2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Fri, 4th Dec, 2015 Benarca Campground, Murray River Regional Park, NSW (exploring Echuca/Moama)

Still cool this morning but it doesn’t take long to warm up. Put dinner in the Ecopot and made our lunch then headed into Echuca to explore.

Still trying to find that dump point so turned off at the Recreation Ground as the sign on the highway had said Perricoota Road 100m turn right. No dump point but we found a carved statue of James Maiden, who was the founding father of Moama (1809-1869).

Also carved into it is the Captain’s Cottage, paddle steamer, the bridge, also a Murray Cod and Cockatoo.

Across the bridge to Echuca and into the Info Centre. A little Murray Cod was hiding in his log.

The Info Centre is in the former Victorian Railways engine house built in 1877.

The info board is on an old well.

Grabbed some brochures and headed down to the wharf. Passed the oldest hotel in Echuca, The American Hotel, established in 1865.

Parked near the wharf and went for a walk. The edge was still fenced off so they haven’t finished this end with the restoration works they have been doing. Zoomed in on a sign on the old fence up above the paddle steamers docked below us.

In 2009 when we came here with Jon and the BMX gang, while racing in Shepparton, we went on the Alexander Arbuthnot for a cruise. Can’t this time as it is being refurbished.

Found the photos from then. Took lots of photos back then too.

We had to walk down under the wharf to board her and these are the signs about the water levels and a view back to the wharf from the paddle steamer.

Back to the present – a plaque about the wharf.

A barge and a single paddle wheel steamer – you can see the engine on the deck and the paddle wheel out the back.

The remains of a barge lies sadly in the side creek.

Peered into the wharf area.

Looking across to the remaining shed. Lots of plaques to read.

Barrels and a huge log on the buggy. The log buggy is made entirely of red gum of types drawn to saw mills by bullock teams from about 1870. The log was felled in Moira Forest, NSW – length 20 feet, girth 18 feet and volume 4860 sup feet. It was presented in 1958.

The Customs House.

The Whistle Stop used to be the Strathmerton Railway Station.

Great information about the beginning of this wonderful area and the restoration of the paddle steamers.

They have lots of old world items in the street.

In the woodcarvers shop, I found this copy of one of the steam paddle steamers and a beautiful River Red Gum polished bowl.

Great photo showing an old timber mill.

Magnificent table base – a huge tree trunk.

Steve said Grandad Geck had one of these two-handed chain saws under the house at Mundubbera.

Walked out onto Freemans viewing platform.

Next door is the blacksmith’s shop.

Behind that on the wharf is the restored Evans Brothers Sawmill. It was being worked on when we were here in 2009. The Waller steam engine is a single cylinder horizontal steam engine. It came to Port from the Hyett Gas Works and was initially used to drive the wood turner lathes at the Port.

The new Port of Echuca Discovery Centre.

Next to the centre’s entrance are some old steam engines.

There is also an Outback Spectacular Show on in the centre showcasing bullocks, camels and horses. The bullocks are having a rest before the show starts.

Stopped at the Bridge Hotel for a coffee. We had lunch here in 2009 with Quinns, Fosters and Knights. We had lots of fun on those BMX trips.

Walked down towards the paddle steamers. On the high bank of the river is the site of Hopwood’s Toll House when he had his punt crossing here then it became a morgue.

The old and the new.

The Emmylou tooted its way along.

The wood pile to keep the Emmylou going.

Checked out the new houseboats – even has a spa.

A couple of old trees have become ‘thong trees’.

Info about three of the paddle steamers.

The old rails that the paddle steamers tied up to near the site of Hopwood’s ferry and pontoon bridge. Henry Hopwood had been convicted for receiving stolen silk and sentenced to 14 years transportation. After two stints as a policeman, he arrived on the southern side of the Murray River in 1850. Maiden had established his punt from the northern side in 1845. Hopwood set up a rival punt and pub in 1853. This site became known as Echuca in 1854, a term meaning ‘meeting of the waters’. Hopwood was the more enterprising of the former convicts. His suggestion of a river port formed the basis of the river trade which was paramount to the economic development of the nation, opening up inland Australia for settlement. Echuca soon became Australia’s largest inland port and was even nominated as a possible national capital in 1891.

Flood level markers. 1916 was 35 feet but the 1870 flood was much higher.

Up on the higher bank is the remains of an old barge, ‘Alison’.

The camels are on at the moment in the show.

Headed down the main street for a look. Lovely old buildings.

The Shamrock Hotel has an unusual top piece.

