Mildura on Murray River

Chingshang *

I still remember it was towards the end of our semester exams. We were discussing about our potential vacation engagements. Many of my local Australian friends told their holiday plans with their parents at Gold coast, Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, Broome, Sydney and New Zealand and so on.

Some said they will be working in the hospitality services in and around Melbourne. I was listening passively to all whatever they discussed. Suddenly one of my international student friends from Vietnam told me that he will be going to Mildura and whether I am interested. I said sorry.

Actually I was not having any idea about Mildura and was not dare to enquire about at that time. Everyone went on holidays and vacation employments. I didn't do anything during that vacation period except criss-crossing the entire Melbourne city and its beautiful suburbs everyday on my bicycle. I feel now that I know the streets of Melbourne like I know the lines on my palm.

Vacation ends and new semester started and as usual hell lot of assignments and projects to be completed. But this time I have decided that once my semester exam gets over I will go on for a vacation somewhere away from the city. Browsing Google Earth and Google Maps has become a part of my everyday routine as I have taken an investigative project pertaining to its potential applications in spatial databases.

One day I was simply scrolling along the banks of Murray River on Google Earth and came across this very town Mildura. I zoomed again and again till I get an impressive glimpse of the town. Alternatively I open up the street view of the town in Google Maps which provided me a complete overview.

I came to realize that this must be a beautiful town located along the mighty Murray River surrounded by lots of vineyards and citrus farms. I had a strong fascination of Murray River even when I was in India. I read a lot about the river and even taught students about Australia when I was working in an International school in South India.

So it becomes a natural choice for me to visit Murray River and Mildura in the upcoming semester vacation. I waited patiently for the day that my exams got over.

The day came sooner than I expected. I took two days off at Melbourne just planning for the vacation work. I didn't have much balance in my account. So I could not afford to have a vacation that will make big hole in the pocket. I have decided that I should have a vacation like working and holidaying.

Problem was that where am I going to stay in Mildura which is located almost 550 kms away from Melbourne. I have some addresses which were given to me by my friends. I texted my intention for vacation work to one of the cell numbers. To my surprise, a favourable response popped up on my mobile. I didn't waste my time.

Suddenly I packed up everything that I may require for four weeks vacation at Mildura. I board the Mildura bound coach at 9.45 pm from Southern Cross station in the city. It costs me A$ 35 for a Melbourne to Mildura coach journey. It was almost 9 hours journey. The coach stopped at few stations on the way.

The one station which I could vividly remember is Ballarat. We reached Ballarat at around 11 pm. I heard that many Indian students are studying in Ballarat University which is much more affordable as compared to Unis at Melbourne. We stopped at Ballarat for about 20 minutes. It seems to be a silent and beautiful city even though I could not see much of the city in the night.

After a while our journey resumed. Our coach just passed over the main entrance of the University of Ballarat. I was very happy to see the university as I have already read many brochures about the university before. We reached Red Cliffs at 6.30 am and I got down here along with some other passengers.

River way at Mildura

Red Cliffs is a rural suburb of Mildura and located 20 kms away from the city centre. All other passengers who got down here were picked up by their respective family members or relatives. I was alone there for some time. Then I texted a message to the person in whose hostel I am going to spend the vacation.

Soon he messaged me to wait for 20 minutes to pick up. I have never seen the man. I just wondered for a while how the things are likely to shape up soon. Finally a car came and stopped in front of me. A tall man got down and we introduced to each other. He was very friendly and a good man.

The first question he asked me was how I do like that place. As usual he enquired me from which country I came-Indonesia or Malaysia? I said I am from India. He didn't believe me. He also said that my name is not a typical Indian name. So I have to lengthen the conversation.

His place is in another rural suburb of Mildura called Irymple which is located in between Mildura and Red Cliffs. If I had known before I could have got down at Irymple. It is located 7 kms away from Mildura city centre. He took me to his place. It is a big spacious farm house located in the middle of vineyards.

He shows my room, facilities in the house and everything that I may need. Already all the residents were ready to go about their days work in the morning. We had a brief introduction to each other. They are from different countries. They came to visit Australia on a working holiday visa. They are really wonderful people.

My host asked me whether I want to go for work or rest for the day as I might be tired during the night bus journey. I chose to take the day off so that I will be fully recharged for the next day. I joined them for work the next day. We went for grape picking. It was fun. Some days we go for uncovering the vineyards and some days for trimming or pruning or picking.

Even I went for picking tomato too. It depends on different seasons but works were aplenty. We worked for six days a week. Sundays, we don't go for work and actually it is a fun day. Every Friday evening we got our payments for the weeks work. Saturday nights are basically party nights.

