18th MARCH 2013 – WENTWORTH, NSW.

Houseboat on Murray River
 

Paddle Steamer Industry at Renmark
 

 

Next morning it’s off to Wentworth where the Darling & the Murray Rivers meet. This is our second visit here – last trip was just after the big Victorian floods in 2011 & there was still a lot of evidence here. However this time it is all OK. We pass through to Mildura, the centre of the Riverina where they grow huge amounts of fruit, nuts, wine etc & where all those gorgeous Aussie dried fruits are produced. It’s disappointing not to have arrived on a weekend as that is when they have their markets & was fabulous last time to stock up on all those goodies.

We have followed orange markers all along the Silver City Highway from Broken Hill to Wentworth, & eventually discovered that they are the underground fibre-optic cable for fast broadband communications, 260kms, & then continues much further in other directions. There have also been 100’s of kms of wheat fields which seem to go on forever, now only stubble. It’s a mind boggling industry. Crossing the Murray to Mildura we actually change states from NSW to Victoria, & later today will cross into SA. We follow the Murray through more fruit growing including citrus, grapes & vegetables plus more large wheatfields. There are lots of little villages & I would imagine most people are involved in those industries either employed directly or providing some type of services. Naturally a lot of the grapes will become dried fruit, not necessarily wine though we passed ‘Banrock Station’ winery as one name we did recognise. There are giant irrigation machines in the paddocks which look like jurassic birds with wings spread trying to take off. We still have not witnessed rain since we left QLD but unfortunately for QLD it has not changed up there.

Our planned route from here is to continue following the Murray River into South Australia later today.

Paddle Steamer Cruiser on the Murray

Corella



 

Morning tea break at Waikere, alongside the River after passing through the pretty little town with it's avenue of flowing gums.  It's a lovely spot & would be peaceful were it not for a large flock of Corella parrots doing their usual 'concert' performance.  I did at least manaage to get a good photo of one.  The large paddleboat 'Murray River Queen' was docked at the pier but didn't seem to be operating.   We watched the car ferry crossing from the other side - we could have taken that short cut too but chose not to although it is free.  There are a number of these ferry crossings across the Murray as we have seen before.  The next one is at Swan Reach just further along.  This is by far the nicest section of the Murray as it can be viewed from high cliffs above - great for photos.  Would love to be here in the early evening as the sun strikes the red cliffs.  Our lunch stop is again by the riverbank at another tiny place called Bowhill.  Incidentally, the Murray is the third longest navigable river in the world.  As we are now leaving Victoria & entering South Australia it is necessary to pass through a Quarantine Station & unfortunately we lose all our fresh fruit & vegies as they are very strict about carrying fruit fly from one state to another.  Rather spoilt our day.