Echuca - Victoria
April 8th 2010 05:21
Ok so here is my first post.
I get to do a little bit of camping and exploring in Australia (note that I am not a native Australian, but do live here on a permanent basis), my travels are mainly camping because once you have brought the gear, camping is usually a lot cheaper than hotels, plus my housemate likes to camp rather than relax in luxury - my preference is actually for comfort and luxury.
Our latest trip was to Echuca on the Victoria and New South Wales boarder. Echuca is on the Victorian side of the Murray River and you just need to cross a bridge to get to the NSW town of Moama. Technically once you get into the Murray River, or onto the bridge between Echuca and Moama you are in NSW.
Got to say that although the weather was beautiful and warm, I didn't go near the river, it was brown and didn't look attractive at all. And the fact that there were jet boats travelling at high speeds along the river pulling along water boarders etc did not entice me in either. The paddleboats however were quite neat to look at, and loved the sound of them chugging along. We were also entertained by the houseboats, including one called “Moor Beer” and another that had a blow up doll attached to the top.
Admittedly I was shocked to see how brown and dirty the water looked, I was expecting nice fresh sparkling water, not signs up everywhere warning you away from the river (one funny sign was that you should not canoe in the river, this was attached to a tree next to a dock where a collection of canoes were available for hire). My second shock was how fast the boats went along the river, apparently there are no speed limits, which seems ridiculous to me, especially seeing the amount of water skiers who ended up in the river (wonder how the poor canoeists get on).
We didn't camp at a traditional site, we went camping at a Victorian Parks site which means limited facilities, but more often than not its free or a very small charge. The site in Echuca on Casey Road was a free site, it did mean we had to put up with gravel roads, dodgy clay roads which required some concentration in order to avoid driving into a dip and getting stuck in hole.
Victorian Parks camping sites come in many varieties, some have flushing toilets (not common), some have a drop/pit toilet with a basin with running water, others have a drop toilet with no running water and then there are the sites without a toilet at all.
Unfortunately the toilet we had was a drop toilet with no running water, plus there was a hole in the door for the women’s toilet, and a hole in the wall between the women’s and men’s, and not to mention that the women’s door did not quite close properly, therefore did not lock. And don’t get me started on the stench, I have used other drop toilets and they defiantly did not smell as bad as this one did. I had such high hopes when I saw it from a distance, as there was this pretty little modern looking shed with little exhaust type fans on the roof, and on opening the door there was a modern toilet seat, but everything went south when I smelt the stench (and this was with the toilet seat down) and noticed the holes. I think the next camping purchase will be a chemical toilet, but then the fun argument becomes, who is going to clean it out!
Did a little exploring while we were in the area, Echuca is a lovely place, although it takes a little while to realise that it isn’t just a little old fashioned town, but it is quite big and has all the mod cons (including stacks of public toilets). Most of the major shops, such as supermarkets are set apart from the main street. We did go over the boarder/bridge to Moama in NSW, and they had a fantastic market which had stacks of stores selling bits and pieces. I had gone to the farmers market in Echuca the previous day, and managed to get some delicious grapes and yummy tomatoes.
All in all the trip to Echuca was ok, not one of the best camping trips we have had, but nobody drowned when the lads went floating down the river in their inflatable boats (but special thanks go to the nice gentleman who towed them back to camp once they realized it was going to take them all night to float back, and nobody got bitten by the gigantic ants that were all over the place (lucky no ants got into the food kits).
Now we just need to decide where we will go next (I may come back to bore you with previous trips in the meantime).
I get to do a little bit of camping and exploring in Australia (note that I am not a native Australian, but do live here on a permanent basis), my travels are mainly camping because once you have brought the gear, camping is usually a lot cheaper than hotels, plus my housemate likes to camp rather than relax in luxury - my preference is actually for comfort and luxury.
Our latest trip was to Echuca on the Victoria and New South Wales boarder. Echuca is on the Victorian side of the Murray River and you just need to cross a bridge to get to the NSW town of Moama. Technically once you get into the Murray River, or onto the bridge between Echuca and Moama you are in NSW.
Got to say that although the weather was beautiful and warm, I didn't go near the river, it was brown and didn't look attractive at all. And the fact that there were jet boats travelling at high speeds along the river pulling along water boarders etc did not entice me in either. The paddleboats however were quite neat to look at, and loved the sound of them chugging along. We were also entertained by the houseboats, including one called “Moor Beer” and another that had a blow up doll attached to the top.
Admittedly I was shocked to see how brown and dirty the water looked, I was expecting nice fresh sparkling water, not signs up everywhere warning you away from the river (one funny sign was that you should not canoe in the river, this was attached to a tree next to a dock where a collection of canoes were available for hire). My second shock was how fast the boats went along the river, apparently there are no speed limits, which seems ridiculous to me, especially seeing the amount of water skiers who ended up in the river (wonder how the poor canoeists get on).
We didn't camp at a traditional site, we went camping at a Victorian Parks site which means limited facilities, but more often than not its free or a very small charge. The site in Echuca on Casey Road was a free site, it did mean we had to put up with gravel roads, dodgy clay roads which required some concentration in order to avoid driving into a dip and getting stuck in hole.
Victorian Parks camping sites come in many varieties, some have flushing toilets (not common), some have a drop/pit toilet with a basin with running water, others have a drop toilet with no running water and then there are the sites without a toilet at all.
Unfortunately the toilet we had was a drop toilet with no running water, plus there was a hole in the door for the women’s toilet, and a hole in the wall between the women’s and men’s, and not to mention that the women’s door did not quite close properly, therefore did not lock. And don’t get me started on the stench, I have used other drop toilets and they defiantly did not smell as bad as this one did. I had such high hopes when I saw it from a distance, as there was this pretty little modern looking shed with little exhaust type fans on the roof, and on opening the door there was a modern toilet seat, but everything went south when I smelt the stench (and this was with the toilet seat down) and noticed the holes. I think the next camping purchase will be a chemical toilet, but then the fun argument becomes, who is going to clean it out!
Did a little exploring while we were in the area, Echuca is a lovely place, although it takes a little while to realise that it isn’t just a little old fashioned town, but it is quite big and has all the mod cons (including stacks of public toilets). Most of the major shops, such as supermarkets are set apart from the main street. We did go over the boarder/bridge to Moama in NSW, and they had a fantastic market which had stacks of stores selling bits and pieces. I had gone to the farmers market in Echuca the previous day, and managed to get some delicious grapes and yummy tomatoes.
All in all the trip to Echuca was ok, not one of the best camping trips we have had, but nobody drowned when the lads went floating down the river in their inflatable boats (but special thanks go to the nice gentleman who towed them back to camp once they realized it was going to take them all night to float back, and nobody got bitten by the gigantic ants that were all over the place (lucky no ants got into the food kits).
Now we just need to decide where we will go next (I may come back to bore you with previous trips in the meantime).
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