Barb & John's Hols: Aussie Road Trip Day Saturday 20th July

And still more nuthin' ... all the way to Swan Hill

Today your scribe is John. My laptop went into sulk this evening, not wanting to start, and Barb fell asleep waiting for it to get its act together leaving me to do the decent thing.

This morning we woke up to rain. During breakfast it rained some more. Then as we packed the car it settled into its stride and came down steadily and relentlessly. We had wanted to take in the Western Plains Zoo before setting off for Swan Hill, indeed this was to be one of the highlights of the trip, but our enthusiasm was dissipated. And it was so COLD! The overnight temperature fell to around 5° and even locals commented on how shivery it was.

Barb outside Shear Outback, Hay

John outside the woolshed

And so we set off for Swan Hill, stopping for a couple of hours at Shear Outback and the Australian Shearers Hall of Fame on the outskirts of Hay. This was time well spent - the coffee was excellent as were the scones. Oh, and the shearing exhibition was quite fascinating. We attended a shearing demonstration in the attached shearing shed, at which Barb and I constituted the entire audience. (Have we mentioned it was a cold, bleak day?). The young shearer was very chatty and informative but I (John) was aghast to learn that sheep are sheared throughout the year without regard to the prevailing weather. We were assured that the sheep get used to it. Hm!

John in the shearing shed

The young shearer drags in a sheep for shearing

The sheep not happy to get shorn

The poor sheep must be cold in this weather

From Shear Outback we set off for Swan Hill, a mere 250 km or so. The scenery was much the same as yesterday, miles and miles of nothing but, well, miles and miles. Barb had thought of taking a route which appeared more scenic, but was advised against it as recently there Had Been Weather. Closer inspection of the map revealed numerous creeks on this route and the ominously named Stony Crossing. We stuck to the highway which was fast, made of long straight stretches and was wide enough to pass a B-double, just.

John trying to finish off some apple before dumping fruit

Stopping only to dispose of our fruit in the quarantine bins, we crossed over the Wakool River at Kyalite and almost immediately passed into Victoria. The transformation was instant! After broad flat lands given over to sheep and cattle with tens or even scores of kilometres between farmsteads, we now found ourselves among vinyards, wineries and orchards, with houses every few hundred metres. And there was traffic! We had returned to Earth.

The Pyap paddle steamer on the Murray River

Pioneer cottage

Blacksmith working at the forge

The General Store at the settlement

Once in Swan Hill we headed straight for the Pioneer Settlement, another highlight of the trip. The train had eased to showers but it was bitterly cold, so Barb, naturally, had to have an iced chocolate. The Pioneer Settlement was fantastic! It is entirely made up of old buildings moved to the site and erected to simulate a pioneer village, right down to the muddy roads. There was the customary farm machinery, tractors, carts, drays and so on. In addition, and what added greatly to the interest, the relocated buildings were a post office, a couple of schools, a pharmacy, the printing shop, music shop, drapers, general store, even a music shop. The presentation is really good and is to be highly recommended.

Barb adds: I went to the Pioneer Settlement on a school bus trip some thirty eight years ago. It was still similar to what I remembered, but has been added to over the years. Perhaps because it was off-peak season (and lets face it the weather was cold and miserable) there were less volunteers in period costume there than I remember, although some of the main areas did have operational activity such as the blacksmith in the forge and photographer doing period costume dress-up photos (we didn't partake)

The muddy main street

The thing I most enjoyed was the Kaiser Steroscopic Theatre. I sat for ages looking at the old photos in 3D through the eyepiece on the large rotating barrel. It was amazing!

Garreth would've enjoyed the old Pharmacy. It was full of old bottles of potions and showed where the pharmacist would've make up his concoctions using a tincture of this and that, mortar and pestle and even bunsen burners.

All in all it was well worth a visit.