Off to Echuca

 15th July 2025

It is a leisurely drive to Echuca this morning, only around 180 km which should take us about 2.5 hrs. Our newly arrived friends are staying on in Rutherglen for tonight before then travelling on to Swan Hill. We will catch up with them again in Swan Hill on Thursday.

We left Rutherglen at 10 am and were soon on our way. The Murray Valley Highway is in appalling condition, riddled with deep potholes. It is obvious the Victorian Government is bankrupt as it seems like road maintenance is well and truly on the back burner.

Arriving early at 12.30 pm, we appear to have got in before the crowd, although we did have a booking. A line up of vans gathered behind us whilst we were getting our site allocation details. There were supposedly plenty of sites available when we booked yesterday, but they are filling fast this afternoon.

Our site had a special unwanted feature, an elevated concrete manhole cover in the centre of the site. We have also come to realise that getting a level site in a caravan park is a luxury. By the time we manouvered back and forth to keep the van from poking out onto the road behind us, and getting a maxitrack under the passenger side wheel to level it, the manhole cover was still in play with the stabilising legs, so we gave up and worked around it.



Finally settled in

The town centre is a five minute walk away and we are ready for lunch.


We walk past the old port complex which is surprisingly quiet as it is currently school holidays.


The  Bridge Hotel is on the river at the port


The main street hasn't changed a lot

Lunch ended up being at the Shamrock Irish Pub, we were on our own in the dining area and had a traditional Irish Lunch, Thai Beef Noodle Salad.

Once back at the van we headed for the nearest supermarket in the car to stock up on a few provosions.

As usual the temperature started to drop significantly from about 3pm onwards. I went for an afternoon walk along the river, as the caravan park is along the riverside.


Just behind the park there are lots of houseboats, the river looks a bit low


There is a slipway across the river, where it looks like an old boat may be in the process of being bought back to life.


Also of course, paddle steamer trips on the river have always been a feature of Echuca tourism, and there are plenty of paddle steamers tied up along the banks of the river, but only one puff of smoke to be seen. It really is very quiet here for a school holiday period. I guess winter is not a great time to be here.



The "Canberra" looks like it had been out and a fresh supply of fuel was ready on the shore


Walking further along the riverside I came to the tourist "village" that is the tourism centre for the port. Once again it was deserted.




A bit further along another paddle steamer is moored around a bend in the river giving a better view of the low water level in the river.



The temperature is dropping rapidly, so it is time to return to the comfort of the van. we are in Echuca for two nights, so have all of tomorrow to have a good look around.

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