The cottage we’re staying in here in Echuca is thankfully only a short walk away from the Port of Echuca, where most of the good touristy stuff is here in Echuca!
We walked down this morning at about 9am to have a bit of a relaxed wander before our paddle steamer ride. The historic strip of the Port of Echuca is quite amazingly maintained – still original buildings all through it, and most of them are still in use as different shops or restaurants. The kids burnt some energy in a great little playground nearby as well.
As 10am arrived, we headed down to the wharf to meet the PS Canberra that was taking us on our journey along the Murray today. It was a beautiful paddle steamer – simple, but well maintained. As we rode along, we learnt that it’s the only paddle steamer in the fleet on Echuca that has been in continual use since the day it was first floated – it has never been stored, sunk, abandoned, etc.
We cruised down Dhungala (the Murray River) for about half an hour, with some brilliant commentary from the captain along the way. We learnt so much about the history of the Port of Echuca, the paddle steamers, Dhungala itself, and plenty of witty comments about the state borders and competitive nature of the river as well.
We sat up top for most of the trip, enjoying our view out and along the river. But a couple of different times, we took turns to head downstairs to watch the engine and how it worked – it was amazing to watching it function, and also to watch the stoker maintaining the fire to keep the engine going.
After we arrived back, we headed to the Port of Echuca Discovery Centre, which held so much more information about the history of Echuca – it was a great extension of what we’d started to hear about on the paddle steamer. The kids were thankfully equipped with a “spotto” piece of paper and a clipboard so they could try and find about 20 different things throughout the centre, so that kept them interested as well.
As well as being indoor with plenty of knowledge and history, the displays then also went outside onto what was originally the Echuca Wharf, and included different examples of paddle steamer rudders. Lastly, the exhibits extended right around to the Echuca Railway Station and talked about the important connection of the river to the rail lines.
This afternoon was one of the things I was looking forward to the most – the National Holden Museum. This isn’t an ‘official’ museum run by Holden; rather something put together by passionate Holden fans. But Holden themselves have contributed hugely to it over the years – including loaning the museum prototype cars, and last run cars. The majority of the cars in the museum are owned by individuals that have been restored and are club registered. It was a perfectly balanced collection of Holdens – from one of the first 48-215s, right through to the final VF Ute to roll off the production line in 2017. And then absolutely everything in between, including Toranas and HQs, Monaros, and even a Camira. I was in heaven. I loved wandering and reading the stories and the statistics of all the cars.
The kids and Debbie enjoyed it too – they were definitely done a bit earlier than me, though! They were very kind and patient with letting me wander for quite a bit longer.
This evening, we’re heading back down to the Port area to a place called Bar Lee, which is the restaurant attached to the Echuca Distillery. Hopefully a really nice meal out together!
