camp right in the heart of a major rural city. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing for a couple of days. Albury City provides free camping to self-contained vehicles only in one of their large all day carparks right behind the SS&A Club. It is a perfect location for a short stop in the city as you can walk to most places.

Dean Street is the main shopping street in Albury and is only one block away. Like many main streets Dean Street has been affected by the construction of shopping centres and Albury has a few of those around it’s CBD. Sadly this leaves quite a few of the shops in the Main Street empty and looking for tenants. Albury is a large city and has all the usual stores you would expect a large city to have like Myers, KMart, Target and specialty stores.

The Albury Botanic Gardens are a few blocks walk away and well worth the visit. They are really beautiful. The Children’s Garden had us wishing we had some grandchildren with us so we could check it out. It looked like a really fun place for children.

One of the newest additions to the CBD in Albury is Harris Farm Markets and what a find! They are fabulous. We visited a couple of times during our stay to stock up on delicious pate, cheeses, fruit and vege and smoked salmon. They have one of the best selections of deli goods that I’ve seen in a long time. We will be right for snacks and lunches for the next few days.

Albury is a major rural city in NSW and has a population of almost 50,000. Just across the Murray River is its twin city of Wodonga and it has a population of approximately 43,000.

The area is part of the Wiradjuri Nation, one of the largest Aboriginal territories. The Wiradjuri Nation stretches out to Deniliquin, Griffith, Condolbolin, Peak Hill, Narrandera, Wagga Wagga and up into the Snowy Mountains at Tumbarumba.

Hume & Hovel came across the Murray River near Albury in their 1824 explorations and they named the river the Hume River after Hume’s father. Funnily enough Charles Sturt also came across the river in his exploration in 1830 and, not realising it was the same river, named it the Murray River which eventually became the name for the whole river.

European settlement began and the town plan was gazetted in 1839. The CBD has many fine examples of buildings from the 1800’s and many are Heritage listed. The CBD also has some beautiful examples of the Californian Bungalow style of home. These were mainly built in Australia between the two World Wars. Our dear friends Peter & Michele live in a classic California Bungalow.

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Thank you Albury City Council for providing the free camp right in the heart of your lovely city. We really appreciated the spot for the few days.

We began our journey following the Murray River from Albury to where it meets the sea in South Australia by traveling from our home town of Griffith, NSW along the Sturt Highway until we reached the tiny town of Collingullie. Here we turned off and went south through the small towns of The Rock, Henty and Culcairn before finally arriving in Albury.

Albury provides a free camp for self contained vehicles only in the car park of the SS&A Club and, although it’s only a car park, the best feature is that it is very central to downtown Albury and walking distance to most things including the SS&A Club, shopping centres and the new Harris Farm Markets. We’ve camped in car parks before in the USA. It is quite a common thing to camp in Walmart car parks over there.

We used our ebikes to follow a bike path along the creek behind the High School, through the gorgeous Botanic Gardens, past the Swimming Pool and down to the river. There is parkland all along the banks of the river which is flowing very fast and seemed to us to be at a high level. Lots of families were out enjoying the sunny day. There were kids on scooters and bikes, families picnicking, the town band was playing and lots of people were walking their dogs. We rode across the bridge and crossed into Victoria before returning back the way we came. We love our ebikes.

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