Robinvale 2010

November 20th, We moved to Robinvale and booked into the Riverside Caravan Park, for a week. They were able to put us on a riverfront site, which was great. The first thing we noticed was the large number of ducks in this area. They were a small duck with a narrow beak and we identified them as Wood Ducks. After setting up the Van I had plenty of time to get the tinny off the car, set up and in the water, ready for use. I put the shrimp trap in to catch some live bait. A quick run around town didn’t take long, but I did spy their Museum which was going to be open next Thursday, so looking forward to that.

November 25th, I have been out fishing every day since we got here and still haven’t caught a fish, Pathetic. I went to look through their “Rural Life Museum” today and was very impressed with the great collection of local memorabilia. They continue to exist on entry Donations and very dedicated few volunteers. They had just finished resurrecting an old manual “hand operated” Petrol Pump and done a great job.

November 26th, Still no fish today, so, time to get the boat out of the water and packed up. We leave in the morning for Gol Gol, just 5 minutes before Mildura. We went to a local Club at Euston tonight, for dinner and a flutter. Euston is a small town over the border in NSW and has a very nice, modern Club with great meals.

Swan Hill 2010

November 10th, Travelled to Swan Hill, only 152 Klms, and booked into the Swan Hill Riverside Caravan Park (Top Tourist), for a week on a riverfront site. Fabulous, only a metre from the river and a tree to tie the Tinny to. We set up and walked around the Park and would recommend this park to everyone. It is right next to the Pioneer Village which will be a must to visit. Dropped my shrimp trap into the edge of the river, overnight, to catch some bait for to-morrow.

November 11th, Put the boat into the river and went out for a fish, late in the afternoon. Only caught 3 shrimp in the trap, which was disappointing, but proved to be plenty. I only went a short way down river, just past the road bridge, and had 2 lines in. Used shrimp on one and soft cheese on the other. Wasn’t there more than 10 minutes when I pulled in a good sized fish, caught on soft cheese, measured at 40 cms. I identified it as a Cod Trout and unfortunately this is an endangered species so, after a photo I released it back into the river. That was my only catch of the day.

November 13th, Had a rest day yesterday, rain started late afternoon and is still raining today. We went to the local Grain Shed in the afternoon for their Expo and Market Day. All outdoor stands were washed out but we enjoyed the undercover Shed displays and stalls. Went to check out the RSL, had a Chardy and made a donation through their pokies. Always willing to keep the local economy buoyant.

November 14th, The rain stopped so, pumped the rainwater out of the boat and went out for a fish. No fish today.

November 15th, tried my luck again today and was thrilled to come in with a 40cm Yellowbelly. It gave us 2 good sized fillets. Val had one for her dinner tonight and loved it. She coated it with flour and fried it in butter.

November 16th, I caught a 37cm Murray Cod this morning, so took its photo and returned it to the river. Two reasons for that, it’s the closed season for Murray Cod and the minimum legal length is 50cms. Val went to the local Medical Centre to get new scripts written up for her medication.

 November 17th, I went to look through the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement today. Val wasn’t interested so I went on my own while she did some reading. We took out a temporary membership the Swan Hill Library and borrowed some books. The Settlement is similar to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. It had 47 items on display and 10 of them were manned by Volunteers. I had a ride around the Settlement in a 1920 Dodge and that brought back memories, as my first car was a 1929 Plymouth and my Dad had a 1926 Chevrolet when I was a young boy. It took me 4 hours to look through all the exhibits and I took many photographs, only stopping when the camera battery went flat. I thoroughly enjoyed walking back through time and the most fascinating item was the Steroscopic Theatre in the Mechanics Institute. It had 50 old photos from around the world shown in 3D and was built in the 1800’s. I couldn’t believe that they had the 3D technology way back then. I also enjoyed a nice coffee and cake break at the Bakery and later an icecream at the General Store. After a late lunch we went into Town and had a Chardy and a flutter, on the Pokies, at the Swan Hill Club. Didn’t win but enjoyed a good run of luck in very pleasant surroundings.

November 18th, Went out fishing this morning and caught a 40cm Cod. All these Cods look very similar but I’m learning that if it looks like a cod, it will either be endangered or a Murray Cod and has to be released. So I keep praying to catch a “yellow belly” which I know I can keep, if it is above the legal length. We have seen on the News that there is an impending locust plague, in the direction that we are heading, so went and bought some “flyscreen” and taped it over the front of the car, just in case we run into a plague, on the move.

