We are having a towing-free day today so we had a sleep in which was most welcome. Then we decided to give Mildura the once over on foot. If you are ever going to explore an Australian town on foot, Midura is the one you do it in. It is as flat as a tack, the streets are broad and laid out on a grid pattern so it is very easy to find your way around.
Our first stop was the Information Centre about 3 kms from our caravan park. This is a very large and well-equipped centre with a great deal of information about Mildura, its history and the surrounding Sunraysia country. We recommend it highly to anyone who is visiting Mildura for the first time. By the time we got there, we were ready for a morning coffee after which we watched the very informative movie in the centre's small cinema. This told the story of the establishment of Mildura as an irrigated fruit growing area and the parts played by Alfred Deakin and William and George Chaffey, two very clever, skilled and hardworking Canadians. They had already established themselves as very successful irrigators in California when invited by Deakin to come to Mildura and do the same thing here. Their history is fascinating and well worth a Google.
We then continued on down Deakin Ave to the central business district and the river. One thing I will say about Mildura is that there is not a lot to photograph. Apart from the Town Hall tower and the tower on the T & G building, nothing is over two storeys tall. We had expected to take some photos of the paddle steamers moored at the town dock on the river. However, none were to be seen. So we decided to keep on walking along the river bank until we came to WB Chaffey's house "Rio Vista". The house was purchased by the Mildura City Council in 1950 when Harriet, Chaffey's second wife died and is now part of the Mildura Arts Centre. It is two storeys tall and is worth a photograph.
We then wandered back to the main part of town and up that part of Langtree Ave referred to in the guidebooks as "Feast Street". This is the home of most of the restaurants and cafes, including Stefano's, for which Mildura is justly famous. We were tempted to stop for lunch, but we maintained our pace and ended up having Sunday lunch at the RSL club and very nice it was, too.
By this stage we had walked close on 10 kms so we decided to quit while we were ahead and went the rest of the way by taxi.
That's about if for today. Here are the few photos that I took.
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| "Feast Street" |
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| Deakin Ave, Mildura |
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| Rio Vista |
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| The fountain is a replica. For some reason, the original was removed and reinstalled at one of the intersections on Deakin Ave |
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