McCulloch Family Road Trip: Stuff this cold weather

Today it was so hard to get out of bed and get ready to face the outside somewhat chilly day. I think I spoke way too soon when I boasted about the wonderful weather we have been experiencing. Though I shouldn’t complain because the days are still clear, sadly it is just freezing cold. First stop was to find a place that sold hot chocolates/coffees.

Have a hot drink, now am happy to wait for cruise.

Apparently this is the place to do a paddle steamer ride, and we agree it certainly is. The Port is currently under some re-construction or more so the building of something new and bigger. We still really enjoyed the old school street and I think once the new part is complete it is going to be amazing. Again the river looks low here but apparently it is still normal summer levels. The warmest spot on the paddle steamer was right next to the steam engine, but unfortunately it was also the noisiest. It was a lovely cruise up the river and Hamish and Kayla even got little ‘First Mate’ certificates. Hamish was pretty impressed, and well I am sure they gave it to Kayla for her dedication to keeping quiet (she was asleep).

The Port of Echuca

Some of the old paddle steamers.

Making sure she runs smoothly.

Hamish waiting to leave.

Every holiday we buy one big thing to put into the house to remind us of our holiday and today we bought the one for this trip. It is a beautiful clock carved red gum that we think will fit nicely into our formal lounge. By now we were starving, and so the decision was made to head to the local bakery. The selection of yummy food was endless, and they were very creative with their little animals they made out of meringues. Jason was just about to sit down at a spare table and in jumped an old lady when clearly she could see Jason and Hamish waiting to sit down there. I wonder if some people get to a certain age and think that everyone should bow to them.

Checking out the wood turning.

Unfortunately there was a real lack of seating for a family of four (plenty two seats in walkways so not good with a pram). The lady at the counter informed me there were more seats upstairs which I got excited about. Problem being we had the pram and there was no ramp so I don’t know how we were expected to juggle two kids and the food and get upstairs with the pram. Luckily some people where only using half of their table so offered us the other half. Just as we were sitting down our “Bus Family” we met in Mildura walked in. They managed to score the table next to us (after a lovely old gentleman gave up his table for them to move to a two seater) and we enjoyed catching up with them again.

Jason then headed out to check out the Aussie Beer Shed (every man in Australia dreams of having one of these) whilst I headed to the park with the kids. The lovely family rocked up there which made Hamish ever so happy as now he had 3 friends to play with (their 4^th is only 10 months old). I just happened to ask how they go about finding parking with the bus and it seems there are no issues. They get away with parking in all the "coach” parking spaces which are normally in prime position. They even managed to park at Circular Quay in Sydney for a week for free.

Yep that is a lot of beer.

Jason would love one of these sheds.

Now here we are as Queenslanders totally rugged up in this weather, and here the Victorians are in thongs and t-shirts. The father and eldest son are actually doing a water skiing class this weekend. Umm hello people it is cold (ha ha), but the father informs me that barefoot water skiing is actually warmer. I think we are obviously very soft.

Jason has been doing some research as to what we could upgrade to if we ever find that pot of gold. I think he has finally found the perfect van so the next will be finding the car we tow it with (hey one can dream). http://www.tradingpost.com.au/Automotive/Caravans/AdNumber=D5404202197455

I am excited as tomorrow we are going to Tocumwal to catch up with Lexie McClymont. On Sunday we are meant to be heading off to Bendigo to base ourselves and also check out Ballarat. The thought of heading somewhere colder really isn’t appealing, but also we are worried there is so much to do down that way that four days will not do it justice. It is funny though, here we are complaining about the cold and one of our alternative ideas was to head up to the snow (as apparently it is snowing up in the mountains so hence the cold winds). Hmm don’t worry I don’t get our logic either sometimes. Anyway we still aren’t really sure what we are going to do.