November 19th, This is my last day to go fishing here, so with the 7 shrimp, caught overnight, and a block of cheese off I go. I anchored just past the road bridge and the first fish I land is a 59cm Carp. A huge fish, biggest I’ve caught in the Murray River and it was fun to get it into the boat. I followed that up with a 40cm Cod and a 37cm Perch, both endangered species, so back into the River they went. That was my best days fishing and I brought the Carp in for Val to do a photo shoot. It was pack up time again and the boat had to come out of the River. On the way to the boat ramp I was to toss the Carp onto the small island, in the middle of the river opposite our site, for the birds and foxes to clean up. Val was watching as I took off to complete this task and as the river is narrow at the end of the Island the current runs very fast. I had difficulty and did a couple of 360’s trying to position the boat alongside the Island, then grabbing the Carp by the tail I took a mighty swing and launched it on its way, only to land just on the edge and roll back into the River. I just shrugged and said under my breath, DAMN, while Val could not stop laughing. The rest of the packing up went smoothly and to-morrow we are off to Robinvale to continue our Murray River Trip.

Echuca 2010

November 3rd, We moved to Echuca and booked into the Riverlander Caravan Park for a week. We were a little disappointed that we could not see the Murray River from any of the riverfront sites, so opted for a site in-between the Cabins nearer to the Amenities Block and opposite the Pool. This Park is 7 klms out of Town and is provided with river water in the taps and rainwater tanks for drinking. It has its own boat ramp so I’m expecting to finally get the boat into the water and do some fishing. I ducked into Town to pick up some groceries and took a quick look around the Port Precinct. It was amazing as it felt like taking a walk back in time. Val is going to love this Town.

November 4th, I unloaded the boat off the car and started to set it up for fishing. I’ll go to a fishing tackle shop, for some local advice. After lunch we went into Town to the Workers Club to watch the Oakes Day Races and have a few bets. My pick is still running but Val got the Quinella up and a place win as well, so she was off to good start. We decided to have a little flutter on the Pokies while we finished our drinks and for a $20 investment, took away a $100. We went down to the Port Precinct and walked through the area, taking in the wonderful old buildings and shops. We did some wine tasting, bought some delicious fudge and checked out the Paddle Steamers Cruises. We were amazed at the number of Paddle Boats and Houseboats in this part of the River. The Paddle Boat Cruises run all day every day and plenty to choose from.

November 5th, We started to-day with the “Main Power Board” blowing up, at the Park, so no electricity for 4 hours. We had to change over to LPG for the fridge and boil water for coffee in a saucepan. I finished setting up the boat and we went into Town to look at the other half of the shopping area, which included BigW and Target.

November 6th, I put the boat in the Murray River this morning and was happy to find my new Towing Hitch, which I had made with scrap aluminium from Greg’s place, worked perfectly. Went for a fish, using plastics, but didn’t get a bite. We went on the Paddle Steamer “Emmy Lou” Lunch Cruise, 1 ½ Hours on the Murray River. That brought back memories of our Houseboat Cruise on the Murray at Murray Bridge with Joan & Robert, a couple of years ago. We were envious of the holiday makers in the Units, right on the river front. It was a very pleasant and relaxing cruise with a nice lunch and a glass of Chardy. We drove around Moama, on the NSW side of the river, to check out the Town. The Sunday Markets are on there to-morrow.

November 7th, We never did get to the Markets and it was too windy for fishing, so after lunch I went into Town to look through the Holden Museum. It was a great collection of Holden vehicles, starting with a 1946 American built prototype through to the Commodore. They had a video showing the Holden history from the horse and cart days progressing through to 1975. A very interesting story for any car enthusiast. I have owned a few Holdens in my time, including the FJ, FE and Commodore models, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to have some memories re-visited.

November 8th, Went out for a fish to-day and had been told that cheese was a good bait for Yellow Belly (Golden perch) and other guests had been catching them. Obviously the fish didn’t like my cheese and I returned, once again, empty handed. I ducked into Town mid afternoon to have a look through their Historical Museum, which used to be the old Police Station, only to find it closed. I settled for a drive around Town and photographed a few of the interesting buildings.

