Buronga Caravan Park
We actually stayed 3 nights (our longest stop to date) in the river town of Mildura (although we camped on the opposite side of the river in Baronga).Day 36 was pleasant, starting with a breakfast of Shin Ramyun (Korean instant noodles)... something to warm a gray day. We paddled the 3km to trentham Winery. Lovely. Free tastings. The Heathcote Shiraz was nice, but I selected instead the cheaper (but still pleasant) Petit Verdot. A lot nicer than the 5 litre boxes of Stanley CabSav-Merlot blend. It isn't really much nicer than the metholated spirits we use for fuel in our camp stove.
A few kms further we stopped again at the Gol Gol Hotel. The setting was supposed to be beautiful, but to my Canadian sensibilities, it wasn't really much more than a boxy hotel on a vast green expanse of lawn inhabited by all kinds of bird life.
The Buronga campground was nice, although rather poorly lit at night, making it difficult for us to find our tents when returning at night. It was about a 2km walk to Mildura, a trip I made twice a day as I decided to get up at 7:30 am each day and go for a run. (Dirk is always up at this time as he gets up, makes tea, and bussies himself with packing and organizing while the tin cup he drinks from cools down enough for him to touch it). At the park, we were visited by day by swans and by ight by possums.
In MIldura, we did the usual town stuff - recharged the phone at Telstra, used the internet at the library and shopped for groceries. However, Mildura was special as we also watched a movie at the cinema (King's Speach with Colin Firth), wemt for dinner twice (once at an "Irish" pub and once at the Spanish bar and Grill at the Grand Hotel - famous for being the home of Australia's best steak). The food was a little underwhelming, but we made a fantastic wine discovery - The Guilty - a fabulous chewy delicious Shiraz from Mildura (and good value for money). We also had drinks at the Mildura Brewery. My fav: Storm Cloudy Ale. Dirk's recommendation: Mallee Bull.
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