We arrived in Echuca just before 10am and checked into the Echuca Caravan Park which is within walking distance of the Old Port area, as long as it’s not too cold to walk. The park is the closest to town and is on the Murray but there is a levy bank so we can’t see the water from the park. Speaking of cold, it is quite cold in this area; the wind today must have been coming straight off the Alps as it was very cold. The cold is affecting my knees a bit and is causing me to cough as well, Asthma territory for me.
We called in at the info centre and got all the local info, we also asked about a sign we had seen at the park about Blue Green Algae in the Murray, it advised not to do any water activities, yes there is algae so we are not sure if we will be doing any Kayaking but at the same time it was present in the water at Mildura and we went Kayaking. In fact I managed to pick up a bit of seed weed on my paddle and somehow it flipped back as I paddled and slapped Chris across the face, hee hee. He didn’t have any adverse effects from it, so I can do it again, opps did I say that out loud.
We then walked down the old port area; there are many old buildings that are filled with shops selling all sorts of wares from antiques, camping gear, boutiques, fudge, old style lollies, book stores etc. Then there is the actual dock and wharf area, to get into these areas you have to pay an admission fee which is only $12, for this you also get a 1hr tour and all day entry into the wharf area and sites, we plan to do this tomorrow. We also plan to do a trip on one of the paddle boats, which is a bit cheaper if you purchase the ticket at the same time as the wharf walk ticket. $27.50 each all up, pretty good.
We also went to the Holden Museum entry was only $6.50 each. Chris loved it and it bought back memories of some of his and his mate’s first cars and his families. All the cars were in amazing condition.
Back at the park we met a couple of guys from the UK. One guy in particular is a photographer who works for a UK paper, when he’s not taking shots for them he goes off on his own personal assignments. At present he is working on a project that covers the effects of drought in this area, then off to the Philippians for Cyclone shots, then off to the US for fire shots. He is heading to Menindee in the next few days, he was very keen to hear all about if from us and we were able to tell him some good spots to go for photos.
Tomorrow morning we are planning to get up earlier to get some early morning light shots of the Wharf area.
Chris was just looking through some photos and found evidence that a fly had pooped on his lens at Oodnadatta, told you they were bad.