November 9th, Had a chat with the Park Manager and was given a few tip on the best bait to use here. Soft cheese or Shrimp, caught in the river with dry dog food as bait. So will give both of them a go. I thought I had a shrimp net, from our previous Murray River adventure, but was informed that what I had was not a shrimp net. So armed with a borrowed shrimp net, I set off to try my luck. 15 minutes later I had caught a dozen shrimp and went down river to select a fishing spot. It wasn’t long before I had caught my first fish in the Murray River, unfortunately, it was a 40cm European Carp and not an edible fish, by western standards. It was a good fish to catch but being an introduced species are not to be put back into the river when caught. I’m told that Asians and Germans do eat Carp. I took a photo as proof of my catch then disposed of it humanely. Time to pack up again as to-morrow we move to Swan Hill.

Yarrawonga 2010

October 23rd, According to Doris (our Navigator) we had a 55minute drive to our destination, but as I refused to turn into a single lane road and take other suggested dirt tracks so we arrived by main roads 2 hours later and it rained most of the way. We booked into Yarrawonga Holiday Park and set up on our waterfront site looking onto the Murray River. This was exactly what Val was wanting. We are now on the Victorian side of the river. We were 100 metres from the Power Station Weir and it was releasing water causing a frothy foam to be floating down river. It didn’t look attractive and we were told that they had only started to release the extra water the day before. I went down to check out the boat ramp only to discover that this part of the Murray River is “closed” to any form of fishing until the 1st December, very disappointing. I was told that fishing is allowed in Lake Mulwala, which is the man made lake created by the Weir but that doesn’t suit me. My unregistered towing device only allows me to tow the tinny within the Park grounds.

October 24th, Had a quiet day, settling in, so I had a nice walk around the Park and over the Weir and took some photos.

October 25th, Another quiet day, did some reading and the highlight for me was to go uptown for a haircut. We are enjoying sitting under our awning, looking and listening to the River passing by, while reading. Yes, Val has taken to reading books also. We drove across the Weir into Mulwala and visited The Ski Club, which had been recommended to us. It was a very nice Club, on the lake front, but was not doing anything special for Melbourne Cup.

October 26th, I was in the Van making lunch and happened to look out the kitchen window and couldn’t believe my eyes, as I spotted a 5 to 6 foot long brown snake on the grass in-between us and the next Caravan. Fortunately our neighbours had gone out for the day. Val was sitting out under our awning , reading. Being petrified of snakes I wasn’t about to take the snake on myself and did not want to alarm Val. I phoned the Park Reception to report the snake siteing and seek some help. Of course that activity alerted Val so I had to tell her about the snake. Val moved into the Van to see the snake while I waited for the young fellow from the Office to arrive. Val had the presence to take a photo of the snake as it was moving away, towards the river, as it had gone off into the grass by the time the rescue party arrived with a long handled shovel. A search of the grassy slope along the River didn’t find our snake. We are hoping we don’t have a return visit. After lunch we went uptown and walked the length of the shops and made a few purchases on the way. We called into Club Mulwala (RSL Club) on the way home and found that they were planning a “special lunch menu” for Melbourne Cup and will have the race on a big screen, so looks like that where we will go next Tuesday.

October 27th, Still on snake patrol to-day but I ventured out to visit the Pioneer Museum at Mulwala. This is another group of local volunteers who have done a great job of restoring and displaying a large and diverse collection of local memorabilia and equipment and are continually expanding their display. I was extremely impressed and would recommend that it is well worth a visit.




October 28th, I drove down to Wangaratta to visit my favourite place, Centrelink, and lodge my last 2 lots of forms. This was the nearest Centrelink Office to Yarrawonga and only a 45 minute drive. Wangaratta is a large Town with around 16,000 population and I wanted to check out the Camping Store, K Mart and Big W for small outdoor folding tables. I didn’t find any tables that were what we wanted but the drive was enjoyable.



October 30th, We had to move to another site this morning, as they had a previous booking for our riverfront site. We still have 4 days to go before we move on. It had rained last night and was still raining while I had breakfast then thankfully stopped for a few hours, allowing us to get our move done. Our new site still had some river views from each end of the awning, so not bad. The weather forecast is not good for the week-end but hopefully it will brighten up for The Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. We are thinking of going down to the Corowa Races for the Cup, so will make a final decision based on the weather, on Tuesday morning.



October 31st, As predicted, rained all night and still raining to-day. A good day to catch up on reading. We went to the Mulwala Ski Club to pass away a couple of hours in the afternoon and Val had such a bad run on the pokies that she said “that’s it, I’m not playing the Poker Machines ever again”. Hah!!! I’ll believe that when I see it.