Our house looks like a club on Saturday nights. Great music, lots of noise, good food, movies and so on. Tuesday nights are Pizza nights. We ordered pizza for all the residents in the house in bulk .Our house owner is basically from Italy who have been staying in Mildura for a long time.

Sometimes he took us to one of the most authentic Italian Pizza cafes in Mildura. It was just wonderful. As time passed we all become very familiar faces in the house as we live, work, eat and play together. It was just like a big happy family.

There were six girls from Germany, two girls from Britain, one girl from Ireland, two boys from Britain, four boys from Ireland and myself from India. During my brief stay there, I also had the chance to meet at least three Indian boys who came to stay and work around Mildura. But they stayed just for a week or so.

Yes, you are right. I didn't tell much about Mildura and Murray River so far. I had the chance to explore Mildura and Murray River on Sundays. During the weekdays I had the chance to work in different farms in different corners of the town and see different aspects of farms. Every Sunday I took the bicycle and roamed to wherever it is possible since early morning till late in the afternoon.

The endless fields at Mildura

Mildura town is well located along the Murray River. This town is situated in the extreme north west of Victoria State, Australia. Mildura is basically a popular inland tourist resort along Murray Riverside. It is in a semi arid region irrigated extensively by the water from Murray River. Today Mildura stands proud as the largest producer of wine grapes, dried fruits and citrus in Australia.

Mildura is highly accessible by road, 550 km via the Calder Highway from Melbourne, 1050 km on the Hume and Sturt Highways from Sydney and 450 km via the Sturt Highway from Adelaide. Daily return air and bus services travel to Mildura from Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide are available.

The average flight time from Melbourne to Mildura is about one hour. Just across the Murray River from Mildura is Buronga, a small town of New South Wales. Basically Murray River forms the boundary between Victoria and New South Wales states of Australia.

Murray is the largest and longest river of Australia originating in the snow-capped mountains of the Great Dividing Range in the eastern part of Australia and empties finally to Southern sea in South Australia. Earlier this river was considered to be the major means of inland transportation through paddle steamers before the opening up of major highways in the country.

This legacy is still being felt in Murray River today. One can see and enjoy a ride on the richly decorated paddle steamers on Murray River throughout the year. A well maintained bicycle tract is available along the Murray River and Mildura being situated along the Murray River, it is very much possible to enjoy the beauty of the city and the Murray River at one goes.

I took that opportunity and exploited to the maximum. I could see Murray River from a very close perspective and felt the smell of its being. The banks of Murray River are heavily lined with exotic eucalyptus trees and they are protected by the government.

One of the most unique natural environments along the Murray River in Mildura is "Kings Billabong". It is a protected wet land area, home to exotic flora and fauna. I really like this area and went there many times as it reminds me very much of Keibul Lamjao and Loktak ecosystem.

They are different. But still I could not stop thinking where they differ. A lot of forest regeneration works along the Murray River have been taken up in recent times to reduce environmental degradation.

Mildura is not a very big city. But it is being addressed as one of the fastest growing inland cities in Victoria. It has a total population of about 65,000 people. It has a very cosmopolitan outlook indicating characteristics of a multicultural society.

Streets are wide and clean, no traffic jams, lots of farms in and around, good hotels and motels, ample parking areas, caravan parks, shopping centres, so and so forth. This city is very liveable.

In fact you will find all the major supermarket chains here too like Woolworth, Coles, IGA, Kmart etc. But I found it to be that the goods and services are more expensive here as compared to Melbourne.

It may be because of its regional location and huge transportation charges involved in it. One thing I really like about Mildura is that there are not many fluctuations in the weather patterns unlike Melbourne. This city has the maximum number of sunny days in Victoria.

City is surrounded by large number of vineyards, citrus and vegetable farms in a regional setting with modern outlook. Lots of tourists especially those who wanted to spend their time working and holidaying prefer Mildura as it enables to offer them employment opportunities throughout the year.

Indeed, I was really lucky to spend my vacation working and holidaying meeting wonderful people in this beautiful city for quite some time. It's a kind of experiences which is pretty hard to come by in normal circumstances. I came back to Melbourne with lots of memories at the end of the vacation and still it lingers afresh on my mind.

When I came back from Mildura I took the coach for three hours and by train for five and half hours which enable me to enjoy the varying and breathtaking Australian landscapes to a stretch of 550 kms all the way. It was simply marvellous.

I am longing for another vacation or whatever in the near future if all possible.

Check out the gallery on Murary here.

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* Chingshang, a Graduate student at University of Melbourne, contributes regularly to e-pao.net. The writer can be contacted at rockm(at)rediffmail(dot)com . This article was webcasted on October 02nd 2008.

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