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Cruises, tours and activities
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The best
short river cruise
is on the PS
Melbourne
(daily 10.50am & 1.50pm; 2hr 10min; $18.50; tel 03/5023 2200), Mildura's only genuinely steam-driven paddle steamer. Built in 1912, it still has its original boiler and engine. The same company runs
Paddleboat Rothbury
, built in 1881 and in its day the fastest steamboat on the river; it's now been converted to diesel and takes people on cruises to local attractions such as the Trentham Estate Winery ($42 including lunch and wine tasting), as well as operating dinner cruises on Thursday nights ($40).
Paddleboat Coonawarra
(tel 03/5023 3366 or free call 1800 034 424) has
longer cruises
: four nights for $442-618 (depending on season) or five nights for $716-879. All cruises leave from
Mildura Wharf
at the end of Madden Avenue, west of the train station.
Away from the river, the most outstanding natural attraction is Mungo National Park , 110km across the border in New South Wales. It's visited by a few tour operators from Mildura, all of whom charge around $60 a head: Junction Tours (tel 03/5027 4309 or 0408 596 438, tom@ruralnet.com.au ); Mallee Outback Experiences (tel 03/5021 1621 or 0418 521 003); and Jumbunna Enterprises (tel 0412 581 699, jumbunna@hotmail.com ). Koorie tour operators belonging to the Barkindji people also lend their perspective on the park with Harry Nanya Tours, based just over the border in Wentworth (Mon-Sat; tel 03/5027 3697). Like all the others, they also do tours around Mildura, to Wentworth, and to other attractions and national parks in the surrounding area.
Camerons, 72 Lime Ave (tel 03/5021 2876 or 0427 793 297,
www.cameronsmildura.com.au
), rents out sports gear and arranges
hot air balloon flights
daily, weather permitting, from $185 per person. Rainy days can be passed at the
Deakin Cinema Complex
at 98 Deakin Ave, while a back-to-nature alternative to the swimming pool on Deakin Avenue is available at the sandy
swimming beach
at Chaffey Bend. There are lifeguards in summer, but take local advice and beware of dangerous currents; people have drowned here. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Australia,
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