Love these historical plaques – much nicer to be at the buildings than reading about them in museums.

Pictures of a huge Murray Cod in the fish & chip shop window.

Of course there were a few banks.

Walked across the road to another river. Echuca Port Precinct is situated on a narrow neck between the Campaspe and Murray Rivers.

Hopwood started a garden here beside the Campaspe River to supply fresh food for his Inn.

Followed the River Walk trail. One of the rosellas was down on the ground feeding so got a better close up shot.

Flood erosion – the bank has been rebuilt now into a nice park area.

Info boards along the way.

Hopwood had a toll bridge here.

Headed back towards town. Passed the Holden Museum we went into with Jon and the others in 2009. Across the road was the old Police Station which is now a museum. Magnificent trees shade it.

Great photos outside.

Opposite the police station on the main street was the Court House.

The sun is hot on our skin but we don’t feel hot as there is no humidity so we aren’t feeling the heat. Getting back to my nice bronze colour again after turning white in Tassie!!

Walked back down the Wharf Precinct and stopped at Sharps Movie House &Penny Arcade to try the sugar free fudge – nice so we got a bit for a treat. Trying to be good before Christmas, has been working as we have both lost a couple of kilos. It is a museum of old penny arcade machines and black & white movies.

Of course there were lots of hotels.

Back to the truck then we headed off to find the mouth of the Campaspe River. Stopped first at Victoria Park to check out the Arch. Originally held together with wooden pegs.

A memorial to Henry Hopwood, founder of Echuca.

Followed the Murray downstream along the dirt bush tracks till we reached The Junction, Campaspe meets the Murray.

A cairn nearby for John Martin Webb, a boat builder, who built the first paddle steamer near here to be a ‘snagging boat’, pulling the snags out of the Murray to give better access for the river traffic.

Had our lunch there then headed east to find the mouth of the Goulburn River, near where we camped last year at Christies. So many bush tracks going in all directions to many camps by the river. Kept watching ‘girlie’ till we found the junction, even though her GPS point is out that we would be in the Murray according to her!!

Looking at the Murray then up the Goulburn Rivers.

Followed the track along the Murray and found another red blaze, this one with water level markers.

Around to the bend where we rescued a horse last year.

Then stopped at Christie’s Beach for a cuppa. A group of guys had a houseboat and were having a ball, competing with the camp further along for music rights!!

The tree is slowly closing over on this blaze.

Back along Christie’s Track to another sharp bend in the Murray.

Followed Betts Beach Track – now that is luxury!!

The rough map we are following.

Nice spot at Betts Beach.

The roads are very rutted – some people stay too long in the wet I suppose or come in too early.

Past Boileau Beach then around the bend to where we camped last year just off Simmie Track.

Back to Simmie Road where a full canal is waiting to be used for irrigation. A chap said that the river drops a lot now as the irrigation starts with the drier weather – certainly everything is a lot browner. Amazing when you thing of all the water running through it.

Filled up with fuel and changed the gas bottle in Echuca then headed back across the river to Moama. Found an info board about Old Moama. When the settlement began in 1845, it was known as Maiden’s Punt, after James Maiden - punt owner, station manager and post master. Three years later the village area was surveyed and lots were put up for sale when the town was renamed Moama, meaning ‘place of the dead’. Situated on the main cattle route from NSW to the gold fields at Bendigo in the 1850s, the settlement became a cattle market and crossing place and big deals took place across the bar of Maiden’s Junction Inn. The Inn was located down by the river in Chanter Street and was the heart of the township. There was great celebrations in the small town in 1853 when Captain William Randell, the first person to travel upstream from Goolwa (the plaque on the Horseshoe Lagoon bridge states differently) arrived on a paddle steamer, ‘Mary Ann’. The trip was the forerunner of the boat building industry and river trade that was to bolster Moama’s fortunes in years to come. Moama declined when the cattle market crashed in the late 1850s, though competition from Echuca, a short way downstream, was partly to blame. The little settlement hung on and in the 1860s , police barracks, a school, post and telegraph office and custom office were established given an air of permanency to the township. Unfortunately the feeling of stability was dispelled by disastrous floods that occurred in 1870 when almost every building in Moama was inundated or submerged by flood waters. The township of Moama was gradually rebuilt on higher ground further west near its present position, and when the Deniliquin to Moama railway line and the iron bridge were constructed between 1876-78, the township settled down to a slow but steady growth and expansion. By 1880 Moama had a population of 700 and a district of 1000.