Echuca

We took a trip back in time this past weekend and landed in Echuca (to prounce: sneeze ACHOO! and add a “ca”) on the Murray River circa 1870. View of the old train station at the historic wharf on the Murray:

We stayed in an apartment above a bakery on the main street in town. The building was built in 1874 and had lots of character and peculiarities (and 5:00am deliveries to the bakery every morning). Front room with extremely tall ceilings and view down to the bustling main street:

In the mid to late 1800’s Echuca was a thriving port town along the Murray River – servicing paddle steamers that were used as the main mode of transportation in the area. The paddle steamers quickly lost out to the train and by the 1900’s they had nearly all been abandoned or burned. Echuca has restored many of its historical sites and now has a thriving tourist economy. The highlight of our weekend was a boat ride on the Murray aboard the Canberra, a restored paddle steamer:

We all had a go at steering her and the kids received honorary skipper certificates:

While we were cruising we passed many houseboats and other paddle steamers including the beautiful Emmylou, named after the folk singer (E. Harris):

We took a horse-drawn carriage ride around town with Ollie and Dolly:

View down “Echuca Port” - the heart of the historic area from the top of the carriage:

It wasn’t all history all weekend, however. On our way to Echuca we stopped at a large outdoor play area in Shepparton called Kidstown. It was a chilly Friday morning (our kids did not have school due to end of term reporting) and we had the place to ourselves. Eric got in on the digging action:

The city of Shepparton has cow statues all over the place – something to do with the thriving cattle industry – painted in the most peculiar fashion. Maren would yell out “MOO!” whenever she saw one and needed pictures of all of the different cows at Kidstown:

We also checked out a children’s science center in Echuca called TwistED. It was small but we still managed to spend over 3 hours there – everything was really hand’s on and engaging. Friday being a school day for kids in the area we again had the entire place to ourselves. Maren trying out a flying thing on the air table:

Asher held a very large and spiny stick insect for about a millisecond until it started to move and then he vigorously tried to get it OFF. Luckily the bug had sticky feet and dig not get tossed across the room. The approach of the stick insect:

As we are finding in small towns in Australia, everyone we met and interacted with was generous and friendly. We went to church on Sunday and the members of the congregation fed us lunch and offered us a free place to stay the next time we passed through - or more permanent housing if we wanted to move there anytime soon. I don't think it was my organ playing skills that got us the offer- they were really just that kind. My overall review of Echuca: really neat historic town but a long weekend is just about the perfect amount of time needed to visit.