Day 21: Fri 1 Jan: Echuca Moama to Hillston 369km

After a really good evening, which included a visit to the Campground party, we had a bit of a broken night's sleep (think illegal fireworks followed by terrified pooches leaping into bed with us and then ear splittingly bad Karaoke at 3am from the ferals on the other side of the river ..) we were a little bit slow getting started on the first day of 2016!  But after nice wam showers we were revitalized and hit the road at 9.30am. 

Originally, we planned to go to Wilcannia but it was a big 520km and we read about a nice place just out of Hilston (400km), so we headed there instead. 

It was 33 degrees and overcast when we left Moama and it quickly crept up to 38 degrees as we neared Deniliquin and its huge fields of straw bales (some round and some rectangular, just to keep things interesting!). There were also various vehicles stuck on top of posts here and there (a ute, a mini and a tractor,,,), not sure what that's about, but anyway!

The 180km stretch of the Cobb Hwy between Deniliquin and Hay is affectionately known as The Long Paddock and it is very apt. There was literally nothing but completely flat low scrub as far as the eye can see, with just the road disappearing into a hazy mirage on the horizon.  

I hate to say it, but honestly, it was just so utterly featureless. I would hesitate to say "boring" though, because just the vastness of the sky and land was staggering in its own right. 

Occasionally there was a bit of excitement - like a sheep on the road or after we stopped to let the dogs out and then thought we'd forgotten Sunshine for a brief moment (it's ok, she was just camouflaged on the bedding!!). We did notice the word "Gin" on various signs and after a bit of Googling found out that there are several Cotton Gins in the area - factories which sort the cotton fibers from the seeds. Interesting!

We scoffed our homemade wraps in the car (so much easier to eat than regular sandwiches!) and made it to Hilston at 1.30pm, after a brief stop to investigate a strange rattling sound, which we thought was coming from the roof, but turned out to be a loose Coke bottle in the Esky !!  LOL

We knew we were going to be dodging rain for the next few days, and so far it was cloudy, hot and humid, but no rain. 

About 30km North of town we turned off the highway and followed a dirt road for  10km til we reached our destination for the night, Billabourie Station. It was right on the river, had power, hot showers and bathrooms but was only $25 a night and the owner had told us we were welcome to stay, even though they were actually away themselves!

We drove in and it was like a perfect bush wonderland - all to ourselves!!  A beautiful river bend, comets with lily pads, beautiful grassy flat riverbank sites. And did I mention we were the only ones here!  Absolutely magic :). Four very very happy campers. 

Steve even decided to do a spot of fishing... Lasted a whole 30 minutes before he gave up!  He nearly caught Spike though, when the stupid dog lunged at the bacon rind on the hook! Sunshine meanwhile trotted off in search of some poo to eat (her favorite camping pastime) and hit the jackpot when she found a dead carp rotting in an old firepit ... Eww. Needless to say, she got a dunking after that! 

We snacked for dinner as it was just too hot to make anything at 38 degrees and then we sought refuge inside from the horrendous sand flies when they attacked at dusk!

We rejigged our route a little based on the forecasted rain which would prohibit us from staying at Charlotte Plains as planned. We decided instead to strike out for Bourke the next day and spend two nights there.  

Day 20: Thurs 31 Dec: Echuca Moama

Laura was up early doing clothes and dog bed washing while Steve was working hard on his snoring. 

By the time he opened his eyes everything was pegged out and the coffee was on. 

It was a pretty hazy, hot looking day and when we checked the forecast, we found out there was a storm front moving towards us from Bourke. Which of course meant that we would be driving into it in the next few days, since we are heading directly north!  Ah well, nothing new there then!

We threw the pooches into the Triton and headed into the historic river port town of Echuca. 

Echuca is on the Victorian side of the Murray River and Moama (where we stayed), is on the NSW side. 

Echuca means "meeting of the waters" and was founded in 1853 by two ex-convicts from the UK.  Only 50 years later, the whole of Australia was a major world economical power, purely because of the role Echuca played as the main hub in connecting the country via its rivers. 

It still has a thriving Paddlesteamer fleet, although today it serves tourism instead of commerce. 

The other great thing about Echuca is that is the most dog friendly town we'd ever come across.  

We decided to go on a morning Paddlesteamer cruise - with the dogs!  We went into the Discovery Centre (with the dogs) to get our tickets and also booked into a guided tour for afterwards. Oh and did I mention we were allowed to take the dogs too?!

The cruise on the PS Canberra was awesome. We chatted with the 76 year old skipper who had handmade most of the netting and woven matting that's used on the vessels. The dogs were treated like VIPs and Sunshine even had a steer!

After the cruise we went on a walking tour of the town. It was so well done and the guide, Bluey, was fantastic. He really brought it all to life and we learnt so many new things things, like how Bendigo was and still is, the richest gold mining area ever in the history of the world. And how when the town only had a population of 5,000, it still had 78 pubs! Lots of thirsty wharfies means lots of beer!

Possibly the best part was visiting an old Speakeasy underneath the Star Hotel, complete with secret tunnel to evade the police! 

It was quite spooky, especially when we emerged out of the tunnel and the Publican pounced on us and yelled in our faces to get the dogs the hell out of his pub!! We later discovered he was new and thought of by the staff to be particularly ignorant and arrogant. The pub is owned by a Town Councillor and we were assured he would not be at all happy with the way his employer behaved! Hah! Rude idiot!

