Mildura, Wagga Wagga & Kiama

I’ve got some catching up to do.  I am currently sitting in the beach-side holiday town of Kiama enjoying a view of the Pacific.  Kiama is home to Gord and Margo’s son’s family and where they spend most of their winters.  We have joined them for an indeterminate time.

We spent two and one-half days traveling approximately 1300 km from Broken Hill to Mildura, Mildura to Wagga Wagga and then finally on to Kiama.  It was a little rushed but we had to keep moving in order to get to the world-famous (in Kiama), “Kiama Sevens Rugby Tournament.”

Typical Morning Coffee Before Hitting The Road

The Broken Hill to Mildura drive covered about 300 km through the outback.  From city limits to city limits we only passed 16 vehicles coming the other way.  Four of those were Truck Trains.  Think of our regular road semis with their truck & trailer and sometimes two trailers.  Australian Truck Trains use the same Kenworth type tractor but have three or four trailers.  The ones we saw all had four trailers.  A little intimidating to pass on the road.

Feral Goats

A Few Sheep Started To Show Up As We Closed In On Mildura

In Mildura Deborah and I took a ride on the Murray River that serves (among other things) as the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria.  We had a lazy two-hour cruise learning about the region and the role the river plays in the concentrated agricultural town. Randy and Doreen set off on foot to explore the town.

Boarded The Paddlewheeler On The Murray

There Is A 3 Meter Water Level Change At The Lock

Opened To Downstream

In the early 1800s, Mildura was essentially a 150,000-acre sheep station.  In the middle 1800s, some Brit thought it would be a good idea to introduce rabbits to the region.  I guess the Brits weren’t as good shots as the rabbits were at reproducing.  Soon the overpopulation of rabbits decimated the lands making them useless for sheep.  Enter the Canadians.

A forward-thinking politician had a vision of how irrigation could improve the situation and went looking for expertise.  He traveled to North America to explore large scale irrigation projects and settled on George and W. D. Chaffey from southern Ontario.  George was an engineer and his brother W.D. was an expert in horticulture.  Together they built an irrigation system still in use today and introduced crops suitable to the area.  By the end of the century, Mildura was an outstanding success providing fruits, vegetables and later wines to the surrounding area.

Fields and Fields Of Vineyards

Day two saw us drive 560 km to Wagga Wagga.  There are huge numbers of place names in Australia that you simply have to shake your head and wonder why.  In typical Australian fashion, Wagga is not pronounced as it is written.  Locals say don’t say Wagga.  You will be corrected with a “Wogga” and chastised if you say Wagga more than once.  We didn’t see much past the main street only stayed one night. We chose pool time over exploration.

Historic Wagga Train Station

Looking Down Wagga Wagga's Main Street

Stopped At Dan Murphy's To Reload The Liquor Locker

We had a very pleasant following day as we meandered through sheep and cattle country east 400 km towards the Pacific.  The region becomes mountainous over the final 100 km and we enjoyed driving through picturesque villages.  The recent heavy rains resulted in an Irish-like green backdrop to the dairy farms stretching from the road into the hills.

Just before we entered Kiama we stopped at the Jamberoo Pub for a pint.  Gord and Margo drove up the hill and joined us.  Gord was able to guide us to an old Abbotsford Rugby Club team picture that hangs in the historic sports pub.  The pub walls are covered in sports teams and memorabilia and some time back (thanks to Gord) our 1970s era team picture was added to their collection.

Jambaroo Pub

Traveling Group Rejoined At The Jamberoo

Found Our ARFC Team Picture Mounted On The Wall

We stayed in downtown Kiama and the men were off to the rugby fields next door while the ladies took in the sights and enjoyed some recreation.

The Kiama Sevens is the largest club rugby sevens tournament in the country.  It is also located immediately adjacent to the Pacific.  We set our lawn chairs up, enjoyed a bacon and egg roll(s), and settled in for the day.  Men’s and Women’s teams played for six championships splitting the $38,000 in prize money.  The beer garden opened at 10 am and we were set for the day.  Blue skies, 26 degrees, a little breeze off the water, a ready supply of cold beer  – perfect.

Watch Rugby Then Turnaround And Look At This

Arrival Of The Championship Trophies

We are now at the halfway point of our tour.  Not counting Tasmania, we have driven just over 3800 km in southeast Australia.  So far we have not seen any evidence of bush fires.  We did see a 200 m section of the highway median burnt due to a discarded cigarette and about 1 hectare of field.  Thank goodness we did not cave to the media's message that the whole country was on fire and stay home.