Down the Murray

For about a week we have been inland traveling from the start of the Murray River in the Snowy Mountains to the mouth here in Adelaide. The Murray River, along with its biggest tributary, the Darling River, is the world's fourth largest river system. Towns along the river are marketing the history of when this area was opened up. As a result, we saw a lot of old things, i.e. riverboats, townsites and farm implements. Too many farm implements, actually. This makes sense considering the area produces 41% of the country's gross agricultural production.

Quite often during our touring of old things, we had the added experience of rain. While we continue to see it as a detriment to our travels, Australians in this region get quite excited. After it had rained all night in Swan Hill, the comments ranged from "beautiful" to "wonderful" to "spectacular." Understandable considering they haven't had rain in three months and probably won't have it for another three more. For us, it meant another night with the tarp up.

By the way, rain does not deter the flies. The farther we traveled inland, the more flies we found. They don't bite. They just buzz around your head, in your ears, up your nose, eyes etc. When you shoo one away, there are twelve more to take its place. Ever hear of the Aussie wave? We now know how to execute it perfectly. We are thankful that we are not driving across the Nullabor to Perth. Fellow "holidaymakers" inform us that they are ten times worse there. Some things we don't need to experience. Thank goodness for air travel.

All kidding aside, there is a lot of history here. We took a ride on an authentic wood-fired steam driven paddlewheeler in Echuca, enjoyed camping in several places along the Murray, got Lynda into the water for the first time since Queensland and saw some beautiful countryside.

Finally, the flies won out and we made a one day, 600 km dash across the Mallee highway, through what must be the heart of Australia's wheat production. Grain fields as far as you can see and lots of small towns where the highway only slows down along the length of the main street. The town may or may not have a petrol station, but it definitely has a grain silo.

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