November 2nd, The rain did ease up yesterday afternoon and although isn’t raining today, the wind is very cold. We decided just to go to Club Mulwala for Melbourne Cup so headed off around 11.30am. They had a nice lunch special, Chicken and Salad with a glass of Champagne for $10. We bought 4 X $10 shares in the Punters Club Betting Group, seemed like a great idea at the time, numerous sweeps, tickets in a Wine Fridge raffle and bet on a lot of races, all to no avail on my part. Val did well with her betting and came out in front. Val also had a little flutter and pulled $250 out of one machine. At the end of the day, we had a very enjoyable time and came home with a $100 clear profit. We packed up ready to leave for Echuca in the morning.

Howlong 2010

October 20th, Had a lovely drive to Howlong, the Countryside is very green with rolling hills. This is mostly sheep country. We stopped at Tarcutta for a break and had a look at the Truck Drivers Memorial and also found out that this was the mid point between Sydney and Melbourne and explained why we saw two semis changing over Rigs. This means that a Melbourne driver drives his load up to Tarcutta then it is taken the rest of its journey to Sydney by the Sydney driver and the same method for the Sydney load. Each driver is then only away from home for one day. We got all our information from a truckie who was transporting a load of 303 sheep but told us his rig could hold up to 500 sheep. It would be a bit squashy for the sheep. The top of his trailer wasn’t covered so we were surprised that the sheep didn’t try to jump out. We stopped at Holbrook for lunch in the park alongside the Submarine Museum and had a look at the huge HMAS OTWAY sub on display, out front. We noticed the signs of the recent flooding as we crossed over the various rivers and gullies. We booked into the Kismet Riverside Lodge at Howlong, about 30 klm from Albury. After setting up we went for a walk down to the Murray River and found it very brown and running very fast. I think that was due to all the local flooding in this area and the floods are still in progress in some areas north of here. This looks like a good place to stay, a lot of permanents and only 10 Caravan sites. I would recommend that you should take an ensuite site as the Amenities block is a good walk away. Another first, we do not have to pay for our site until we are leaving, WOW!

October 21st, Drove into Corowa to check out the Caravan Parks and look around Town. Val wants to find a Park, on the Murray River, that has absolute riverfront sites, so she can sit at the Caravan and see the river. She can’t do that here at Kismet Riverside Lodge. All the Parks in Corowa were on the river but were not absolute riverfront, so not suitable.She has found one at Yarrawonga and we have made a booking and will move there on Saturday.

October 22nd, Went down to the River this morning to throw a line in, using plastics. Snagged 3 lots of rig and no fish, typical. We drove into Howlong after lunch to look around. That didn’t take long so we popped into the Court House Hotel, built in 1902, and had a Chardy and a flutter before going back to the Van. We packed up ready to leave in the morning for Yarrawonga.

Sydney, Yass 2010

October 9th, Booked into Sydney Gateway Holiday Park and decided to extend our stay until Monday 18th to catch up with Steven, before we leave Sydney.

October 17th, We enjoyed our stay near the family and used every opportunity to pick the girls up after School and let them enjoy the benefits of the Caravan Park. I took the chance to use Gregs garage and carried out some caravan & boat repairs, while Val caught up with some sewing and quilting. We went to see Steven & Nikos’s new Apartment at Alexandria, very nice. Time to pack up to-day ready to leave in the morning for Yass.

October 18th, Travelled from Sydney to Yass and booked into the Yass Caravan Park for 2 nights. We needed to have time to finalise our Trip Plan and have a look around this Town

October 19th, Fixed up my paperwork with Centrelink then went to the Visitors Centre. Unfortunately this is the day when all the local attractions are closed so I was left with a drive around Town to photograph some interesting buildings, the Yass River, the old Railway Station and Bridge. We did finalise the Trip Plan and to-morrow head off for a small place call Howlong on the Murray River, just east of Albury.

Sydney, Kiama 2010

September 28th, Booked into Sydney Gateway Holiday Park at Parklea and went to see Greg, Dianne and the girls. Annaliese had picked up a bug and was not a well girl, vomiting, diarrhoea and not eating.

September 30th, Annaliese has not been well enough to go to Vacation Care for the last few days, so we looked after her for a couple of days at our Caravan.

 

October 2nd, Picked up Jessica and Annaliese and travelled to Kiama, for them to have a weeks holiday with Nanny & Poppy. We booked into Easts Beach Big4 Tourist Park, which was packed with families, so lots of kids, just what we needed.

October 8th, We have had a great week with the girls, swimming, tennis, plaster painting, free movies at night, bike riding, shell collecting and a visit to the famous “Blow Hole”. To-morrow we head back to Sydney to drop the girls home and spend a couple of days.