Yarrawonga on the Murray

Set up at Yarrawonga Holiday Park

What a lovely spot is Yarrawonga and its twin town on the NSW side of the river, Mulwala. We set up at the Yarrawonga Holiday Park, situated right on the river, just below the Yarrawonga Weir. There were quite a number of vans around us, but we found out they were all from a caravan club, and two days later, they all left and we were on our own! 

The Yarrawonga Weir

All along the Murray, are these twin towns, born out of the 60's and 70's, when NSW had the pokies at the clubs, and Victoria didn't. Bus loads of Victorians would come to the Murray to gamble on the NSW pokies. Golf clubs emerged, as did waterskiing clubs and a huge holiday destination was born.

In Yarrawonga/ Mulwala, the only thing at Mulwala on the NSW side, are the enormous clubs. The shops and the industry is all in Victoria at Yarrawonga. The same applies at the other centres such as Cobram/Barooga. The town of Yarrawonga is lovely, and growing at a fast rate. It is a retirement centre primarily, but with the wide variety of primary industry that occurs around the district, it is also a growing commercial centre. In fact, the railway line has just re-opened, mostly to transport grain, but agian it brings more jobs to town.

We quickly found the best cafe/coffee in town, at the Nosh Deli & Cafe, and regularly enjoyed the walk to town, to partake of their excellent array of goodies.  I should stress to all those expressing concern for our well being, due to the strong emphasis that our blog has on food, and consumption thereof, we are taking long and regular walks, and getting our fair share of exercise along the way. For those who know us well, food is a passion of ours, and that aint about to change. So, back to food. We also found a delightful little Italian restaurant where we had a great meal on our last night. But apart from that we ate in, mostly because on the day after our arrival, Yarrawonga held its monthly food & produce market, one of the best we've ever seen, so we stocked up on meat, fish, fruit and vegies, cheese, home made pies, bread, jams, etc. and had lots of ingredients for Carol to work wonders with!!

Lake Mulwala

Around the district is a lot of agriculture, due to the irrigation from the river and Lake Mulwala. Ironically, the lake was being drained while we were there. There has been a lot of rain in the last 6 months, and the lake has developed a noxious weed, so they are draining the lake to expose the weed, so the frost can kill it, and boy do they get frost here! The lake dropped about 2 metres during our stay, exposing all the dead trees and making the lake look like a ghost forest.

You want me to walk on ice????

The weather here has been extremely cold at night but mostly sunny during the days. Most mornings we get a heavy frost. John played golf early one morning. Big mistake! You crunched the ice as you walked the fairways, and the golf ball was like hitting a rock. When I removed my glove, I was certain I would find my fingers left inside! And my toes were blue when I removed my shoes. Still it was better than playing in the fog, which we got on the last two days. It was so thick, it didn't lift until 3.00pm!! I'm not kidding, for most of the round you couldn't see 10 metres. At least I got to boast that I was hitting it out of sight all day!! Trouble was, some were never seen again. We lost one of the members of our group for 2 holes! Golf at Yarrawonga was different, to say the least.

The Tree Arbour at All Saints Winery

We took a couple of lovely drives from Yarrawonga. We went to Corowa and Rutherglen, which is beautiful. The All Saints Winery at Rutherglen, has to be one of the most picturesque in Australia. The drive in through the archway of oak trees to the old castle replica was magnificent, with the oak trees shedding their golden leaves.

Says it all!

Rutherglen is Australia's premium fortified wine region. The ports, liquer muscats and tokays are to die for. Nothing better for a nightcap with a steaming cup of coffee. Of course we tried a couple, just to be sociable. We called into a lovely little cafe on a cold and windy afternoon, to sit by the fire and have a warm drink. The waitress embarrassed us by asking "I've been watching you. Do you mind me asking how long you've been going out? 30 years we replied. Oh! you look like you've only just started going out. So happy and loving!!" Well, it is a pretty stress free life we are living.

April at the Big Strawberry

We also headed west along the river to Cobram and Barooga. A bit of a deja vu feeling here. All looked very similar with big clubs and golf courses on NSW side and all the shopping and industry in Victoria. Still, a nice town, and the golf courses looked very good. Further west we came across the Big Strawberry at Koonoomoo. No prizes fo guessing what goes on here. We just beat the bus tours in, so got a good table to watch the onslaught as 100 bus passengers escaped the confines of their transport, and swarmed through the building, collecting armfuls of strawberry souvenirs, stawberry jam, strawberry sauce, strawberry wine, strawberry soft toys, and then sat down to consume giant plates full of strawberry pancakes and cream! Within 20 minutes the place was empty, except for us and a few other shell shocked witnesses.

The River Redgums

All along the Murray are the magnificent redgum forests. These huge, majestic trees line the river, and you cannot help but be impressed by the awesome display. We headed on to Shepparton. This is a large centre, that looks like most large country towns, with new shopping malls around the outskirts, and spreading residential estates, but looked nice with a large new development around a lake. Nice picnic areas and walkways all the way around. We headed back to Yarrawonga, driving through some beautiful grain farm country that featured huge, freshly ploughed and planted paddocks that looked like the beginning of a good season.

We enjoyed our stay at Yarrawonga, and one day will come back and do the tour along the Murray from Albury to Renmark. It is a well known trail for caravanners, and we want to make sure we do it justice. This has been a nice taste, at a time when the river is at it best following all the rain. We left, in the fog, and headed north. Stopped at Tocumwal, another lovely little river town, for a great hot breakfast at the only cafe in town open on Sunday morning, then back on the road for a overnight stay at Forbes.

Motoring 1909 style

McFeeters Motor Museum

Forbes seems a nice town, and we have overnighted here before. There is a fantastic Motor Museum here. This time we decided we had to go, so 9.00am Monday morning, we were the first customers through the door at the McFeeters Motor Museum. It is a fantastic display of 60 vehicles dating from 1903 to current times. We were given a personal tour by one of the McFeeter family, who told us about every car in the exhibition. It was a very worthwhile stop, and we would highly recommend this to anyone passing through Forbes.

So then it was back on the road to Mudgee, where we arrived mid afternoon, for a weeks stay and a good catch up with our friends Lynne and Paul, and April's friends Bayleigh and Harley.

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