Day 281- 285 Mildura

Easter Monday was Stephen's Birthday, so guess where we ended up..yes a winery...Trentham Estate... thank's Bassie for treating us to a great meal to celebrate.
On the Tuesday Stephen & I travelled across to Lake Mungo. This was another from our to do list. This site has recorded Aboriginal occupancy for over 40,000 years....yes you read that correctly...over 40,000 years. Now a dry lake bed, it once was part of a chain of fresh water lakes. The picture above is of the Wall of China, which is a lunatte , this shows all the layers of the lake filling with water and drying again, plus sand movement and erosion.
There is an area just behind Stephen, that had the look of a beginning of the pinnacles, but on a much smaller scale. The picture does not do this area justice as although it is a flat area, the colour variations were incredible.
More of the same, but with a little more of the look of the pinnacles.
On the way out we went to the look out to look over the whole area. We had travelled a 70k touring route of the area with notes on the sites to be seen. Although there was little that you could see from the road, there was evidence all around of the days gone by. The Visitors Centre at the entrance to Mungo has a very factual display of the periods as they go back of the local life, flora and fauna.

Day 280 Mildura

The Mildura 100. This fascinating sport is held here every Easter with the mad participants on the back of the top speed boats traveling at averages above 190k an hour. We had not seen this style of sport before and it blow our minds. 

We had travelled on to Mildura to catch up with Sebastian and Jessie, plus some of Jessie's family, for Easter and to watch the fun.
On the Saturday we went on our own to a spot called Bruce's Bend...this passing manoeuvre was mind boggling!!! 

This is a picture on the Saturday of the Eventual winner on the Sunday..No 2 Stinger. On the Sunday they travel 50k up river, then a few hours later they return to the start/finish line. With a two way average of approx. 194k's per hour with two skiers on the back..think about it.....awesome feat!!!

The slower classes have to average, their speed class, most of which were in the 60 mph, still pretty awesome, especially when you see Under 13 and Under 16's going through.
This is a picture of Vulture (No 250). The couple in this boat turned up beside us on the Saturday, Robert & Jane Jefferson, from Echuca (Jane was the driver). They were great value as they gave us a run down on all the processing's, with a running commentary on the Dash for Cash on the day. Thanks to them we could appreciate all the action on the following day.

Day 279 Swan Hill Pioneer Park

Alison with a T Model Ford , a little more inspiration for "the book"
One of the free means of transport within the park , the other was an old Dodge which went for a ride in.
No this is an "early caravan" complete with fire place & chimney, boy were we glad we live now not then !!
An early steam traction engine.
This one you wouldn't want to be seen in ! It was used to transport bodies in & could be sealed with wax to keep them "fresher"

All in all a fantastic place to visit & if you do the Murray make sure to spend at least half a day there !

Day 279 Lake Boga

Lake Boga the site of No 1 Services for Sea Planes. (Hope I got that right). This was an inland service and repair facility for the allied forces. It was situated on Lake Boga (now dry) a 3k across inland lake that was far enough inland to not be able to be attacked. Above is the old communication bunker that is now the home of the Museum.
Outside, one of the Catalina Sea Planes, these majestic machines were used so effectively during the war.
It's a bit sorry for itself at the moment as it is waiting for a paint job... still it was worth the stop.

Day 278 Echuca Paddle Streamer

Stephen had always said that we should follow the Murray River and do a Paddle Steamer. Echuca was the first place that we could do this and we found The EmmyLou, a reproduction paddle steamer, with an original steam boiler.
Due to a technical hitch,(they got it wrong) we managed to get a trip up and down the River Murray. The picture above is of the remains of the old wharf, which is now all that is left of the original 1 kilometer wharf.
The old original steam engine, never missed a beat.
There were a large array of paddle boats, house boats, and other river craft.... we loved it!!  Another of our ticked boxes.....but we have now started another wish list and this is on it...house boat trip up or down the Murray, with as many of family or friends that we can muster...interested?  Let us know because I can see this becoming a must do!!! Email us!!!
What a figure head...it's a wander that we didn't sink....that's pay back!!

