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DJ & JJ’s 2022 SA/Vic Holiday

Jul 20 - Jul 28 2022

@davidjohnson7

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Jul 20 2022

Countdown to travelling

Not long to go now. Planning and bookings made. We leave next Wed on another road trip. This time covering more than 7,000 km over 27 days in South Australia and western Victoria.

Map of our journey

@davidjohnson7

Jul 27 2022

Day 1 - Canberra to Hay

Leaving Canberra we had a misty drive down the Hume Highway to Wagga Wagga. We stopped at the RAAF Wagga Heritage Centre which sits just outside the formal RAAF military Air Force base on the outskirts of town.

I indulged my inner nerd looking at all the old fighter aircraft they have on permanent display and could still identify them all. A childhood going to airshows in Australia and the UK with my dad was to blame.

We then headed to the small RAAF museum nearby where I think we were their only visitors for the day, getting very friendly and lots of personal attention from the uniformed staff.

General Dynamics F111

Macchi trainer

Glostor Meteor

Aermacchi MB326

Dassault Mirage

Canberra bomber

Model imside RAAF museum

Water tank mural at RAAF Wagga

We then went into town for a quick lunch in a great little cafe called The Pot ‘n’ Kettle. Before leaving town we had a brief look at Cadell Place which is located in a grungy part of town repurposed with arty type shops and eateries. Unfortunately due to the cold weather it was pretty quiet when we visited.

Cadell Place, Wagga

Back on the road we drove along the Sturt Highway to Narrandera for another quick stop. There were some beautiful old buildings along its main street, and in the middle of taking photos of them, a local told me her grandfather designed some of them. An architect called J. P. Campbell. Must look him up when I get home.

New Criterion Hotel, Narrandera

Post Office, Narrandera

Civic Chambers, Narrandera

Arts and crafts style building, Narrandera

Town memorial park, Narrandera

Old shopfront facade, Narrandera

Before leaving town we visited some water tank murals on the edge of town. \240Apparently painted in a day!

Water tank mural, Narrandera

19th century water tank, Narrandera

Back on the road again we were now travelling through fields of cotton production and almond plantations. Along the roadside were kilometres of little bits of cotton which had blown off the big trucks freighting it out the area. It looked like snow in places.

Before reaching Hay we did a short detour to a small town Jennie stayed in as a kid on a camping holiday with her family called Point Darlington. It had some cute little buildings including an old Butcher shop.

Old Butcher shop, Point Darlington

Now in Hay we had a fruitless attempt to find somewhere to have dinner, so we opted for the bistro at out hotel.

@davidjohnson7

Jul 28 2022

Day 2 - Hay to Mildura

Woke up early as I do and went for a bit of look around the town of Hay. You could hear the road trains on the nearby Sturt Highway becoming more noticeable as the morning went on. It was 4 degrees and I got to see the sunrise.

Found some beautiful old buildings including the old Hay Goal with the initials VR over the front gate, Convent, School and Courthouse. Even found some more watertank murals.

The mighty Murray River on which the town of Hay is situated, was very full for a change.

Sunrise in Hay

The mighty Murray River

Welcome to Hay

Roadside sculptures, Hay

Old Gaol, Hay

War Memorial High School, Hay

Old Convent, Hay

WW1 memorial, Hay

Old Courthouse, Hay

Water tank murals, Hay

Before leaving Hay we checked out the Bishops Lodge Historic House which was right next door to our motel. A very interesting building built for the first Bishop of the Riverina, Sydney Linton in 1888. The architect was John Sulman who was quite an innovative designer in his time and has the RAIA Sulman \240architecture and art prizes named after him.

The building is clad in corrugated iron and uses sawdust for internal wall insulation. Sulman chose sawdust because it was termite proof and helped to regulate the internal temperature through Hay's extreme temperatures.

Bishops Lodge Historic House, Hay

Back on the road again we headed to Balranald across flat treeless outback plains. Lots of road trains and occasional slow grey nomads with their caravans.

Stopping in Balranald we explored a great little Community Art Gallery and later had a bite to eat in town at their local bakery.

Community Art Gallery, Balranald

On the highway again we drove through more flat landscape eventually entering the Sunraysia district with endless fields of raisins being grown, especially around the small town of Euston.

Finally arriving at Mildura we visited the Mildura Arts Centre and the adjoining Rio Vista historic house.

The house is a mixture of a few styles but has some beautiful woodwork inside. It was a joint effort between Canadian and Australian builders. The art gallery wasn’t too bad either and even had a Degas painting.

In the foyer of the gallery was a repurposed old cigarette machine from the 1960s.

1960s cigarette machine, Mildura Arts Centre

Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura

Rio Vista Historic House, Mildura

Next we drove to the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens just out of town, which was a bit of a disappointment, but we checked out the 2,500 year old Wow tree as they have named it. Shame the rest of the gardens weren’t wow!

Wow tree, Mildura

Back to Mildura we had a quick look around the main shopping precinct before finding our hotel for the night. Dinner was at a great restaurant called the Botanica Cuisine By Dag Demarkow & Co. JJ tried local Murray Cod and I had a delicious Fish Pie.

Art Deco T&G Building,Mildura

City plaza, Mildura

Street mural, Mildura

Greek Orthodox Church, Mildura

@davidjohnson7