Canberra Antique and Classic Motor Club

The Murray group consisted of Stef and Susan – modern towing a van, Eric Robertson - modern towing a van, Dawn and Ken Gardiner from the Blue Mountains - modern towing a van, Judy and Ken Herne – 1937 Chevrolet, Irene and Chris Berry - the Blue Esky (Hillman), and Anne and Michael Toole - 1935 Buick. Annette and Garry Scorgie – 1990 Mercedes towing a van, were to join us in Corryong.

By 9:00am the Motoring on the Murray had gathered at the Hume Service Station to set off on a two week tour following the Murray River to Swan Hill. The group was farewelled by a number of members including Maureen Vavra who left a surprise package for the group in the hands of Dawn and Ken Gardiner.

9:30 saw the group depart. By morning tea time we had reached Bredbo and as our destination was only Jindabyne, so we decided a Bredbo morning tea was in order. We had excellent service, great coffee and scones at the Unique Boutique tea shop. We followed tea by a perusal of Santa’s Workshop where I believe some damage was done to some wallets. Anybody who enters that shop should ask to see what Bruce does – Bruce is a stuffed deer on the wall behind the cash register.

Leaving Bredbo we stopped in the park at Cooma for half an hour and visited the information centre. We reached Jindabyne about 2:00pm and decided lunch in the pub was a good idea. After lunch we continued a kilometre or so up the road to our caravan park. We all settled in and after happy hour merged into a BBQ tea Maureen Vavra’s surprise was revealed. Ken had been busy in the kitchen of his van. Maureen had left him an enormous pavlova base and Ken had hand-whipped the cream and it was topped with bananas, kiwi fruit and passion fruit. Even after feeding our group with large servings there was enough left over for two young men who were also having their dinner at the BBQ.

I’m always amazed at the range of topics covered in conversation when a group gets together. Discussion ranged from best methods of rehabilitating damaged hands to the Summernats and I’m sure we learnt something. Chris Berry set the standard and topic of conversation for the balance of the trip.

A leisurely start saw us travelling along the Alpine way to Corryong. It was surprisingly warm day – 24 degrees. Even passing Thredbo the only sign of snow was on the peaks and a little in a hollow beside the road at Dead Horse Gap. I hadn’t travelled that road since 30 years ago when it was still dirt. The damage from the bushfires was severe, there were dead trees sticking out of the scrub. None of them appears to have survived and regenerated and the sight of a thick forest of dead snow gums was sad to see. The fire left a legacy of thick scrub as the area regenerates. Prior to the fires the undergrowth was not as thick under the canopy of trees. .The wild horses are still in the area, obviously travelling along the road at night as it is probably easier for them. I guess the road makes it easier for the brumbies to move about rather then fighting through thick scrub.

Most of the group went to Scammil’s Spur lookout. From here you can see from the bottom to the top of Australia in one view. Michael and I turned off at Murray 1 Power station and had morning tea. I had a look at the historical display. (My father worked on the Alpine way in the 50s and we lived in the area until we moved to Canberra at the end of my schooling).

The road was surprisingly good (thanks Dad) and the long climb down out of the mountains was not a problem for anyone. We sat behind Mr Herne as Buicks don’t have brakes – they have retardants – they don’t stop you they just slow you down :=)

We found all the archived information on the SnowyMountains is now at the National Archives in Canberra so I will do a bit of research when I get home. It was interesting reading the names of people I was familiar with from Primary School.

Continuing on we joined the group again just outside Khancoban. The country was very green in the valley. We arrived mid afternoon and a very pleasant caravan park near Corryong and settled in.

A very quiet day at ColacCaravanPark just outside Corryong. Beautiful park – lush green grass and large shady trees set in a very pretty valley. The cabins had very comfortable queen size beds.

We all spent a very quiet day perusing the attractions in the main street of Corryong and yes, there was a bakery with a custard tart. We also saw the museum as this is the area where Jack Riley “The Man from SnowyRiver” lived. The museum covered details and photos of his life. Out the back were examples of a squatters hut, school house and local police station. A late lunch was followed by a stroll towards the bridge and back via the stream that ran beside the caravan park in time for happy hour.

We were on the road by 10:00am and heading north through stunning country – green and lush. We stopped right on the border at Tintaldra. The town consisted of a pub, post office and general store and a number of houses. Situated on a bend on the Murray River, the bridge crosses into NSW. Once a thriving little village with plenty of tourists now quiet with just a few cottages. The Post Office is being run by a very energetic 80+ Betty Walton who graciously showed us around and told us of the local history.