Day 277-278 Echuca

The American Hotel in Echuca. My Mum & Dad had their Honeymoon there in 1945 !! We went there hoping to have lunch , but sadly it had closed 6 weeks earlier. I was looking forward to a bit of "family history"

There is not much I can say without risking Life & Limb !!!!!!!!!

DAy 276 Cobram

With regret we moved on to Cobram and caught up with Bill & Pat, who we had originally met in Kununurra, many moons ago. They have a lovely Site 1 on the front lawn and much to our surprise invited us to stay all hitched up for as long as we liked... we intended moving on the next day, but that did not happen..... We had missed out on a highly recommended winery on the outskirts of Rutherglen called Warrabilla. What a find...there was not one red that Stephen ,Pat & I did not like (luckily Bill does not drink wine, so we had a driver). Needless to say the day got away from us so we stayed again on Site 1.
We went for a lovely walk in the morning on to Quin Island... and watched the Murray River before we moved off once more.

Day 275 Mount Ophir/ All Saints Winery

The Original Mount Ophir Winery

This historic winery was originally established in 1891 & was considered the largest "State of the Art" winery in the world !!!!

35ish years ago, my mate Graham Beere, was working for a real estate company that was trying to sell shares in it's resurrection. So it was appropriate that we were there on his birthday & gave him a call to tell him where we were & wish him Happy Birthday.
The mammoth undertaking of it's restoration is being undertaken by a woman named Ruth Hennessy, what an undertaking ! The roof on the tower cost $80k. ( better than the original $250k !!)
The tower is now used as a 3 level accommodation , it's such a shame the area has been in drought for 10 years. 
Last but not least All Saints Winery. Just shows you what money & water can do !!

Day 273-275 Rutherglen

Stephen had always wanted to bring me to his haven for BIG REDS, Rutherglen, so we set of having had last night with A & A, celebrating their return and my birthday.... this is us at a special place called the Pickled Sisters...really good platter, best pate ever Chicken Liver and Muscat)...needed a sleep after the bottle of bubbly...
NIce sign, been there forever, they are not sure if they can keep it any more with the name changes for regional beverages...I wonder what port is going to be called in the future.
They are impressive....this system means that old vintages are taken from the bottom barrels and then the year later from above is drained into it and so on and then the top barrel is the new years vintage..
Can you believe the next day we had brought the rain again!!!! Getting quite a rep!! This storm come through at such a lick that we did not get the awning down in time...we were soaked and the awning arm was slightly damaged... oh well just another thing to do!
Then the sunset was incredible..this is from the van over looking the dry Lake King.

Day 271 The Dago and Wally Show

When we got back into Melbourne we had a couple of days o sort out the van and get things done to the car, repack and then move on..... we had previously spent time with David, Annie and family at the Christmas visit and they had very kindly invited us again before we moved on.
This is Jonathan, as you can see the only interest is fooooooood!!!!!!
Kristian and Luke mucking about....
The girls, before the wine had flowed too much...thank goodness for Kristian's lift home to A & A's.

Day 270 National Gallery Bugatti Exhibition

Having seen the Bugatti at Phillip Island we could not resist the Exhibition that was on at the National Gallery. Fabulous place and just inside the door we had a surprise....
We appear to have found a few of our friends from Lake Ballard... if you have been  following the blog they were on the Golden Quest trip...about 70 of them on the salt lake.... looks like some have escaped!!!! They did look impressive with the water wall in the back ground.
It's a good thing that I like cars as well!!!!!! No it was nice to see these incredible machines so closely...the workmanship was overpowering....
Looked pretty good on the track, not this one but one of it's counterparts....
There was also some very interesting ancient artifacts...well worth a visit and mostly free!!!!!!

Day 269 At the Grand Prix Part 2

The driver's were paraded in the fire engines, which had been involved with the Black Saturday fires...it was very poignant and certainly brought a lump to the throat.
Proof!!
The Roulettes going through their paces.
The first lap, and that was all we could see for the next 2 hours!!!!!!
Then we moved and got a flash of Jenson Button on the way to the first victory of the season...not bad for a bloke who did not have a drive 3 weeks prior to this.