Sightseeing in Echuca

16th July 2025

What a difference a day makes. There must be something about Tuesdays in Echuca that scares off tourists, because today there is modest tourist activity in town. We walked down to the township along the riverside mid morning and saw plenty of activity. In the Port Village", about half of the activities we open, including an impressive display of working steam engines.

The beautifully restored and operating engines were lovingly tended by a group of old enthusiasts, I imagine volunteers, eager to answer any questions that observers may have had.

Today, the wharf area is open and two paddle steamers are in action. 

The Echuca Wharf

The "Canberra" (below) was heading upstream and the "Pevensey" was coming from the other direction heading into the wharf having completed their cruise.

The "Canberra" 

The "Pevensey"

Watching "Pevensey" come in to dock was an interesting experience. Quite a bit of skill involved.

Further along the wharf there were some interesting flood and drought statistics which showed what a nightmare it must have been for operators plying the river in the early days. the flood heights seem outrageous.

We also saw a luxury houseboat head off, they even had a large spa, steaming away on the upper deck.

There were enough tourists around for the tourism operators to function and hopefully make a few dollars. The draft horses pulling a carriage are always a favourite and this guy had a few runs that we saw during the rest of our walk.

The Campaspe River joins the Murray River in Echuca and the Beechworth Bakery (below) sits on the banks of the Campaspe River, with a sundeck overlooking the river. We did drop in for a cup of coffee but it was too cold to be sitting outside.

We had lunch back in our van before heading back out in the afternoon for a bit more sightseeing, having spent the morning in town.

There was a scenic drive which supposedly took us to where the Campaspe River joined the Murray, but it terminated in a carpark and with the riverside extension of the road closed to vehicles, so we set out on foot.

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Several joggers passed us along the way, but the junction of the 2 rivers eluded us. Maybe we gave up too early.

This pontoon on the Moama side of the river sitting high and dry shows how low the river is.

Sounds of a paddle steamer erupted ahead of us and soon we were rewarded by the appearance of the "Pevensey" heading back to Echuca wharf.

Paddle steamer "Pevensey" steaming back to Echuca Wharf

 

"Pevensey passing under the bridge to Moama on its way home

According to Tripadvisor, a not to be missed attraction when visiting Echuca, is The Great Aussie Beer Shed and Heritage Farm Museum. Not really knowing what to expect, but with such a strong recommendation, we drove the 6 km out of town to check out this marvel. 

As we drove in we could tell we were at the right place

As we walked in the entrance we were personally greeted by the very affable Neil Thomas, owner and creator of this piece of history. We were told our timing was perfect, as a tour was about to start in 5 minutes. Parting with $12.50 each, the Seniors entry fee, we were then offered a couple of beer and stubby holder specials, like $12 for a beer and the stubby holder is free or a cheaper offer which involved a stubby holder he acquired for free from a local club. He was a character and we could see we were in for an interesting time.

This article in the local paper says it all

Essentially Neil started off collecting a few cans from different places before being introduced to join a beer can collectors club which he participated in with a passion, reaching high levels of running the club. This "museum" is the end result, but he did not stop at beer cans or anything to do with beer, he branched out into pretty much anything you can collect with a strong Australiana flavour.

The museum is packed to the rafters with beer related collectables and a lot of other stuff

Like Poker machines

Old Stoves, a safe from Flemington that once stored the Melbourne Cup ......

Neil had the crowd mesmerised whilst he related his story on how this all came about and grew into the monstrosity it now is. Well recognised througout the industry, Carlton United donated the beer cart below to his museum.

Once you pass through the first pavilion you enter a large function area, with a familiar beer theme.

Then it is time to go outside, walk past his outdoor display of historical farming equipment, of which there was heaps. Here are a few.

It was then on to the car museum, where he had a shed devoted to his Dad who also worked in the museum until he was 87. He had a great small collection of some Australian Classics in mint condition. Here are a few.

There aren't too many FJ Holdens in this condition

This EK Holden was very similar to the one I learned to drive in

We had to go back through the entrance, thanked Neil, who was having a beer with a mate, and told us we hadn't seen the full museum, and yet had to visit a further display he had across the car park of old horse drawn vehicles dating back to the early 1900's. So dutifully off we went to complete the whole experience.

Below are the carriages he had on display, with the walls lined with his Beer Stein collection.

There were also a number of 40 foot containers, each containing their own mini museums, many devoted to old signage.

This one caught my attention.

The last container was full of old appliances and items that were a little too familiar from my childhood.

This washing machine in particular caught my attention, as when I was young we had something very similar

It is now approaching 4 pm and we head back to the van via Moama to have a quick look at life on the other side of the river. It only required a quick look.

We are off to Swan Hill tomorrow, so it was back to the van to make some early preparations.