Saturday, 11 July 2009
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Echuca - edited and added to :-)
Here I am back to edit and add photos - not quite so many this time - enjoy
We fueled up in Daylesford and then proceeded north towards Castlemaine.
As Tim drove I talked to Duncan on the phone about our great great great uncle Benjamin Couper who was buried up there. He was the younger brother of our great great great grandfather Daniel - they had both come out from the Shetland Islands via South Africa. Benjamin was around 21years old and was killed while gold mining. He was buried in the Castlemaine cemetery - it must have been devastating to his much older brother who was responsible for him and for his parents back home. They eventually found gold under the cemetery so all the bodies were moved to nearby Campbells Creek. There is no stone for Benjamin but we found the general locality.
Azzan was fascinated by the cemetery and had to try a grave for size.
I realised that I had never taken the younger children to any cemetery before - they wandered around reading the names and dates and asking questions as to what and why etc.
We stopped at Bendigo briefly for a leg stretch. We are getting good at finding public toilets and playgrounds so all comforts can be taken care of
There was a humungous Catholic cathedral there which could be seen for miles. Azzan was so taken by it but we couldn't find an appropriate place to stop. He also saw a beautiful old fountain which was right in the midst of busy traffic - so once again we didn't stop. He was gutted. But once we found the playground all was forgiven!!
We arrived in Echuca just after 5pm. Eventually found The Echuca Holiday Flats and unloaded all our gear. Then Dave & Michelle arrived with pizza for dinner. It was so cool to see them again. They are Kiwi friends from Nelson who are on a working holiday over here. After they left we popped all four kids to bed and then Tim & I zipped around the corner to the supermarket to stock up with necessities.
After Tim went to bed I enjoyed a quiet evening with hot chocolate, chocolate and watched an most interesting documentary about a TV series made 25 years ago called 'Women of the Sun'. It follows several aboriginal women through periods of time showing the misuse and abuse of them and their children. Shocking stuff!
6 July
I put through 2 loads of laundry and hung them out to dry. Then we called into the Info Centre before going to the historic Port of Echuca and booking some tours. Firstly we were entertained by a guy with his parrots. One in particular had been maimed by a hawk and now has only 1 leg and half a wing missing. He depends totally on the man. He was incredibly funny.
The same man took us for a guided tour of the historic wharf area. Very interesting stuff and told in a particularly amusing manner. Because he has his parrot with him when he guides and it cannot fly or walk he has to have a permit to take it across the border.So every year without fail the government send him a bill for $25 for the permit
The border between Victoria and NSW goes right through this wharf.
Mahalia is standing right on the border!
We then zoomed back to the flat for a quick lunch of soup and toast before going back to the wharf for our trip on the paddle steamer 'Pevensey'.
We all got ice creams to take on the boat - there is a yummy ice cream parlour on the street which no one could possibly pass by!!
It was an hour trip up and down the Murray River. Like all the rivers we have seen so far here in Australia it was very slow moving, muddy and quite dirty. It was also very very low due to the drought. But at least it had water in it unlike many we have gone over which are dry as bone.
Tim spent most of the trip talking to the captain and hanging over the engine.
A 30hp steam engine.
Michelle cleans the rental house boats each Monday and Friday so she was there to wave to us as we cruised past.
Tim took the children into the Penny Arcade while I zipped back to the flat to get the washing off the line before it got too damp as the day was clouding over. Nathan & I found the library and spent half an hour on the internet.
Then we all met up, picked up ice cream and food at the flat and headed around to have dinner with Dave & Michelle. They are house sitting for 6 weeks so were in a very comfy home. We had a great evening with them Watched a bit of Michael Jackson's last show, played with play dough. Graham called up from home so we caught up on happenings there. No sooner hung up from talking to him when the phone went again and it was Estelle. She had tracked us down via Graham. Nice to chat with her too. Crazy that we are both too busy to talk when we are at home but catch up across the Tasman!!
We finally had to drag ourselves away and say farewell to Dave & Michelle - knowing that we wouldn't be seeing them again this trip but also knowing that they will be back in Nelson in a few months
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