When we booked our stay at Moama we suspected that we may not have allowed enough time to do and see all we wished to in Echuca and its twin town just across the border. We were right. This was, however, much in the way of a preliminary visit, one in which to get our bearings with a return at some later date in mind, probably when we do our River Murray ramble.
The upshot of this is that we spent limited time in the town itself. We were more pre-occupied with doing the 'historical bit' as a priority. But we did hoof around the CBD for a few hours if for no other reason than we were looking for a caravan or camping shop where we could buy a replacement sullage hose. Our original was beginning to give up the ghost.
So what did we see on our short jaunt? Lots of pubs to begin with...not nearly the 100 or so of yesteryear, but this remains a town which gives the impression of having a pub on every corner, well nearly every corner at least.
Let's begin at the southern end of Murray Esplanade where, just above the banks of the wet dock we found the rear of the large, modern and and quite impressive Echuca Library building.
Walking around the end of this building brought us to the spot where this 'bridge span' statue?, monument? heralds the beginning of Hare Street, down which we toddled for a short distance before retracing our steps and making our way into the central tourist shopping area of High Street.
Beyond the library, or in front of it, depending on your point of view, stands the Echuca memorial to the fallen and those who served.
This same grassed precinct is also home to the plain, but oddly stately, edifice which houses the offices of the Campaspe Shire authorities....the seat of local government in this region,
and across the road.....pubs of course. Here the American Hotel with its modern addition faces off against the more traditional block of red brick which is the Palace Hotel on the other side of Heygarth Street.
Some short distance further south along Hare Street the impressive spire of St Marys Catholic church spears skywards,
making much more of a statement that its Anglican counterpart a short distance away.
Here too, at the next junction, we came across another imposing building, the old Echuca Post Office, now given over to backpackers accommodation and a cafe.
This was about as far as we strolled along Hare Street. Time was limited and we were still on the mission to find a new hose.
I did, however, gallop back whence we had come to take this streetscape shot featuring as you can see, a most impressive old Echuca home.
From here we wandered back further south along Hare Street to the intersection of Anstruther Street, where, guess what.....we found another pub on the corner, this time The Harvest.
As I have previously mentioned, Echuca is a tourist mecca. If we had harboured any doubts about this, the sight of two massive motels on High Street soon dispelled them. The palatial looking 'Mecure Echuca'
and the somewhat less imposing but equally commodious 'Nirebo' opposite, are but two examples of the motel style accommodation available here.
As we walked further north along High Street to the junction of Heygarth Street, we did come to a corner where the feature building was not a pub
but the beautifully restored and maintained old building which was once the Echuca Town Hall.
The arched windows and roof line decoration of the Millewa Chambers opposite, also spoke of 'old Echuca'....and, just beyond it we spied a sign which lit up Liz's eyes. What's the Beechworth Bakery doing here?
Is it lost? Indeed no.
As the 'vanilla slice queen' duly queued with the hordes of others inside, we discovered that this purveyor of fine pastries, cake, buns, and all things baked, has spread its wings far and wide from its home in Beechworth.
There are now 'Beechworth Bakeries' throughout the Victorian countryside, including, obviously, Echuca. And the standard of the fare? "Up to scratch" was the comment as Liz later demolished her prized purchase. But what about the pies...the famous Beechworth Bakery pies? I have nothing to report.....in an act of supreme willpower, I walked out empty handed. I was saving my 'pastry allowance' for later.....some weeks later, when a few of the lesser known but utterly delicious Goomboorian lamb shank pies found there way into the larder. But that's another story.
I mentioned before that we were here during the school holidays, and no more was this evident than in the High Street shopping and cafe precinct,
where, in places, the wide footpath which took us past the shop fronts
became a little crowded.
Here, as we had expected, cafes abound,
interspersed with shops offering a wide range of goods, mostly catering for the tourist trade. Some were more catchy with their promotions than others!
But did we find a camping/caravan shop? Not only one, but two, almost side by side, both with a huge range of goods, including our much needed sullage hose which was soon tucked away in the shopping bag.
And of, course, more pubs, including The Echuca Hotel,
the front entrance of The Star, the rear of which we had seen on Murray Esplanade,
and The Shamrock, which boasts the largest range of chicken parmigiana toppings in the country....just what one would expect to find in an Irish pub!! I am still trying to get my head around how one could possibly conjure up 101 variations....but this is the claim. I am determined to discover the truth on our next visit!
And, finally, our old friend, The Bridge, adjacent to the northern end of Murray Esplanade where we began our Echuca adventure a few days previously. We have firmly decided that one of our day's activities here during a future visit has to be a pub crawl......they are all within dangerously easy walking distance of each other!
Let me close our quick town toddle on another culinary note and sing the praises of the offerings from this modest little corner shop in High Street. This is the Echuca outlet of the Pacdon Pork company, the makers of many porcine products.....pies, sausages, haggis, black pudding etc etc.
I resisted the pies, but did scurry home with several packs of their free range pork snags under my wing and am now sorry that there are not many more packs gracing our freezers......these are the best pork bangers I have ever tasted....with the apple cider variety claiming the prize. Echuca is worth a return visit for this reason alone!
We did enjoy our first taste of this historic river town in more ways than one. And I've not touched on Moama, where the bowling club has to be seen to be believed (it is actually on the world bowls championship circuit we later discovered).
This will all just have to wait because for now our short sojourn in Echuca/Moama had come to an end.....new highway in the form of the southern section of the Kidman Way and a return to Ned Kelly country awaits us. The weather forecast was ominous. Tomorrow will tell the tale.
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