Day thirteen Echuca to Elmore

May 19, 2018

Start 8.30am. Finish 1pm.

Accommodation Elmore Hotel/Motel

We have changed our original destination of Swan Hill as we were not looking forward to the long distance days on the road with out any intervening towns to break the monotony. Nor were we enjoying the weather with its late seasonal head winds, so we decided to head south to Bendigo, a distance of about 100 km and catch the train home from there. Elmore is about half way so we made that our next day's ride.

After booking one of the six rooms at the Elmore Victoria Hotel / Motel, for Saturday 19th May, we rode out of the NRMA Echuca Holiday Park, along the now very familiar Crofton Street and into Dickson Street with its old homes, and around the round about and into High Street.

Another dead flat day although the road did twist and turn a bit. The first five kms were devoted to getting out of Echuca before we hit the main road, The Northern Highway - B75. The main crop seen today was hay with lots of farm sheds stacked high with hay bales, as well as trucks and semi-trailers transporting hay bales, which passed us on the road going in all directions. We have discovered that straw bale suppliers can supply:- Hay - meadow, clover & rye, lucerne & rye and pure clover; Lucerne; Straw - oaten, wheaten; Mulch - straw, lucerne.

After about 30 kms, having rode the whole distance without changing a gear, we came to our first town, Rochester which was the birth place of the famous Australian cyclist Sir Hubert Opperman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Opperman

Mary has been looking for one of those ice creams for days !

We stopped here at the servo for Mike's cup of tea and Mary's ice cream before attacking the final 20 kms to our destination at Elmore. Whilst walking the bike through Rochester and looking at the wonderful old buildings Mike saw a VLine train pass through, so we soon decided to forgo the ride into Bendigo the next day and catch the train home from Elmore.

So far there had been a good shoulder on the road for most of the time, but after Rochester the shoulder disappeared and we had to share the lane with the motor vehicles. All of them gave us plenty of space when over taking so it was not too stressful. On the outskirts of Elmore we crossed the Campaspe River, which had meandered in a broad ribbon like fashion southwards from Echuca. Whilst the Northern Highway had run in one continuous straight line.

After we booked into our accommodation Mike did his usual collapse onto the bed whilst Mary explored the town. The Victoria Hotel was located on the corner of the Northern Highway and Cardwell Street and I thought the shops further along Cardwell Street looked interesting, so I walked in that direction where I found the following shops and buildings:-

Building originally known as Wearings Cosmopolitan Store 1875 became Parson's Store in 1893, and operated as an emporium for over 70 years, incorporating ladies and menswear departments, millinery, furniture, groceries and farm supplies. “There was nothing you couldn't buy at Parson's.

Elmore Memorial / Athenaeum Hall Complex commenced in 1866 as the first government school, which became The Mechanics Institute of Victoria in 1875. Throughout its life, it served as a Hall for public entertainment, church Services, by The Church of England and Presbyterian Church. Library, Library Club Rooms, Billiard Room with four tables from 1925-1965. It was used as the Scout Hall room from 1970-1980.

walking back along Cardwell Street I found this miniature train engine in a window of Parson's Store.

Walking back along Cardwell Street I heard a steam train whistle and saw a flash of the engine and carriages and it passed along the main train line to Melbourne. Crossing over The Northern Highway I found the Campaspe Run an interactive agricultural museum, tourist information centre and souvenir sales shop. I discovered " that in 1884, Hugh Victor McKay, a local man invented a combine-harvester that could harvest, thresh and winnow wheat and, unlike others of that time, he was able to successfully market his machine. H. V McKay's stripper-harvester became known as the Sunshine, his flagship product and his Ballarat factory was known by the late 1890s as the "Sunshine Harvester Works".

In 1906 the Sunshine Harvestrer Works moved its principle manufacturing base from Ballarat to the western outskirts of Melbourne, and the surrounding suburb became known as Sunshine"

from:- https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/10189

The Museum had just closed but I spent a long time talking to a lovely lady in the information centre /shop who told me that the steam train which I had heard and seen was from the Victorian Goldfields Railway, which usually links the historic gold mining towns of Castlemaine and Maldon in Central Victoria. Michael and I had taken a ride on this train after Christmas and the train carriages still had there christmas decorations. This train engine D3 639 and train carriages appears in the film The Dressmaker as it passed through Muckleford (called Dungatar in the film).

Following the reccommendation from the lady in the information centre I walked next door to the Elmore Miniature Railway, where I met Paul who had moved from Melbourne two years ago. The railway was just about to close but Paul and the team told me all about the miniature railway, and how their deceased colleague had build the train enging on display in Parson's window as well as the train engines in their station shed.

Details of the Elmore Miniature Railway: 7 and 1/4 inch (184mm) gauge, 1.5 km of track, 1 km mainline, 4 trestle bridges, 1 main station, 1 wayside stop and passing loop, 1 main engine, 1 engine and carriage shed, Located in a bushland setting

from - http://www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/melbourneplaygrounds-info.php?id=27053

After eating dinner at the Elmore Hotel / Motel Bistro we settled down to watch the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, live from Windsor.

Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 357 km (222 miles)

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