Victoria, Australia: Steamy side of river life

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This was published 9 years ago

Victoria, Australia: Steamy side of river life

Lee Atkinson takes a look at what's new in Australia's paddle-steamer capital.

Bank on it: Paddle steamer The Pevensey docked at Echuca Wharf.

Bank on it: Paddle steamer The Pevensey docked at Echuca Wharf.Credit: Justin McManus

Everything old is new again in Echuca. The historic paddle-steamer port on the Murray River is getting a makeover.

The heritage-listed redgum wharf where, during the river port's boom days in the 1880s, hundreds of paddle-steamers loaded and unloaded their cargo has just been restored to its original condition using traditional techniques, and the entire area has had a massive $15 million revitalisation. A new Discovery Centre, where you can learn about the power of steam and history of river trade with interactive displays, opened at the end of last year, along with a network of raised walkways and platforms that allow a good view of sections of the original wharf and water level markings from the river's most devastating floods.

A few blocks back from the port area, the town's oldest hotel (well, one of them, there's a few in town that make the claim and the devil's in the fine print), the American, has just reopened after a demolition and renovation that has transformed the 1862 pub into a slick new watering hole with a rooftop bar and a restaurant run by the same folk behind the success of Echuca's long-time best eatery, Oscar Ws down at the wharf.

Back in the day Echuca had 78 hotels, none more notorious than the Star Hotel, which had an underground bar to escape the heat and a tunnel that led out to the back alley so drinkers could escape any raiding police when the pub lost its licence in 1897. The hotel was converted into a private residence and the secret drinking den lay undiscovered for more than 40 years. A visit to the old tunnel is part of the guided Wharf Walk that leaves from the port area each day at 11.30am.

There's also a new, free, bike-hire scheme, called Port Picnic Bike, where you can borrow a vintage-style bike from St Anne's Cellar Store in the port area. The bike comes with a map of local producers including cheese shops, cellar doors, local cycle trails and riverside picnic areas.

What hasn't changed is that Echuca still has the world's largest collection of working paddle-steamers, some more than a century old, including the oldest working wooden paddle-steamer in the world, the PS Adelaide, built in 1886, and the P. S. Pevensey, made famous in the 1980s TV series, All the Rivers Run. A river cruise is still the most popular thing to do in town and there are a number of options. Head down to the wharf to check sailing times.

Before you go, drop in to the Echuca Historical Society Museum to see the old charts used to navigate the river. They're hand-drawn on long linen scrolls, and it beats me how they managed to know where they were when sometimes all they had to go on was a picture of a tree on a bend! The museum is in the old police lockup and you can go inside the old cells, as well as browse a huge collection of photos and memorabilia from the riverboat era.

Combine fine dining and cruising and head downstream to Morrisons Winery just outside Moama for lunch. The dining room overlooks a billabong through floor-to-ceiling windows, and the innovative menu - more Melbourne than Moama - features tapas-sized dishes as well as more substantial mains and is a cut above your standard winery lunch - think coconut crepes filled with roast duck and green apple, potato and chestnut dumplings and Murray Valley pork belly with chilli squid and a potato and sweetcorn hash. Whatever you do, leave room for dessert - I'm still regretting that I didn't try the "deconstructed" wattleseed and vanilla cheesecake with lemon curd, tonka bean ice cream and candied citrus crumble.

For a more casual lunch, head upstream to Cape Horn Winery, 15 kilometres from Echuca towards Barmah. The menu choice is limited to wood-fired pizzas but the large lawn sloping to the river is a great place to let kids run off some steam. The vineyard dates to the 1870s, when shiraz grapes were planted and wine was made to serve the thirsty riverboat trade. You can get here by boat, too, if you have a group of four or more and call ahead.

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Echuca's claim to fame might be as the paddle-steamer capital of the world, but it's also home to one of the largest beer can collections in the country. Neil Thomas has been collecting beer cans and beer paraphernalia for almost 40 years and has amassed a staggering 17,000 cans from around the world. The collection, which Thomas admits is more of an obsession, is housed in The Great Aussie Beer Shed, a few kilometres out of town. His prized possession is what he believes to be the world's rarest beer can, made for the Coronation of George VI in England in 1937, but the ones that get most attention, he says, are the hundreds of Tennent's cans from Scotland featuring scantily clad "lager lovelies", produced between 1960 and 1990.

The writer was a guest of The Murray Regional Tourism Board.

TRIP NOTES

GETTING THERE

Echuca is 220 kilometres north of Melbourne, 800 kilometres south-west of Sydney.

STAYING THERE

Adelphi Apartments are on the river near the old port. 25 Campaspe Street. Studios from $170 a night. (03) 5482 5575, adelphiapartments.com.au; Rich River Golf Club on the other side of the river at Moama has a range of resort activities, 24 Lane, Moama. Doubles from $90. (03) 5481 3333, richriver.com.au.

SEE + DO

Echuca Wharf Walk, adults $14, kids $8, portofechuca.org.au; paddlesteamer cruises start at $23.50 for adults, $9.80 for kids, echucamoama.com; Port Picnic Bike, 53 Murray Esplanade; Echuca Historical Society Museum, corner Dickson and Warren streets, adults $5, kids $1, echucahistoricalsociety.org.au; Great Aussie Beer Shed, 377 Mary Ann Road, Echuca, adults $9.50, kids $3.50, greataussiebeershed.com.au; American Hotel, 239 Hare Street, Echuca, (03) 5480 0969, americanhotelechuca.com.au; Morrison's Riverview Winery, 2 Merool Lane, Moama, (03) 5480 0126, morrisons.net.au.

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