We waiting demurely outside until the tour guide came up and apologized profusely. All good and we finished the tour on a high along the oldest part of the wharf, which was purpose-built to be three stories high to cope with the huge range in river height through the seasons. 

Back to the campsite for a rest before New Years Eve!  We had a BBQ chook Caesar salad and a few drinkers before checking out the celebrations going on at the big communal kitchen. 

It all looked a bit crowded, so we sauntered back to the van for our own private party. Several more drinkies later we decided to hit the hay with the idea of getting up at midnight. Yeah right, like that was ever gonna happen!

Whatever is the opposite of party animals, describes us to a tee! 

Day 19: Weds 30 Dec: Burnt Bridge to Echuca 242km

We had packed up the night before, so we allowed ourselves a sleep in til 8.30am. We deflated Fleur and put her back in her box...ok, I lied. There was no way we could ever make her fit back into the packaging again LOL. she just got squashed into the back of a cupboard!!

The dogs had a last run down to the creek and we took a last look around our beautiful campsite. 

Steve turned the van around, (after checking puppies were on board!). Laura hopped in and we started up the track, All was calm and peaceful; the creek burbled gently over rocks, the superb Blue Wrens were twittering in the grass... When suddenly a scream pierced through the stillness!!!

Laura was grabbing her foot and screaming loudly!  Steve looked over, saw a humongous Bull Ant in her shoe and immediately followed the time honoured procedure as follows:

1.  Sit woman down and tell her very firmly to shut the hell up;

2.  Reach behind seat and pull out instant ice pack from First Aid (whilst patting woman on knee);

3.  Ignore woman's persistent screaming and tear open packaging with teeth;

4.  Punch ice pack (not woman) with spare hand to activate (other hand still patting knee reassuringly);

5.  Apply ice pack to woman's foot whilst removing woman's nails from shoulder,

6.  Talk soothingly (albeit very loudly so as to be heard over screams);

7.  Repeat steps 3-6 as needed until either woman stops screaming, or until deafness occurs, whichever happens first.

Important note: ice pack cannot be refrozen but makes a handy gag if woman's screaming continues :)

Below is a Bull Ant next to a normal ant. Enough said!

Phew, what an exciting start to the day!

We then drive half an hour towards Benalla, laughing about aforementioned Bull Ant, when suddenly BOOM CLASH CLANK!  Aarghhh what now?!

Have we blown a tyre? Did we hit a wombat or a shredded truck tyre?

We pulled over and got out and there was a large space on the roof where the $400 Max Treds were supposed to be!  Oops!

A bloke pulled over and said "you lost something 500m back mate"!  Steve quickly dd a u turn and went back whilst Laura legged it on foot to look for the tie-down ratchet!

Just as Steve got there, he sees some bloke putting them in his 4WD!  So he flashed his lights, screeched to a halt and explains very nicely that they were in fact, his!

All good, the bloke handed them over, Laura found the ratchet, we re-pack the roof and continued on. As we do!!

And it's only 11am!

By now it was warm at 30 degrees and sunny and there were what Laura thought were little yellow butterflies in the long grass at the roadside. Turns out they were actually some kind of grasshopper. Still pretty though!

We stopped in Benalla for fuel and a snack, around 12pm ($1.28) then headed on towards Echuca. 

The rest of the drive was uneventful and we just enjoyed the drive, passing through apple and cherry orchards and fields full of hay bales. 

Outside Shepparton were the famous painted cows, grazing next to the river. 

Soon after, we arrived into Echuca, had a quick drive around before heading 5 mins out of town to Moama and CocoBend caravan park on the Murray. 

Everywhere was bustling as people got ready for their New Years celebrations. 

We got a great spot under a shady tree, right next to a dam full of yabbies! 

Once we set up we walked along the riverbank and were absolutely gobsmacked at the number of people camping, swimming, boating, jet skiing, water skiing and houseboating. 

It was so crowded it was actually unsettling and as we watched, our hearts were in our mouths as there were several near collisions. 

We popped into Echuca to restock the pantry and then spent the evening next to our private water feature. The owner has a pet goat and a toy poodle and it was so cute to see them playing together. 

The evening was spent beside the dam after having our first hot showers for 3 days (yes we still washed at Burnt Bridge but it took a lot more effort for a lot less warm water!)

The over excited teenagers further around the dam were getting noisier by the minute so At 11.30pm Laura went over and told them ever so nicely to can it so the rest of us could sleep!

Well they did and so we did :)

Day 18: Tues Dec 29: Woods Pt to Burnt Bridge 81km

Late up, we scoffed bacon and eggs before heading down to the creek with Fleur ("Fleur-mingo"), for a spot of White Water Flamingoing....! We decided it should be a new Olympic sport!

The dogs loved it too. And so did Laura's iPhone when it fell in!! Luckily it still works. Phew!

 

 

And then, just as we were really getting into it, we rounded a bend and there it was... A Swan!!!  Fleur couldn't believe her eyes! A rare sighting. However he seemed to be sleeping so we quietly floated away downstream. 

We spent the rest of the day playing in the water with the dogs and teaching Spike to swim...

It was the best day EVER. in the winter it snows up there and it would be amazing to see. It is the most beautiful place and we can't wait to go back. 

We had homemade Jamieson beef snags for dinner and we burned all the rubbish the hooligans had left behind before putting the rest into bags and taking it with is. Which is what they should've done themselves in the first place. Mongrels. Sometimes we feel ashamed to be part of the human race.