The Riverina.

It was a  foggy morning to start the day but beautiful autumn leaves surrounded our van in the Cobram "Willows" caravan park where we had stayed overnight.

Off we went after making arrangements to catch up with relatives in Griffith on Friday. First stop was over the Murray River into Tocumwal N.S.W.  That makes the fourth state we've travelled  in. Here the Murray river is 1886 kms from the river mouth. A big sign on the river side is the reason we know that.

The river is very low but Tocumwal has lots of sandy beaches on the river banks and it is renown for fantastic nature reserves. The town was settled in the early 1840s and there are many lovely old buildings in the main street. In 1942 a RAAF base was opened ( actually at one stage the largest in the southern hemisphere) to train pilots in preparation for the possible invasion by the Japanese. It was huge but not well known as it was kept quiet (classified information). The base consisted of about 5000 men, 450 buildings, four 2 km long runways and over 114 kms of roads. Don't think much is left now days.

And the second big thing in Australia - at the time, created in the 1960s was on display in the park- a Murray cod. What was the first??..not sure?? pineapple??

At Finley we stopped and looked at the canoe tree.

Jerilderie was the place where Ned Kelly held up the bank.

It is a fertile irrigated  farming area growing a variety of crops including wheat, canola, mung beans and rice. We thought we saw rice crops ..but they were harvested and all you could see was the stalks. Apparently Jerilderie also grows a lot of Australia's tomatoes. We had lunch by Billabong Creek. Couple of blokes were fishing, trying to catch a murray cod -with no luck. They were using eucalyptus oil and mozzarella cheese as bait.

The country side was very flat and the skies enormous. The Riverina is a fertile food bowl for Australia.

Some beautiful cloud formations.

Past Lake Urana and on to Lockhart.

All the little towns have something unique and Lockhart is famous for its main street's deep and shady verandahs. It has been classified by the National Trust. The old buildings have beautifully restored facades. More clicking of the camera.

With the day disappearing we quickly drove through Wagga Wagga (a big city) at peak hour..bit stressful, especially the roundabouts!! Some gorgeous tree lined streets all in their autumn colours. Stopped at a park and checked out the Murrumbidgee River which looks much better than the Murray we saw today.

Then on to a place called Coolamon.

We arrived in the dark, just before the office closed. It was in the local news agent and we did a few laps trying to find it. Unfortunately we had to set up in the dark, not that easy. Must make sure we don't do that too often. Bit frazzled by the time we stopped.

There is just SO much to see.