The original plan was to spend three nights camping beside the Murray, being over the Christmas period. The plan was to bug out the day after Boxing Day. We were already a day ahead, since we chose not to drop down to Mansfield and camp beside the mountain hut used in the movie, 'The Man From Snowy River', Craigs Hut, hence it would have even availed us to a four day camp, a break from driving. However, decisions needed to be made.
Our desire was to share Christmas with our travelling companions. We had 'Secret Santa' to play, and food to eat :) There was also another riverside camping spot in the area of 'The Gulf' just north of Echuca, again on the banks of the Murray. Echuca was just over an hour away. So our decision was to pack camp, checkout Echuca, show the kids the Capital of River Paddle Steam Boats, then choose a camp after that, and hopefully to have caught up with our travelling companions.
So it was, decision made, we packed camp and headed west along the Murray River. We found some farms selling stone fruit, so stocked up. We hit Echuca and phoned our travelling companions. We'd catch up after some grocery shopping meeting at the Port of Echuca.
Meeting on the banks of the Murray where the Paddle Steamers dock had us deciding to check out some riverside camping spots our travelling companions had received excellent info from the Tourist Information Centre in Echuca. So they took the lead. It was very dissappointing to discover these camp sites were littered with rubbish and again, V8 speed boats thumping up and down the river. This part of the river also has house boats.
We checked out some of the prices, for a 'Luxury Afloat' which sleeps 8 and has a spar on the top deck of a three deck houseboat, was $5,100 for three nights over Xmas. The basic house boats were $1,600 for three nights. Camping on the banks was more in our price bracket.
So we returned to Echuca. Again, decision time. The camp site we had camped the night before was perfect, but it was not agreed for all of us to camp there, so after some in-decision, we decided to spend $$ on the local caravan park.
The Echuca Holiday Park was expensive. It is frustrating when these venues over-inflate their prices just because it is Christmas, they were not busy (yet) and they suffered no extra costs because of Christmas, in fact they didn't even open their office doors on Christmas day, they simply left the entry gate open. Anyway, the pool was nice and refreshing and cooled us off, as we needed it, kids enjoyed the swim. It was 37 degrees and there was little shade in the park. But we were together and the kids were sharing christmas.
Our travelling companions put in an awesome effort to decorate their camp, and it turned out the park had Santa cruise around handing out lollies, and then a judging of the best decorated camp site, and they won! Nice bottle of bubbly, good one.
Further decisions were made, that we'd only spend one night here and head off the next morning, though I felt that would mean we'd end up heading different directions. This was the first time our travelling companions had been out of Queensland as a family and it was certainly a big adventure. Perhaps it was better if they now had the opportunity to do their own exploring.
Here's some pics of Echuca. A great place to visit (in winter :)
Note: The Xmas Tree, on the marker pole of the tent site boundary, fashioned out of garbage bags, Modern Art at it's finest.
Camp: Echuca Holiday Park - $66/night/family - expensive.
Weather: Days - Hot about 37 degrees, evenings pleasant 18 degrees
Elevation: 150m
GPS 36 06'55.90S
144 44'36.70E
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