Jane Eliza Motor Inn Swan Hill

... long to amble through the town, I got to see the Giant Murray Cod in all it's glory and had a wee swatch at the pioneer settlement through its iron gates. For such a small place I was quite impressed with the number of stores on the high street - and a lot of them were brand names you get in the malls in Melbourne, so I guess it's not completely hillbilly up that way after all!

On Saturday afternoon when the rain had cleared up to a bit of a drizzle we jumped in my car ...

... have also been busy this week visiting Swan Hill's local newspaper, the Swan Hill Guardian.

Intrigued to see how a local Australian paper functions I got in touch with the editor and went in for a visit on Monday. The set up of the paper was actually quite similar to the Falkirk Herald - they even use a similar programme to write and file stories. The content of the paper did differ slightly however as Swan Hill is a much smaller town with only ...

... regular at the pub. We also drove past local vineyards and fields with onion seed growing. It was nice to get out of the town and see some of the countryside. It was also nice to partake in a recreational activity that did not include killing things. I don't know what it is about Australians and their need to kill animals, but it seems to be a big part of what they do out here. My fishing trip has thankfully been put on hold for now ...

... one woman who spent the whole four hours on her mobile arguing with someone nicknamed 'pork chop' over a television which had been delivered to the wrong house.
My train got into Swan Hill at 11 p.m. and Fay, another girl who works in the pub, was there to pick me up.
Fay is from England and also lives in the house I am staying in, as does an Irish and French girl.
The house, which is owned by the owners of the pub, has plenty of rustic charm shall we say ...

... lavet i et almindeligt køkken. Og det er praktisk i Melbourne, da vi her (selvom det er en lillesmule ulovligt) kan stille bilen udenfor sofie, min søsters lejlighed og på den måde se en masse til hinanden den tid vi er her. Selvom turen til Melbourne er tilrettelagt sådan at der er rigeligt tid til at stoppe og nyde omgivelserne undervejs og vi ikke skal over 200 km om dagen, bliver Jørgens ønske om at køre bliver opfyldt, også selvom det ikke lige ...

SWAN HILL 10/4/09 - 14/4/09 Packed up on Good Friday to head to Swan Hill. Fortunately the roads were very quiet so we had a good trip along the Murray Valley Highway. Had a lunch stop at a little place called "Wood Wood" - a really pleasant spot on the banks of the Murray. The caravan park was extremely busy, of course, because of the Easter holidays, but it was right on the river and adjacent to a beautiful, shady park also on the river ...

We were told of the "Steve Irwin" look-alike, so we decided to head inland for a couple of days to spend some time with the Daltons. Nisele,Wynita and childrin, live on a farm in Victoria. We fished for Murrey Cod in the Great Murrey River, hunted roos ("professionally") played on the sandbar in the river, caught "yabbies , and had an awesome time with our new friends. 

We were away from Swan Hill by 9am this morning and after a few stops along the way arrived in Mildura by 2pm. Our fuel economy was shocking on Wednesday so we aimed to stick to 90km/h along the way and as it was flat kept the cruise control on to keep the speed steady. The caravan park isn't as nice as the previous one ...

... Valley Highway at Kerang and had soon reached Swan Hill. The Van Park is on the highway - lots of truck noise as they slow down to deliver cattle to the sale yards across the road from here. This is probably the nicest park, even if noisy, that we had been in. Wide spacious sites beside each ensuite block - room for the van with awning raised and the ...