Betty is a fiercely patriotic Australian and like most of her generation had a pretty hard life. Her wit and humour, knowledge, grace and charm are an inspiration to the generations to come. She also has an outside loo (flushing) with what has to be the best view in Australia – high on the bank of the Murray, on a bend looking straight up the river. Betty is also an accomplished pianist and bush poet and her poetry is published and produced on a CD.

Continuing on, we followed the Murray towards Wodonga. The country soon turned very dry and sparse. Most stopped at the military museum near Wodonga for lunch, but as we didn’t have a caravan with lunch making facilities we drove into Wodonga for lunch. After lunch we continued the short distance to Corowa where we settled into the caravan park and began happy hour.

We had arranged to meet at “Ken’s Shed” a big shed with a house attached in a industrial estate on the outskirts of Corowa. Ken had retired and built his big shed with a caretaker’s residence. In the shed he had his several cars, including two nice Buicks, and many other cars from the Corowa Car Club. He also had a Rolls Royce V12 engine from a WW2 Centurion tank sitting in a cradle and with 12 lengths of 18 inch long pipes for the exhaust. Of course living in an industrial estate people do not complain if you fire up a V12 Centurion tank motor and give it a bit of a rev, which he did.

Afterwards people went in different directions. We set off towards Rutherglen to pick up a map for the wineries. A stroll down the main street (with the occasional foray into the odd occasional antique/second hand shop) led us to a bakery for morning tea and custard tart. Having satisfied the body and soul we set off to do some damage at a few of the wineries.

We noticed some enterprising locals using their stretch limos to take customers around the wineries. Here was a niche market – Michael’s thoughts turned to offering a stretch Buick service (after all, if you can turn a Buick into a hot rod….) Later in the day, the guys at happy hour had sorted out any mechanical or engineering impediments to the proposal. Luckily there is no room left at our place but I’m sure he’ll think of something. [[Michael’s note: Does this imply approval????)]]

After a hard day of wineries we had tea together at the RSL. The promised fisherman’s feast was a bit disappointing, but since someone else cooked, and washed up it was still good.

On the road again following the Murray to Cobram. A short leisurely drive around LakeMulwala, where there was a bakery. We had spotted a fellow at a “power nap” rest stop enjoying a custard tart about 10km out of Mulwala so Michael was hopeful. We found a bakery and Michael thought we should help the local economy by ‘up sizing’. We enjoyed morning tea by the lake.

This lake is man made and is covered in dead trees sticking out of the water. Channels are marked through the trees and water skiing and fishing are the local attractions. There are many new houses and the caravan parks have obviously half of their cabins as permanent homes we assumed for retirees. This was not a long run so most were settled into Cobram by lunch time.

After lunch we drove to Tocumwal and met up with a friend of Ken Gardiner’s. He took us on a drive to one of the biggest shearing sheds in the southern hemisphere – about 60 stands. It was built about 100 years ago and was a community shed. It is still in use and in incredibly good state of repair, a monument to those who built it. Ken's friend and his wife were then generous enough to invite us to afternoon tea which included a magnificent sponge cake.

Saw us visiting Christies Shed – a fellow with a large collection of old cars, trucks and caravans, (and a friendly old golden retriever and a bald cockatoo called Arthur who wandered around getting into mischief). His caravans were particularly interesting and included an original tear drop caravan. We noted that ours is pretty close to the original concept. He was an ex-timber hauler and had a couple of nice trucks and an impressive number of chain saws.

Lunch saw us heading for the big strawberry at Koonoomoo where Stef steadily worked his way through one of the largest Strawberry Sundaes we had ever seen. He fought valiantly to protect his prize as there were many spoons on the attack. He persevered and repelled all boarders who had to get their own (slightly) smaller servings.

We left and headed for Moama (near Echuca), it was a hot day. Outside Echuca we visited the “Beer Shed” – a person who had a shed filled with Australiana and thousands of (empty) beer cans from around the world. – If you are into beer can collecting then it would be a worthwhile visit – otherwise….

We had lunch at the Beechworth Bakery and then a stroll around the port. It has changed a lot since we were last there and a lot of the woodworking stuff has gone. We drove across the bridge to Moama and settled in.

A day of wandering around Echuca and visiting the Sunday markets at Moama. Michael and I stopped and looked at some hot rods and were invited to join their run. We declined but it was very kind of them to ask. The rest of the day was spent wandering around Moama and Echuca. We roamed from bakery to bakery.

