PS Melbourne

Today we drove into Mildura and did a tour on this old Paddle Steamer. It is the only steam powered craft left, some others have been converted to modern power. The Murray is the biggest river in Australia by volume ( a bit shorter than the Darling). In the 1800s most of the transport into inland regions were along the rivers but now they are only used for pleasure. The river towns did well but many are in decline especially along the Darling which dries up in drought conditions. We called at Stephen’s place on the way and we’re given some fruit from his orange and mandarin trees. He used to work on my team a few years ago.

This afternoon Ferna and her kids and goat picked me up and we went out to some Sandhills where the children had fun playing. I had trouble walking, ouch my knees don’t like sand too much. Tonight we all went out (with the husbands) and had dinner at a local pub. We are about 1020k from Sydney.