Wet Weather Playtime in Victoria

Having only planned an overnight stay in Mildura, we eventually left four nights later, and even then it was only to edge our way down through northern Victoria.  As you might have guessed, the weather was responsible for our slow progress.  Thankfully we have avoided being caught in any areas of major flooding, but we did get pretty wet! I won’t complain, because when set against the discomfort experienced by plenty in Victoria, and the more serious tragedies experienced in Queensland (and for that matter the even more catastrophic flood events in Brazil), getting a wee bit wet and having to change your holiday plans is a small inconvenience, but here is the story, anyway:

A Soggy Kid

In Mildura it started to rain.  The weather forecast was predicting bad weather all along our chosen route down to the Grampians, so we figured that we would wait out the rain (no sense in packing up and moving from one soggy campground to another soggy campground).  Then it started to rain even harder.  On our third night in Mildura, we had the heaviest rains we've experienced on the trip; even heavier than the Narrabeen storms of our first week (this time without the gale force winds thankfully), even heavier than the tropical storms in Darwin, and even heavier than the pre-wet season downpour that filled our trailer with its own indoor paddling pool at Windjana Gorge.  It rained constantly that night and the following day, which thoroughly tested the waterproofing on our canvas. We had a few minor leaks, but all in all it stood up well.  The bad weather gave us plenty of time for tea drinking and reading.  The kids were happy to play in the pool (I suspect it could have been slightly drier in there...) and so we managed to while away the hours.  

Captain Daniel and First Mate Elliot
 at the helm of the PS Melbourne

During a dry spot, we took a paddle-steamer ride down the Murray, which was disappointing and fascinating at the same time – disappointing because the level of the water was so high that none of the locks and weirs were in use so I didn’t get to bore the children with my knowledge of these feats of engineers, fascinating because according to the captain of the boat, it was the first time in 17 years that they had not needed the weirs and fascinating to see the effect of the water level three and a half meters higher than usual.  We also managed, in another dry spell, to visit the nearby town of Wentworth, which is at the convergence of the Murray and Darling rivers.  What would normally be an impressive sight was made even more so by the huge volume of water pouring along both rivers.  Even to get to the viewing tower, it was necessary to wade through shin-deep water.

Wading to see the Murray and the Darling

After four nights in wet Mildura, it really was time to move on, so we mooched a few hundred km’s further down the Murray Valley to the city of Swan Hill.  We camped in a caravan park next to the river and what I suspect to be Swan Hill’s main tourist attraction, the historic Pioneer Settlement, which is collection of 50 or so buildings, equipment, coaches and cars from the 1800’s and early 1900’s which have been mover to this spot to showcase the life of early settlers to the area.  Jules got to indulge in her penchant for reading any and all manner of informational signs, the boys enjoyed the horse drawn carriage rides (we went back for seconds) and the ride in a restored 1925 Dodge that some would say was more comfortable than our Prado. Most of all the boys were fascinated by the blacksmith.  Anything that involved ferocious fire and bashing red hot metal with a hammer has got to be good in their book. So much so that Elliot has now put ‘blacksmith’ at the top of his list of future careers. 

My next 4WD

Though the weather had cleared up superbly by this time, the progress of the floodwaters around Victoria made it clear that our plans for the last few weeks of our journey would need to change.  Many towns around the Grampians were on major flood alert and the national park itself was closed until further notice. As the floodwaters spread it became clear that not only were we not heading south as planned, but that if we did not head quickly east, we wouldn’t be getting though towns along that route such as Echuca and Kerang.

So, we packed up and swiftly left down.  We filled up with fuel at Kerang, where a lot of others were doing the same. One local told us that in the last great floods the water had been a meter and a half up the door of the pub over the road.  It was almost impossible to imagine.  They were expecting worse this time.  As we passed through Echuca, the river was running high and plenty of locals were out to watch the spectacle.  (Thankfully, although Echuca did flood later that day, it was not as serious as had first been predicted). 

We stopped that night in Shepparton. Though I’m sure there is much about Shepparton that is “vibrant and progressive” as touted by the Official Vistors’ Guide (sadly, I have discovered the joys of tourist brochures far too late on this trip), we only stayed one night and so must have missed it.  I did like the more than 100 life-sized fibreglass cows, painted in all manner of weird and wonderful designs of “MoovingArt” which are to be found all around the city and celebrate the regions dairy heritage.

Howzat!

By his time, we had spent seven nights running in caravan parks and I felt in need of more natural surroundings a bit of solitude.  Given that so many of the regions national parks were closed and many areas were still subject to flood warnings, we struggled to pick our next destination, but we settled on a couple of nights in the Toombullup State Forrest. We’d never heard of it and perhaps not many others had either because we had the whole place pretty much to ourselves. Plenty of time to relax and the wide open space meant that the cricket set we have carted all around the country finally got a workout.  The area is also the site of a gun battle between Ned Kelly and his gang, and the Police.  Which meant it was time for another fascinating history lesson for the children...