We’ve been staying at the Merool on the Murray, caravan park, in Moama. Echuca and Moama are twin towns joined by the Murray River. The Moama side of the town on the north side of the river is in NSW, the Echuca side is on the southern side of the river and is in Victoria.

The caravan park we’re staying at is beautifully located away from the towns and situated on 63 acres with the river forming a horseshoe around the whole park. The park is lovely, and oh so cheap – only $20 for week nights, and a couple of dollars more on the week-end. When parks are this cheap there’s a tendency to wonder, what’s wrong? In this case absolutely nothing.

Theres only a small amount of caravan sites. Most of the park is either privately owned holiday homes, or holiday cottages for rent.

There’s also a number of house boats to rent. Wow! do they ever get the imagination fired up. Many of them are 4 – 6 bedroomed, each room with it’s own ensuite bathroom. And huge spa baths on the deck for the same amount of occupants. Just imagine, drifting slowly on the Murray, glass of champagne in hand as you sit in a spa bath on the deck of your houseboat. The gum trees drifting by, and surrounded by palms – yes they even have potted palms on deck.

There’s an award winning winery/restaurant, Morrisons, next door. Its all so beautiful.

Echuca/Moama is apparently Australia’s favourite retirement destination, surpassing all coastal destinations. Walking around the caravan park and along the banks of the Murray each morning perhaps provides the answer as to the reason why. The area is full of stunning Red River Gums, beautiful to look at, and the strong Eucalyptus smell……. I always wondered why this area would be so popular as the winters can get quite cold. Now I think I know the answer – it’s in the smell I’m sure. Before the cold sets in, people must become totally addicted and tranquillised by the heady smell of the trees, then they must just chill like koalas. That’s my explanation anyway.

The cold is coming though, and although we’re finding the heady scent of the Eucalyptus is quite addictive, it’s not yet had time to tranquillise us. So, we’re upping wheels tomorrow and putting a big dash on to catch up with the warmer weather towards the top of NSW. Today, for our last day here, we’re heading into town to pick up a paddle steamer to bring us to Morrison’s award winning restaurant for lunch. Seems silly when the restaurant is walking distance from our park, but we’ve never been on a paddle steamer before, and that’s a must when in Echuca.