Hay to Bendigo Via Echuca:1-2 Dec

The first days of the Australian summer greeted us as we left Hay en route for Bendigo in a southerly direction.It was surprisigly cold for summer with no signs of improving.At least it was not raining which was a good sign as this was the start of the section where we would be camping.As much fun as camping can be, it is not fun if you have to do it for weeks on end and it continues to rain.

Before we arrived in Bendigo we stopped of on the riverside town of Echuca which is right on the Victorian and NSW border.It is a town famous in its heyday (early 20th century) for its paddlesteamer boats which moved up and dozn the might murray river carring all sorts of goods to the various townships set up and the main ports further south.As such, the main thing to do in Echuca is have a trip on one of the restored boats - and we duly obliged as the diligent tourists that we are.The captain of the boat gave us a bit of history on the one hour tour and told a few tales of what it was like when Echuca was a thriving trade centre.Apparently before Federation it was even proposed as one of the option for the nations capital.It proved a nice place to stop from the drive and have lunch, but we soon needed to move on to our final destination which was Bendigo.

Bendigo seemed nice enough to us without offering anything special.We had two nights here which was plenty of time to see the main sights it had to offer.After doing nothing much on the first evening, the next day we took a tram ride around the city (the have gotten rid of most of the trams but one tourist service remains).The tram told you about the history of the towns sights as you went along and at the half way mark you could get off and have a tour of the old tram depot.As was to prove a common occurrence on this part of the trip before the school holidays started, we found ourselves the only ones on this particular tour.Had a nice retired bloke show us around the old trams and give us a bit of their history.Back on the tram again and we finished the tour before having lunch.Much of the history of this area and the sights in the town relate to the gold rush that took place, but we decided to skip this part of Bendigo as we would see more of that in our next port of call.

After the tram ride we stopped by the Dragon Museum which celebrated the large Chinese population and culture in the town which began again as a result of the Gold Rush.Many thousands of Chinese people came to try their luck in the gold fields and have remained ever since building up quite a history in the area.The Museum detailed their lives and struggles as well as housing the longest Emperial dragon in the world.This is the type of dragon that you see brought out for the big street parades and was over 100 metres in length.I am a bit surprised that the Chinese don't build one longer just to take back the record and not allow Australia to beat them!

We also dropped by the huge church in Bendigo and got another personal tour as no one else was around.

And that is about how it ends for Bendigo.

Assorted travel facts:

Kilometres travelled so far: 920

Flies killed: still only about 30 (not many in Bendigo)

Nights spent in a tent and still alive: 2

Times Chris turned got confused with the Bendigo Streets and tram markings so turned the wrong way: at least 7