Barmah Lakes, Barmah State Park, Victoria.

Called into Cobram for some minor supplies then went for a longer drive for a change. The camp areas become a little sparse along the river for a while therefore we are moving onto Barmah Lakes Camp Ground. I put the camp co-ordinates into the GPS and then we were treated to a wonderful scenic drive through gravel roads finally entering the State Park via the back gate, or so it seemed. We were travelling on 4wd tracks to reach the Camp Ground. This was no problem in the dry season we are now experiencing but it would have been impossible after heavy rain.

We got talking to a couple of our fellow campers in the Camp Ground, Graeme and Sandy,  after several hours of general conversation we discovered that we came from the same town, Drouin. I knew Graeme and his passion for Hot Rods at the time. This was about 50 years ago, we had not seen each other in all that intervening period. Another couple, Bob and Teddy pulled into camp and we had a great Happy Hour, or more!

It was vastly different here at Barmah Lakes, it was very quiet. No ski boats and no Corellas, bliss.

The Murray River at Barmah Lakes.

The smaller of the two main lakes in the State Park. The other, Moira Lake, is much larger.

There is even a small steam powered Paddle Boat moored in the river.

If you double click on this photograph, you will see that there are two Pelicans perched on the dead tree on the end of the island eyeing off the tourists in The Kingfisher sight seeing punt.

Gunbower, a house boat owned by Bill. Judy and I went aboard Gunbower and sat on the front deck and had a long chat with Bill. He was moored here to get away from power boats for Labour Day Weekend and Easter. He can't get past Torrumbarry Weir until there is more water in the river.

There are some great old and gnarled River Red Gums in the park.

Another River Red Gum.

Yet one more River Red Gum.

Green Bank, Murray River Reserve, Victoria.

From The Police Paddocks we moved along the great distance of 65 km, passing through Yarrawonga. We are not particularly interested in larger towns, preferring to stop at the small towns with some character and history. We weren't sure where we would end up camping. Our plan was to pull into each River Camp in turn until we found someplace satisfactory for the Victorian Labour Day weekend. The first Murray River Camp Ground was Green Bank, only 5 km west of Yarrawonga. This is a large area with a boat ramp, picnic facilities and toilets. There were loads of people and camps but we found what seemed an excellent camp site for the four days. We were able to walk into Yarrawonga along a river walk, this was a shorter distance than going by road. The exercise from the walk enabled me to have a Yarrawonga Bakery beef pie for lunch, that was my argument anyway.

Of course we had to contend with ski boats and Sea-Doos roaring up and down the river all weekend, but even worse than that, we had about 5000 Corellas camped with us. They are noisy, destructive individuals. They love nipping the new shoots off the river gums and dropping them on whatever is below. Our car and caravan was buried under all this Corella Trash and worse. A daily chore was to remove the Corella Shit off the car and caravan.

The Murray River bank here is quite high so we had a commanding view along the river.

Every type of water craft was on the river this weekend.

At 4:30 pm each afternoon it was drinking time for the Corellas. Fallen river gums made ideal perches for this afternoon routine. This was also my signal to open a stubby of beer.

Look out when something disturbs the flock. All the Corellas take-off en masse careening in all directions with their raucous screeching and droppings raining down on everything below them.

There are several River Gums defying gravity along the outside bend of the river that have been undermined by the current. Surely the River Gums will drop into the river soon!