Day 9 More exploring

Rain around still

Dull morning

We caught lots of rain water yesterday so Bill is repurposing it - filling toilet flush tank, heating it for washing up last nights dishes etc

On our way out for the day’s exploring spotted this beautiful wren heard them in the bushes

On the Cobb highway towards Moama

Wanted to check out the old wharf in Moama

Missed the turn

Ended up going over the bridge over the Murray

and over the border into Victoria. Ended up doing this several times as we crossed over the river for various reasons

Into Echuca first by mistake!!!

So back over the bridge into NSW again

and heading off onto the walk to the old wharf

We could see that the walkway was flooded at the other end

From the viewing platform across to the walkway

Me on the walkway

Panoramic view across

Some beautiful large river gums here

Bill on the walkway

More large river gums

This is as far as we could go on this section of the walkeay

Managed to get to the Old Wharf by walking round

Some of the walkway was high enough not to be flooded

The walkway was meant to go around the lagoon

The end of the walkway to the wharf

The area below the Old Wharf completely underwater

View of the Murray from the Old Wharf in Moama

This AllTrails map shows the limitations of our walk

On our way out from this area we drove over to The Long Paddock that was also flooded.
Sculpture near The Long Paddock

Our next planned stop was the Port in Echuca so we went back out on to the highway

and over the other bridge over the Murray

Back into Victoria

Turning into the city centre

Over the Campaspe river

Through town with its historic buildings

To the Port Discovery Centre

and the Port where there was lots to see

Lots of information boards

and historic equipment related to the port activity in times gone by

We stood and watched Paddle steamers plying the river

An old outrigger log barge on the water

An explanation about the log barge.,,

There was a display of all the old worn rudders that had to be replaced regularly because of the wear experienced

This was the old one off the Canberra

Story about the restoration of the Success, one of the original boats

The Success

The Log Winch

and the Phurphy water tank. We found out later that the weird lettering on it is shorthand

This beautiful stained glass was in the Discovery Centre

We walked over to the old station - interesting chart of the different rail gauges in each of the states

History of the rail gauges

Echuca Wharf station

Inside the train

Inside the train engine

Had to have a photo at the border

After all the touring we had done around the port in the rain and contending with coach loads of other tourists we decided to head out of town to a winery for a break, So we headed back over to Moama

Over the river again to NSW to St Anne’s winery that we were happy to find open , and warm, as it turned out, because as well as raining it has been cold and windy

St Anne’s Winery, only small but they have a presence in other areas

This photo is for Slade. These are Cyclamen growing through the pavers at the winery!!!!

We started out with wine tasting, served by very friendly Kim

We ordered an Antipasto platter and I wandered around the place taking photos

It would have been so nice to sit out here if the weather had been nicer

Love the decoration

Bill on the seat behind the big barrel

Top spot to relax with a local wine and eats

and sooo nice that we were the only ones there 😀

Yummy platter too

After our enjoyable respite at St Anne’s we headed back to Moama to try to find the scenic drive and to drive down to the old bridge

We found the scenic drive

And went along it but couldn’t go all the way to the bridge as the road was closed, so we walked a little way along the track.

Spotted someone heading out on a house boat, which we spotted later when we were on the river

When we were at the Port earlier we bought tickets to go on one of the paddle steamers - the PS Canberra. We got there early so that we could get a good seat. We got a spot right out the front. Good views and a good spot for photos and we could hear the interesting commentary clearly without the engine noise

Passed other boats

Good view of the road bridge

Even better view of the bridge when we went under it

This is the house boat that we saw leaving earlier

The effluent pump station

The Old Moama Wharf where we had walked to earlier

Beautiful big trees on the banks

This demonstrates how much the water has risen

One of the earlier houses on the river

Went crazy with photos outside. Bill took lots of video footage, a lot of it with the commentary

The boat turned around here at this massive camping reserve

I went inside then to check out the engine etc

and the view out the front with the flag

On the way back

Views of the concrete rail bridge beside the old vehicle bridge

Good view of these boats on my side on the way back

Views of the wharf from the river

The slipway on the other side of the river

I tracked where we went on the river using AllTrails.,.

This was out the front of the house where we had parked

Bill noticed the timber kerbing

Back in the car there was one other place we wanted to check out whilst in the region…
So back out on the highway

To The Great Australian Beer Shed.

Wow what a place

It wasn’t just things associated with beer it was anything Australian that could be collected

Beer Steins

Carriages

This was just one room though

It was enamel signs

Farm machinery

Police cells

Old cars

and a massive room hired out for functions but full of ‘stuff’

Then we went into another room that was full of even more ‘stuff’. We were fortunate that the owner’s mate that speaks to tour groups, explained quite a few of the items in this room to us, Mind blowing the volume of collectables. I just had to get a photo of this one 😜