Mannum

We continued our Murray River theme at Mannum, 1,260 kilometres downstream from Swan Hill but only about 475 across country.

Leaving the straight, flat roads with irrigation ditches and crops growing on each side, we travelled along straight, flat roads with nothing much on each side to Ouyen and thence, having surrendered a tomato to the fruit fly inspector, to South Australia and Pinnaroo.

From there it wasn’t far to meet up again with the Murray at Tailem Bend and a quick drive north to Mannum.

As the town from where the Murray River paddle steamers originated, there was quite a lot of history to take in, with the Mannum Dock museum keeping us interested for quite a while both inside the building and outside where the PS Marion was open for a look around.

It was intriguing to see some more of the history. In Swan Hill we stood on the PS Gem; in Mannum we saw photos and accounts of her sinking and subsequent salvage.

We read of William Randell, who started the whole Murray paddle steamer thing (and Mannum, along with it) and looked down into the dry dock he built to service the ships. Not bad for a miller from Devon who had never built a boat before, and went on to be a member of parliament!

The following day we drove north along the river as far as Swan Reach, another very small, quiet and attractive town. The various viewpoints along the road had some great views of the Murray from high on the cliffs, or at least they did once the fog had lifted!

It hasn’t been all exploration and history, though. We have checked out all the old wares on sale in the town and did manage a drink or two overlooking the river from the beer garden of the Pretoria Hotel.Read more