Two weeks at Cobram Victoria

  Cobram, Victoria, Australia
Monday, November 10, 2008

It has been hotter here than Brisbane!!!
The trip down was uneventful and really rather boring. 
THe first night we stayed at Moree and had a swim in the artesian pool at the motel.  

Sue in Moree artesian spa

We wish we had stayed at one of the others though as there was a wedding on and from about midnight until 3am there was a group of people standing outside out room talking loudly and we didn't get much sleep.  We did eventually ring the managers and at first nothing happened so we called again an hour later and they finally left.  They thought they were being quiet, but when people have had a few drinks they don't realise how noisy they are.
 
We just followed the Newell Hwy all the way and although it is a good road, it doesn't have the best scenery unless you like flat gibber plains and spinifex grass with the occasional stand of eucalypts where you are constantly on the lookout for kangaroos. From Moree it took us ten and a half hours including stops.

morning tea at Coonabarabran

Dubbo library

We are thinking of coming back via Albury, Wagga & Bathurst as H has not seen that part of NSW, and the mountains in the Great Dividing range should make a nice change to the Hay Plains!
 
Cobram is right on the border with NSW and in fact I have been over to Barooga on the NSW side every day to go to the pool at the gym or to the library, or to have dinner at the Sports Club or Golf Club.  It is a real golfer's paradise here with 2 championship golf courses and lots of motels and clubs catering to the golfers. Barooga also has a lovely Botanical Gardens.  Very surprising for such a small town.

Barooga Botanical Gardens

Talking of gardens, I have never seen so many standard White Iceberg rose bushes, they line the driveways on every third house and are scattered in the gardens of the others.

Standard icebergs at Barooga

Formal gardens are the go with neat shaped bushes and trees and always roses bearing masses of blooms.

Cobram rose bush

Apparently Barooga was one of the suggested sites for the new Australian Parliament back during the time of Federation.
 
The other memorable thing about Cobram is the jet trails in the sky.  I am not sure why, but down here the jet trails are very strong and clear, and you can see the jet as a shiny silver dot cutting its way across the sky.  There are fruit trees surrounding the town, mainly peach, pear, apricot, nectarine and cherry but none are ripe at the moment.  Cherries are not far off but they will probably become ripe as we leave!!! All of the fruit orchards are owned by Italians except two, and most of them are picked by foreigners, especially Iraqis who make up 10% of the local population.
 
The Murray itself is like a huge python here, meandering through the lovely old river gums, and depositing sandy beaches on each corner. One of them, Thompsons Beach claims to be the largest inland beach in Australia, and has a delightful park area adjacent shaded by 150 year old river red gums. We went for a leisurely stroll there on Tuesday night.

Murray river near Cobram

 
Cobram is also the home of the Murray Goulburn co-operative producing Devondale cheeses.  Unfortunately it is not open to the public but there are a couple of other cheese places we intend to check out on the weekend along with the wineries - Monichino, Fyffe Field, Murray Estate and the yummy Strawberry wines and liquers at The Big Strawberry.  We have already tried and bought some of those!

The Big Strawberry

Big Strawberry liquers

 
This would be a good place if you like fishing as apparently there are still supplies of Murray cod, Murray cray and Yellow Belly (Golden Perch) and lots of places along the river where you can camp for free. THe local sports store has the biggest range of fishing rods I have ever seen!
 
We have been out exploring on the tandem a couple of times.  It is great for cycling, hardly any hills, and plenty of smaller roads away from the traffic.