Tocumwal - a real gem

Finally in Tocumwal.     We liked the town on first sight and decided to stay for three nights instead of  the two nights we planned.   It was very hot (31 degrees) when we arrived, but luckily a cool change came through almost immediately, and now it has been perfect.    

The town is very popular with people in Victoria, Melbourne especially, as they love the river, and the warm and dry weather too.

The Murray River here is a light green with relatively clear water, as against the murky green in Echuca and the murky brown as it flows west towards the sea.    

There are plentiful beaches here, plus a pontoon, for swimming.   Boating, of course too, but nothing faster than 4 kmh.   

The view back towards the road bridge.

The levee bank has an excellent pathway, which Walter appreciated very much.   The grass here is relatively green, but mostly the grass now is dry, with burrs in it.   Piper does not like walking on burrs, perhaps I should have bought her some boots.

There are some beautiful old buildings here, and many have new purposes.    The timber merchants in the building below now houses a thrift shop.

                                        
The railway station is now a museum.

The old flour mill, still unused, but a remarkable building.

The pub is still a pub!

The IGA (grocery store) has murals covering the front wall.

The lovely little wooden church.

There might not be much grass, but many houses have the most beautiful roses, with perfume too.

Tocumwal is a small town, but it explodes with visitors from Victoria every weekend.   So there are numerous cafes, restaurants, fast food shops, an ice cream shop, a micro brewery, shops selling 'collectables', charity shops, antique shops, vintage shops, all open Friday to Sunday.    All the type of shops that tourists like!

The town is at the beginning of the Newell Highway which runs between Tocumwal (New South Wales) and Goondiwindi (Queensland).    We have travelled many times on parts of this highway.

Big things again!    The Big Carp!    As it feeds off the bottom of the river, it is not a good fish to eat, although a popular fish in Europe.   An introduced species to Australia, of course.

The Big Strawberry!    We visited the shop and bought strawberries which were very delicious.   And then made a few other purchases of course.    Walter bought a strawberry ice cream, and I bought a bottle of strawberry topping plus two jars of jam (mixtures of strawberries and other fruit).    

It is possible to free camp at different places along the Murray River, but here the local council encourages free camping.    The river runs through natural reserves here and the land is cared for by the NSW Parks and Wild Life Department.  The brochure we picked up highlighted 'free camping' as a tourist attraction, in that people can enjoy camping at the edge of the water and watch the sun rise and set.

This is all very well!    Thirty or forty years ago this would have been feasible as only a handful of people free camped, usually in tents, and there was plenty of space and freedom.  

We could see people in old buses camped on the other side of the river so we thought we would drive on the track there and have a look at the beaches on the other side of the river.   

   

It looks stunning, I know, but there are heaps of these tracks running through the bush.

The shock came when we arrived at a large lagoon, which was lined with caravans, campers and vans.   They were packed in so close together you could hardly find a place to walk between them.   On the other side of the lagoon they were packed together from the edge of the water and for some distance behind that.   

Of course there were no public toilets there, as you were meant to be 'self contained', but we could see that was not the case with many vehicles.    We were stunned!     All the grey water draining into the ground alone would be a disaster for the environment, without the thought of what happens to the toilet waste. 

I only took one photo of a small section of the free camping areas.  

But back to our caravan park, which had plenty of space, but of course no view of the river.   We do have rabbits and plenty of them as well.   Another environmental disaster, I know.   These ones live under the permanent holiday houses!    Great for the foundations.    

Piper is especially interested in the rabbits.

Our caravan and car with plenty of space around, but of course it is not 'free camping' here.   This one comes at a cost of $43 per night, with electricity and water hooked to the van, and the waste water connected to a drain hole.

Our coffee spot this morning was in a, cafe/antique shop.    The cake was delicious but the coffee was not great.    Lovely view though.

Tocumwal had a brief period of fame in that the Australian Government,  with American influence, spent 2 million pounds building an air force base in 1942.    It was a massive undertaking, with huge hangers, plenty of runways  and accommodation built to look like houses (in order to confuse the Japanese) plus a hospital established there.

Of course it was only used for a couple of years, then the Americans wanted to be closer to the Pacific and established bases in north Queensland.    

So the buildings were moved to Canberra to be used for housing there, one hanger was broken down into pieces and sold, and the other hanger was used as a hay barn which self ignited and burnt down.  Most of the planes were slowly broken apart and sold in pieces.    For a number of years there were commercial flights into Tocumwal but that became too expensive.    

Now the base has a large museum, which is very good, and the rest of the airport is used for small local planes and as a gliding club.

At the back of the IGA there is a mural of a fighter plane.

There is also a lovely walking trail dedicated to the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) and their contributions to the Tocumal base and to WW2.

And to finish.   Piper and me on the walk, in very windy weather.