Category Archives: Victoria

Boating, New South Wales, Victoria

Rowing for Victoria

Fri 12 June – On Friday I had the honour of rowing for Victoria, unusual for a New South Welshman.

The pin marks the spot for Paradise Beach
The pin marks the spot for Paradise Beach

The location was Paradise Beach, an unmarked beach in Barooga State Forest on the Murray River. The place was not sign posted at all – it was off a 4WD track. I drove past it twice thinking “that is surely not it”. (We actually found it in a great book titled “Bush Camping with Dogs”. It is surprisingly well researched, and also found

Great tool to finding out of the way places
Great tool to finding out of the way places

us the Tumut campsite.) However, a chat to the local constabulary confirmed it was. We arrived late at the location in light rain – not ideal for 4W driving. When we reached the Murray, we just stopped and made a quick camp. The following morning showed this to be a great choice.

The Murray River is a quiet river at present (or here) and sides are either coarse sand (such as on Paradise Beach) or reeds. So I inflated the blow up canoe we found at the camping show and followed in the wake of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

ParadiseBeach2Alex was busy talking on the phone so opted not to be on the first canoe attempt. Surprisingly, the dog was a willing participant.

Dreamy morning on the Murray
Dreamy morning on the Murray

So off we went, rowing away from NSW and into Victoria. Despite the slow flow, upstream was quite hard work and I had removed my warm vest after 20 minutes. On the way back downstream, we met some fellow dreamers.

ParadiseBeach4

New South Wales, Travel, Victoria

Part One of the Journey

The first part of the journey sees us cover NSW and Victoria, but given the distance we are attempting over the full journey, “cherry picking” might be a better word.

Messing Around in BoatsWe start of by passing though Canberra to say hello to Carmel’s dad. Then we are away, heading first towards the Murray River. The river is of course significant as being one of the bigger river systems in Australia, near many historic town, and a border between New South Wales and Victoria. Also, it has lots of water, and we have two canoes, and “there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

We will practice a bit of free camping on that part of the trip, so that we know how to do it and while biggish towns with forgotten requirements are near at hand.

BendigoBut after a week of this it is time to get serious and visit a historic town – Bendigo. We will also benefit from a proper caravan park to get a proper shower and a bit of comfort. My mother is afraid we will catch our death in Victoria in late autumn. We will see how the Air Conditioner reverse cycles.

close-up-picking-corvina2After some touristy things, it will be time for some work experience. It will be grape picking time in Mildura. I am hoping we can pick up a job picking grapes, which are the fruit of the season. I plan to have a grape eating contest with Ash to see who can eat the most bunches of grapes!

the-palace-hotel-broken-hill-9419893Finally, for NSW, Broken Hill. We will be staying near the set of Mad Max, Mission Impossible 2 and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. But also we will have to look at the mines and, of course, the Palace Hotel.