Our campsite had lovely grass last night and it was so thick and spongy. We both walked around on it in bare feet as it was a great change from red dust or gravel or sand. We forgot we needed fuel and had an 8 cent voucher so we had to head back into Swan Hill but as the truck needed 102L to fill it back up it was worth the short detour. We could not get into our next attraction till 9:30 anyway so there was no urgency.

Our first stop today was Lake Boga. Interesting name but this was a top secret base during the second world war maintaining Catalina and many other types of flying boats. After the Japs bombed Darwin and Broome a huge amount of the flying boats were destroyed and an inland base out of harms way was required. There were over 1,000 people based here when it was in full swing. Lake Boga was chosen over the nearby Kangaroo lake as it was round so they could land from any direction the wind was blowing from.

The local Loins Club has driven and runs the Flying Boat Museum. Recently they have managed to get a new hanger over the flying boat that used to sit outside on a concrete slab. The plane was considered to brittle to move so they built the hanger around it. It was a well presented attraction with an interesting 20 minute video about the history of the place and plenty of exhibits and information. It is amazing all these little bits of hidden history we have come across.

Catalina number A24-30

Interesting engineering in some of these old engines

The pod retracted to become part of the wing

Catalina Flaying Boats had a huge range of over 2,700Km enabling them to do bombing raids and covert placement and pickup all the way up into Singapore. The Americans had all sorts of flying boats serviced here as well. It was a massive operation in it’s day. Last year the lake dried completely and they found all sorts of bits and bobs on the lake floor. Some of it has been restored and is on display.

Found in the lake recently

There was one funny story in the video, the officers mess burnt down and the guy in charge was asked what he did when he first noticed the fire, “I saved all the beer of course sir” was his reply! The old underground communications bunker was all setup similar to how it was back then as well. There was so much information and exhibits you will just have to visit it as I have probably forgotten a lot already.

After quite a while at Lake Boga we headed for Echuca as we thought riding a paddle steamer there would be a bit more special that elsewhere as it is the centre of paddle steamers on the Murray. We rocked into the visitors centre and got some information and Sharon raced down to book some tickets for the afternoon trips. She found out that tonight was some big celebration and there were fireworks and evening cruises. We ended up on a 2 hour evening cruise on the Pevensey steam driven paddle steamer. The Pevensey was the Philadelphia in the mini series All the Rivers Run. ( I was disappointed not to find John Waters on board! I loved that show)

Kept hearing strange noises in the streets

Looking down on our steamer from the redeveloped wharf

First officer at attention…..

The wharf was full of people when we got back to watch the fireworks, these are the early birds to get the front seats

Name plate on the boat

The ‘crew’. he has to engage and disengage the paddles + feed the boiler with wood and water

Works of art these old steam driven motors

All the paddle steamers lined up down the river and one by one we were introduced to the huge crowd on the wharves and steamed past. As they came past several flares were let off on each boat that lit up the night sky. Once all the boats had docked there was a great fireworks display and we had front row seats on the boats at river level. It turned out to be a pretty good evening. There were so many people on the bank, wharf and other house boats on the water. Two of the privately owned paddle steamer in the parade almost had a collision. They had no idea what they were doing and almost hit the trees on the side of the bank and each other as well, it was a close shave. The driver of our boat was keeping well away from them, he had had this experience before with the private boats.

One of the other boats coming past us

More old paddle boats

Fireworks

Fireworks

We ended up at a new caravan park called Moama Waters where we ended up with an ensuite site for the price of a normal site. They are very new, clean and we are on grass again. Tomorrow we will head further south and see where we end up. We might try for the Melbourne Zoo and the DFO.

Ensuite

Ensuite ( Just a little excited about the ensuite, I had to take photos of it, you should see the shower head! Col won’t have to bend in half to fit under it.)