Monday 23 July 2012

The Homeward Trail

On my last post we had reached Renmark on the Murray River. We spent the morning taking in the town. It is not a big town so it didn't take long. We found the obligatory second hand shop.......because you never know what treasures you might find.....and this is what we found!




They are old Coats thread drawers from a haberdashery store and unfortunately were not for sale. Poor things, I could have given them a good home.
From Renmark we followed the Murray River to Mildura. We stopped by river for a quick cuppa on the way. There weren't many places that are actually riverfront on this river, but we managed to find a few vantage points.




Mildura was a quick overnight stop and apparently famous for this......




......the giant Murray Cod!
We had planned a longer stop in Echuca. It has been many years since I had visited here and was looking forward to checking out the paddle steamers and a lovely patchwork shop I remembered from years ago. Well, the paddle steamers were still there.........


but the patchwork shop was gone.
We booked into a lovely boutique hotel and planned to have a nice dinner and a ride in a paddle steamer the next day. The lady who ran the hotel was a patchworker and I soon had a list of three patchwork shops in Echuca......bliss! ( I managed to get to two).
The weather was clear and sunny so our trip on the paddle steamer was fun.



Up the Murray for an hour then back again, very relaxing. A quick stop at the local shops and we were in our way to Wagga Wagga. The local arts and activities kept us occupied along the way.







We were only going to stay overnight here and make the run home the next day but we just happened to arrive the day before this event!





Advertised as the biggest swap event between Melbourne and Canberra, Top Gear was keen to be there at 6 am the next morning!!!!!! Not this little black duck, she was happy to go at 9 am but if being there in the dark was his thing then he could go it alone. I woke up at 7:30 the next morning with Top Gear happily snoring away beside me......6 am.....yeah, right!
It was wet, it was bitterly cold, it was big and it was .......interesting. Mainly car junk and bric a brac. Top Gear found some good junk and I found this.......



a little set of drawers made from old sewing machine drawers. I was chuffed! Perfect for my sewing room!
Back into town for lunch then we were heading home. It was so cold.....4 degrees at midday.....that even the street art had rugged up.




It was pretty much a straight line home from there. We stopped in Bathurst again to break the trip and, yes, I did have another little wander through The Home Patch. We were keen to get home. We had planned on ten days away and it was already fourteen. A quick stop in Bilpin for a box of apples then a little exploring in Carcoar, the town "time forgot", and we arrived home early evening. Our car looked like this...




First official retirement trip....done and dusted......and successful!
Happy stitching!


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