Mildura - A family holiday covering 2 states

[rainbowgirl]

When we last visited Mildura we saw a marina being built south east of the Chaffey bridge. This time we took a look at the final product. The marina has been finished and there are plenty of boats there but some of the houses are still being built.

 

[rainbowgirl]

There were paddle boats, houseboats and other watercraft for hire.

 

[rainbowgirl]

The luxury houseboat with the spiral staircase wasn't for hire.

 

[rainbowgirl]

We had afternoon tea at the Dockside Cafe. They were about to close up but let us come in and order. We share some scones, mud cake and a cookies and cream ice cream sundae.

When we were finished we fed bread to the fish. We put a couple of small pieces of bread in the water then waited. Soon we had a swarm of fish in front of us. In post 53 there are at least 3 fish visible, two with open mouths. There were also many other fish just below the water level. I'll put some more photos below. It was hard to get clear photos as everything was moving so quickly and there's a delay on my camera. A couple of ducks arrived for the bread as well but they didn't come too close to us because of the fish.

 

[rainbowgirl]

 

[Peter D]

Loving your trip report. Mildura has many advantages as holiday destination. I really enjoyed the place.

My first visit was in 1974 arriving on the overnight Vinelander! Train. Then hitched hiked to Broken Hill and onward to Burke and Lightening Ridge.

Few years ago my sister came out from Holland for my daughter’s wedding. So, as we always do with her we went on road trip. A return to Broken Hill and Mildura.

I recognise the pool and the glass tables we were at the same resort for one of the two weeks.

One of our highlights was the trip to Mungo National Park with a local guide who had permits to enter the archaeological/indigenous areas.

My sister lives below sea level in the polders of Northern Holland (and has shown us historic pumping stations) so couldn’t resist taking her to view the site Chaffey’s pumping station. I love beautiful historic machinery but my wife doesn’t to the point to boredom. She saw it as a suitable revenge.

 

[rainbowgirl]

Due to the lighting I couldn't see what I was actually taking photos of when trying to get images of the fish putting their mouths above the water to get the bread. I decided to take lots of photos and hope I captured something interesting. I now have around 50 photos of fish, ducks and water. I've never hand fed fish before. I have no idea what sort of fish they were.

Miss 7 and Miss 12 love feeding animals and being around them so this was a very exciting activity for them.

 

[rainbowgirl]

Next updates include some historic items and the circus came to town.

A few sneak peaks below.

 

[rainbowgirl]

 

[JessicaTam]

If you are wondering what the Walls of Chine signpost means, this is part of Mungo National Park in NSW. There are some tall sand dunes which look like a wall. A few years ago we had fun rolling down them. I don't know whether you are still allowed to do this on the tours.

You used to be able to get onto the Walls of China, but damage was becoming quite noticeable so had to be fenced off. There are still some excellent viewing places, and a self guided driving tour around the area.

 

[rainbowgirl]

You used to be able to get onto the Walls of China, but damage was becoming quite noticeable so had to be fenced off. There are still some excellent viewing places, and a self guided driving tour around the area.

It's possible the Walls of China weren't the sand dunes we went down. I'm not sure. Viewing the Walls of Chine is still part of the tour we went on as I saw it advertised while we were there.

 

[JessicaTam]

You are jogging my memory. There is a small area of sand dunes about 3/4 of the way around the self drive tour. Near an old Cobb and Co well. I think they can still be 'ridden'!

 

[Denali]

Are those fish carp? If yes, thats an example of a introduced species thats causing havoc in the water ways (to touch on a flushing fish down the toilet post on the Support Animal thread elsewhere).

By memory, theres some guy that has a contract to catch, mulch it into safe fertiliser. Charlie Carp by memory.

 

[rainbowgirl]

We didn't discover what European carp were until a couple of days later. One of the fishing regulations in Mildura is that if you catch a European Carp you have to take it out of the river. They don't want European Carp released back as they are considered a pest.

We looked at pictures of local fish later in the week. We may have been feeding Murray Cod.

 

[rainbowgirl]

 

[rainbowgirl]

We went past Mildura airport on the way to the historical village.

 

[rainbowgirl]

More photos from the historical village.

They had several relocated train stations and multiple carriages on display.

There was no charge to view the settlement but they asked for a gold coin donation to help maintain the facilities. There were toilets and a playground but no staff on site. A group of volunteers are available by phone to give information and to arrange group guided tours.

The site is 90km from Mildura.

Millewa Community Pioneer Forest and Historical Society, Meringur.

 

[rainbowgirl]

Another Mallee root stump, but not as big as the one in Ouyen.

 

[rainbowgirl]

We stopped on the side of the Sturt highway on our travels for a few minutes. We saw a mob of wild emus. None of us had seen wild emus before. All the other emus we'd seen had been in wildlife parks or zoos. Mr Rainbow has travelled to many places in Australia with his family and I was surprised that he hadn't seen them before. We couldn't get any closer as the farmland was fenced off.

Miss 7 also found a snake skin which we admired and left on the ground. She did a research project about snakes at school and was happy to tell us all about snakes and how they lived. She has a very keen eye and can often spot details we have trouble seeing.

Mr Rainbow spotted a marker which indicated that underneath where we stood, was the fibre optic cable which transmits internet traffic between Melbourne and Adelaide.

If we'd kept going on the Sturt Highway we would have ended up in South Australia. We're hoping on our next Mildura trip we get to visit Renmark which was also an irrigation colony.

EDIT: I made a mistake about the internet cable. Thank you to JessicaTam for picking this up. The cable runs between Sydney and Adelaide.

 

[RB]

Certainly look like Carp. I can't make it out for sure in your photos but a fairly easy distinguishing feature is the "whiskers" on the corners of their mouth. The carp have been around in inland NSW rivers since I started going fishing. A small cod makes fantastic eating-the bigger ones get too fatty