16th January 2012 - Paddlesteamers and Sand Dunes

After having breakfast on the  banks of the Darling River with the local wildlife, we headed to Mildura to pick up our ride up the Murray River on the paddlesteamer “Melbourne”.  We crossed the Darling, then the Murray, and finally, yes, nearly 2 weeks later, we had made it out of NSW. We were in Victoria – for a few hours at least.

The kids were absolutely hyperactive when they saw the size of the boat, and the thrilling fact that they had a choice of seats!! I am not sure how many this boat can fit, but suffice it to say a few hundred more would have fitted on.

We headed from Mildura down the river, through Lock 11 which was rather interesting. The boat dropped 3.5 meters in the space of a few minutes as water was released to the level of the lower river. This lock was built on a manmade canel off the main river, so we proceeded back upstream to have a look at the weir before continuing further down the Murray. Nick and Lachie went to check out the “paddles” or giant wheels and Lachie was in paddlesteamer heaven for quite some time. At least it kept him calm for a while. 

We enjoyed the wonderful fruit Mildura had to offer sampling their local “honesty stalls” at the gates. Nick was thrilled to finally find a tomato that tastes like tomato….but the life of these little tomatos was to be short lived before being picked up by Quarantine.

We picniced in Fosset Park back in Wentworth which had a tribute to Fergie – the tractors which helped so much during the 1956 floods.

After a swim in the Darling River –which was rather muddy – we headed for yet more red dirt, this time in the form of the red sand hills of Perry Hills. These are about 5km out of town and it was recommended we not go in the afternoon…….and with good reason. Even at 6:30/7pm it was HOT, HOT HOT!!! The air was hot, the sand hotter, and that dunes were hell. That said we climbed them with boxes, ready for a swift decent – which didn’t happen. Nick reckons he need to lose a few kilos before he is aerodynamic and slides, and the kids boxes just flipped. Not to be defeated we put it down to the sand dunes being to small – we would head for the mightly ones!! So off we went.

Having finally gotten to the best vantage point from which to enjoy the dunes, Em went on strike demanding water. She sulked while we had some fun, and the best part, Nick had to carry both kids back to the car when I took some happy snaps, as both refused the walk home. Ha!

A BBQ completed the day. Lachie is still being very unpatriotic and refusing to eat BBQ, but he shared some bread with the local ducks. We waited to dark to spot possums and the kids got to spot their first “wild” possum! Yay!