17 May

Checked out the caravan place for the part for the hose, but they only had a bigger one and it was $85 so we left it there. and we will call Aussie Wide on Monday and find out where to get the part or have them send it to us.

The birds had a party on the roof of the TARDIS so we took him for a wash. Shepparton has lots of fibreglass cows in their parks, and we took lots of photos for the kids of the various cows around town before leaving for our trip around the region.

First stop, Tatura to the museum but it doesn’t open until 2pm, so onto Murchison to the cemetery and to the Italian Ossario mausoleum, Italian war graves. Then onto the Murchison Heritage Centre and learnt about the POW camps located in the Tatura/Murchison area – fascinating stuff. From there we went to Rushworth but the heritage centre was shut, the town has been heritage listed so the building are little ones not changed from then.

Over to Kyabram, total surprise to why it exists, 6900 people in the middle of nowhere, although orchards everywhere so they do that now, but what did they do before. Then on the way to Tatura we skipped thru Byrneside and had to go back to take a photo of the sign, couldn’t find anything else. On the way to Tatura called in at the German War cemetery, the only one in Australia. German civilians and soldiers from both World Wars. Back to Tatura and into the museum, more information on POW camps, huge camps 4000 in one of them (Murchison). Plus info on irrigation, weirs, Rosella cannery, and snow milk (previously called Tatura milk).

On Sunday we moved from Shepparton to Echuca (a whole 77kms). Called into Tongala Golden Cow on the way which was condensed milk in Australia but 3 three years ago Nestle sold it to Fontana. It is very confusing try to keep track of who owns what and what brand is true now. We expected to pick up cans and cans of condensed milk for the boys but no luck.

After settling into the Echuca Caravan PArk we went into the town. It was very busy, cafes and pubs with outdoors seating and entertainment. We visited the information centre and Ian picked up maps for all sorts of places in Victoria and NSW. Never know when you might need a map. The next week looks busy as there is lots to do in Echuca.