Trip to Echuca

Day 1 – Thirty two Probus members met their coach captain Ron at their Rockdale departure point. On the road to Wagga Wagga our first overnight stop; breaks at Sutton Forest and lunch at Jugiong. This is just off the main road with a showground, pub, pantry and wine shop. Today the locals were having a horse gathering and competition for lunches was high. However, lunch at the Long Track Pantry were delicious.  

We reached Wagga Wagga at 3p.m. and were shown to our lovely rooms. Lynton from Darling Murray Tours met us when we arrived and stayed with us until Albury.  Dinner was an enjoyable two course alternate set down. 

Day 2 – Off to Moama after a luscious cooked breakfast. The country side shows no signs of the last drought and is instead lush with lots of water. Stock is mostly sheep although there were hawks hanging around looking for mice. This area is subject to the current mice plague.

Jerilderie was the first stop for morning tea and a stretch. Back on the road we came across a farmer transporting his cattle along the “Long Paddock” ; the cattle were on both sides of the road and on the road itself – it took some time to work our way through the livestock.

Lynton explained that some of the cattle were cross breed; the question of the day was “How do they cross them?”.

Lunch was at Deniliquin. Back on the road we were excited to see some emus.

Arriving in Echuca we visited The Great Aussie Beer Shed – Neil, our collector guide was fantastic conducting a tour with great audience participation and prizes. We then browsed his fantastic beer collection – anything to do with beer, entertainment machines, siphon bottles, ashtrays, matches etc followed by coffee and cake. Great spot and very popular with our travelers. 

Then checked into our wonderful motel at Moama. Right on the river, lovely rooms. Our evening meals were on a buffet theme ie. Curry night, Italian night, Spit roast night. 

Day 3 – Our first activity of the day was a walking tour of the Port of Echuca (very necessary to counter the great cooked breakfast) followed by a cruise on the river on the P.S. Alexander Arbuthnot. Following lunch onto the Holden Motor Museum for a talk and air bag demonstration. This was very interesting and lead to a lot of discussion afterwards. 25 year Holden celebration movie was shown followed by a browse of the fifty vehicles in the museum. Also very popular with our travelers. 

Day 4 – Off to Gunbower Creek for a wetland cruise with commentary and morning tea. This was very interesting and recommended to all travelers in the region.

After lunch we journeyed to Rochdale to view two painted silos plus art work in the park. Well worth viewing. 

Day 5 – This was the day for the Big Strawberry; this is a family run enterprise and the retired owner treated us to the story of how the enterprise was started. They only grow a small number of strawberries and use all of the fruit in their ice cream, jams, spreads and pickles. Plenty to buy in the shop; we enjoyed lunch which included a strawberry crepe and ice cream – Yum!

There was some more silo art on our return journey to St Anne’s Winery for a wine tasting which included a yummy nibble platter. 

Day 6 – Goodby to Moama and on the road to Albury. We enjoyed morning tea and a browse in the streets of Yarawonga then onto Albury for lunch. After lunch we visited the Army Museum at Bandiana, Lake Hume and the Hume Dam. 

Day 7 – Homeward bound with stops for morning tea and lunch at the Big Ram.