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Swan Hill
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Heading for Swan Hill, you can go south down the Calder Highway, turning east at Hattah onto the Hattah-Robinvale Road and continuing past the Hattah Kulkyne National Park. Alternatively, you can cross the Murray into New South Wales and follow the Sturt Highway, recrossing the river at
ROBINVALE
, a small, rather characterless fruit-growing town, but idyllically situated within a great loop of the river. Wine buffs should make a stop at the
Robinvale Winery
, Sea Lake Road (daily 9am -5.30pm; tel 03/5026 3955,
www.organicwines.com.au
), where a wide range of wines, including some Greek varieties, are biodynamically produced.
Twenty-five kilometres from Swan Hill you reach the highly productive stone-fruit and vegetable-growing area of NYAH . Bushcamping (no water or facilities) is allowed in the nearby Nyah and Vinefera state forests along the Murray; for full details contact Parks Victoria in Swan Hill. Eight kilometres beyond Nyah is the Tyntynder Homestead (open by appointment only on 03/5037 6380; $8.25), a classic 1846 bungalow furnished in wealthy squatter style and set amid flowering gardens. Part of the homestead is a museum containing, among other things, a collection of Aboriginal artefacts.
As you approach
SWAN HILL
itself, the landscape changes - this is cattle and sheep country, with wheatfields further north. The Murray here is shallow and tricky to navigate, so there's not much river traffic. Swan Hill is a service centre for the pastoral industry and has a typically solid, conservative atmosphere. Surprisingly, it's quite a multicultural place, having ten percent of Victoria's Aboriginal population, and a large Italian community. The Pioneer Settlement is undoubtedly Swan Hill's main attraction, but while you're here, you could also visit the
Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery
(Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; $3), which specializes in folk and Aboriginal art, and the
Murray Downs Homestead
(Sat-Thurs 9.30am-noon, daily during school holidays; closed for three weeks in Dec; guided tours at 10am & 11am; $7.50), an impressive Victorian mansion at the heart of a forty-square-kilometre station - it's over the bridge in New South Wales, but barely 1km from town. The town's
swimming pool
, on Monash Drive (Nov-March daily 11am-7pm; $2.50), has several pools and a waterslide. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Australia,
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