Left a hot Mildura yesterday and headed off to a just as hot sunny Swan Hill. Our trek lead us first across the border into NSW before turning south once more, so officially we have been to 4 states of Australia on this trip!
Now if anyone was wondering what the locusts are like up this way, wonder no more… they were everywhere!! We drove through swams of them, and they made a huge splat across the windscreen and left the van looking very dirty. Going to have my work cut out for me cleaning that off when we get home!
Arrived at Swan Hill just after midday and left the van in the Big 4 before heading down to the Pioneer Settlement. This place had certainly grown since I was here last!!
Walked on in and what do find but the family all locked on the jail cell. I was tempted to leave them there for the afternoon and go exploring in peace…
… but even I am not that mean, so we broke them out and continued on our way.
We took a cruise up the Murray on a paddle boat with a very dry and boring captain explaining the history of paddle boats and life around the Murray. Tara asked Mum if we could just get a boat for Christmas so we didn’t have to keep going on all these other boats… and I didn’t even prompt her!!
the most exiting part of this cruise was the cows on the side of the bank, and Jess took great joy in counting all 6 of them.
After the cruise, was were lucky enough to have a ride in a horse drawn carriage. The horses name was “Harry” and all the kids loved him. As we travelled around the town, we passed another horse called Gemma who was Harry’s friend. The girls decided they liked Gemma while Zac liked Harry…. what a surprise…
We were also lucky enough to have a ride in a vintage car, although the kids all said they liked Harry better. Was a good way to see all of the town very quickly, which was good as it was almost closing time.
Only one thing left to do…. get to the Lolly shop.
Of course as we headed off, Jess needed a toilet stop, which was ok as they were just past the shop. Problem was, the lady there was about to close! Jess ran past saying to the lady “Don’t you close, don’t you close!!” Lucky for us the lady thought she was very cute and kept the store open just a few minutes extra…phew!
Had Pizza on the way back from the settlement at the kids request, then had a great swim in the parks pool. Another fun, but very hot day. Seems hotter here than it was on the Western Coast, and we are certainly missing those sea breezes at night…. gotta get the AC in the van fixed!!
Not sure where we will end up today. I am tempted to take the family over to Strathmerton to show Fi where we camp at New Years, and have a look at the condition of the river post floods, but we will see how we go. Not sure if I can remember the roads in or not….