That evening we joined Ken and Judy Herne at the Moama Bowling club for dinner. There appeared to be some remodelling taking place and we found that in June two thirds of the place, including the pokies had burnt down. The kitchen survived. We enjoyed one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. The rest had fish cooked to perfection and I had one of the best lamb shanks I’ve ever had. Every vegetable (6) was cooked just the right degree – none overcooked. An unexpected great evening.

After settling in, and having lunch Michael and I strolled the main street and found the local library – very nice – and did about an hours worth of work, catching up with his work emails – a complication of modern technology.

Most went their separate ways but just about everyone at some stage of the day ended up at the PioneerMuseum. We wandered around there until after 2:00pm During the visit we had morning tea – no custard tart but fantastic scones –

Eric left us here to return home. We left Swan Hill for Bendigo. We travelled through Kerang straight down the highway to Bendigo. It was very poor looking country and very dry. There were no towns for about 100km. The Berrys went through Kerang and Quambatook and that may have been a nicer run. We stopped at a roadhouse at Durham Ox for coffee AND Michael actually managed to find a custard tart. Some of the locals and truck drivers engaged us in conversation about the cars but we eventually left and continued our journey to Bendigo. We arrived, booked into the caravan park and had a late lunch.

The country had improved considerably after Serpentine. The soil changed to a rich red loam and the area had received more rain which gave a rich green grass and good looking crops. Bendigo had the best accommodation so far – our unit had two separate bedrooms – a queen bed in one and a double in the other. The rest was lovely and included satellite TV. The afternoon included a visit to Bendigo Pottery.

Ken Gardiner’s sister, Ruth, lives in Bendigo and she had organised a run with the Bendigo and Castlemaine club. They were having a twilight run to Jindarra winery. Michael and I had to go to Castlemaine to pick up a car part so Ruth told us to meet the Castlemaine group and travel with them. We met them at the Botanic Gardens after we had a good look around Castlemaine. We found a great restorers shed, households that is not cars. We introduced ourselves and at 5:30 headed back towards Bendigo and had a delightful drive around the back roads to the winery. It is beautiful country and we met up with the Bendigo Car club who had the balance of the touring party with them. We enjoyed finger food and wine for tea. The host of the evening gave an interesting talk about how he flew a Tiger Moth from England to Australia, and also how he drove a 1970’s Porsche in a race from England to Australia.

On the way home we were invited to stop at a place belonging to one of the Bendigo Car Club members place and view his collections of Morrises (about 6), Chevs (2) and Holdens (2) plus a Valiant.. The shed was immaculate. Apparently his son vacuums it when he comes up and visits from Melbourne

I drove (slowly) home by the back ways to Bendigo (no I hadn’t drunk too much wine) but the road was unfamiliar, windy and narrow. We returned home safely after a great evening. Many thanks to the Bendigo and Castlemaine clubs for their hospitality and camaraderie.

Judy Herne left by bus at 6:00pm to fly to NZ for a school reunion. Later in the morning Ken joined us and we spent most of the day seeing the sights of Bendigo, including the DragonMuseum. We were accompanied around town by many year 12’s in a variety of apparel and costumes on their “muck up” day. I have to say all that we saw were having a good time but were not in any way doing anything to cause offence. They deserve to be congratulated.

We left Bendigo and drove through very pleasant country. It looked like it had had good rainfall with canola and wheat crops growing well. We reached Shepparton by 12:00pm and went to the Ardmona SPC factory outlet and I believe Susan has about 2 years of baked beans – the musical fruit stored in Stef’s van. They also had lots of other goodies from clearing houses including shampoo, deodorant and chocolate. I didn’t see many chocolate trees around the area amongst the many orchards.

We had a late start and we spent most of the day wandering around the streets of Beechworth. There is a lot of history in the town and the locals have turned it into a thriving tourist trade. We had lunch at the brewery with Ken Herne and the Scorgies where all of the different varieties of beer were sampled.

Sunday was the end of the trip, we packed up and headed up the Hume Highway stopping for fuel and snacks as we had to drive to Queensland (modern) on Monday. It was an uneventful trip. I believe some stopped for lunch at Holbrook but we continued on with Ken.

All in all a great trip with a very relaxing itinerary. A well organised tour that was a joy to be on. Well done Ken and Judy for the quality arrangements. It is a lot of work checking and looking and we certainly appreciate their efforts. Those who did not come on this tour certainly missed out on a great time.