Cold weather... warm welcome

Day five of the trek to the centre

Today was our third day in lovely Echuca with our travel buddies, John and Julie. The caravan park here is really good (the Discovery on the river at Echuca) A fabulous camp kitchen... last night Chef Ian cooked fish, and we shared the table with 8 travellers from the Central Coast and Dubbo, who are also heading our way.

Ian and Anne

 

Julie and Anne

Today we went on the only authentic paddle steamer, the Alexander Arbuthnot at Echuca for a VERY chilly ride downstream. Alexander Arbuthnot (or “AA” as she is affectionately known) is special because she is the last paddle steamer to be built as a working boat on the Murray River during the riverboat trade era.
We had a smile as the engineer heated up his chunky soup on the edge of fire box.

Lunch for the engineer

Beechworth Bakery... great vegie pasties

When we disembarked we headed straight to the Beechworth  Bakery for the second day in a row. Yesterday we met up there with friends Alan and Cathy (from Tamworth) who have come to town especially for my library talk! Today the pies and pasties and huge coffees warmed us up before we headed to the collectable shop in the old part of town. An Old Timer knife that Ian collects (at a bargain price)  and two original edition Enid Blyton books added to the goods to take home.

The car was lighter however after a fabulous afternoon at the library where I sold some books and enjoyed the interaction with a wonderful audience.
 https://www.facebook.com/CampaspeLibrary Regional Library Service made me very welcome.

Home to the caravan park and Chef Ian cooked a hot chicken and potato curry to warm us up. Barman John was in charge of the flagon of port that somehow made its way into the shopping today.
Another great day in pretty and welcoming, albeit cold, Echuca!
Tomorrow we make our way west.

Sunset from the camp kitchen