Murray River Cruise at Echuca

On Tuesday 21st September 33 people went to Echuca via coach as part of Housing Week. It was an early start, 7 AM for the first pickup and the last at Creswick at 8:45 AM. It was cold and overcast in Ballarat so not an auspicious start to the day.

Morning tea in Bendigo. [To view images larger click on image and use your browser back button to return to story]

First stop was in Bendigo for a quick morning tea. At least the sun was out and it was a bit warmer than Ballarat.

Joan, Connie and Tess along with the rest of our party wait to board the paddle steamer.

We arrived in Echuca about 11:30 AM to a warm sunny day. We were scheduled to depart for our river cruise at 11:45 so were in ample time to board our paddle steamer the P.S. Canberra. The river was in full flow and many of the mooring points were under water but we had no trouble boarding the boat for our trip.

The river in full flow from the rear of the boat at the mooring site.

The old Echuca wharf and a paddle steamer undergoing renovation.

Echuca was once our biggest inland port and part of the wharf structure along with the old buildings has been preserved and is now a tourist precinct. More restoration of the wharf is in progress. We have been in drought for many years now but this winter we had above average rain fall and for the first time in years the river was flowing at a high level. The locals and visitors alike were enjoying the rare event.

The view from the top deck of our paddle steamer.

A view of the river in full flow and one of the grand old paddle steamers plying it's trade.

There are many original paddle steamers plying their trade along the Murray River at Echuca and several of them were working during our cruise.

The Emmylou carrying passengers along the Murray with some of the house boats for charter showing behind the grand old lady.

Peter Sheen servers lunch to Brian and Judith on board the P.S. Canberra.

Our trip included a light lunch on board the paddle steamer and it was served by staff from the Department of Human Services and Mr. Peter Sheen from PACT. Housing week is sponsored by the Victorian Government and PACT received a grant for our outing to celebrate housing week.

The main street of the tourist precinct complete with rides on horse and buggies.

After the lunch cruise we were given a hour to explore the main tourist area and the main street of Echuca. It was a pleasant experience to stroll about in the warm sun and explore all the old shops and buildings within walking distance. There was a good selection of wood working items on show along with blacksmith's shops, with anything from fine tables to basic tourist nicknack's.

An old kiln inside the main pottery shed at Bendigo Pottery.

We left Echuca for the return trip home but the bus driver had arranged a stop over at the Bendigo Pottery for us. The pottery is one of the oldest working potteries in Australia and has been in continuous operation since the mid 1850's.

Connie and Tess explore one of the show rooms at the Bendigo Pottery.

The sculpture and artifacts garden at the pottery.

The coach driver chats with one of our participants at the main entrance to the Bendigo Pottery show rooms.

After a pleasant interlude at the pottery we departed for Ballarat in good spirits. We listened to a selection of music on the way home and a few brave souls sang along to the old style songs. The trip ended in Ballarat, back in the cold and gloom at about 6 pm that night.

All images are copy righted with all rights reserved and may not be used without written permission. All images taken with a Nikon D700 with Nikon 24-70 f2.8 lens.