Echuca holiday

On Sunday I went south to Goulburn by train to my sister's place, then we set out in her car to drive to Moama/Echuca, on the Murray River, which divides NSW from Victoria.  I forget how long it took - about 7 or 8 hours' drive each way, I think.  We'd been there twice before to visit a friend.  It's a lovely place to have a break for a few days.  Lots of history to take in.

As you can see the river is brown and the bush grey.  Typical of Australia.  Paddle steamers are currently being built and some of the original ones are still there, too.  We went on one of them upstream a few kilometres to a winery where we had lunch on the deck of the building.  To our great surprise, several tame kookaburras perched boldy right beside us, waiting to steal our meals!

This one practically sat in my lap, and wasn't the least bit nervous when I took photos!  A waitress came and threw some pieces of meat onto the ground to get the flock away from us, though I didn't mind at all, as I'd never been so close to such wonderful creatures before.


At times the Murray floods, and this picture shows some trees that have been uprooted in the past.

At the present moment there are serious floods in southern Queensland and northern NSW.  It rained heavily in Sydney the whole time I was away, as well as all the way to Moama/Echuca and back again, though it was fine and sunny the two days we were there.  No sign of summer at all here in Sydney.  We've had only one hot day.  Quite extraordinary, though anything is better than the usual summers of 40 degrees and high humidity.