We drove further west, over the border into Victoria and the regional city of Mildura. Because it’s over the border it’s technically no longer in the Riverina region (as that refers to NSW localities) but since it’s beside a very substantial river (a.k.a. the Murray River) I think I’ll make an exception.

Mildura is a very big town, with a population nearing 60,000 if you count the population of nearby areas that have become ‘suburbs’ of the town. It’s a food growing town, producing lots of grapes and citrus fruits for the Victorian market. The city is dead flat, and because the town grew gradually from agriculture, the architecture wasn’t exactly picturesque.

We stayed on the far eastern edge of town, near an area called Kings Billabong. The billabong is a part of the Murray River system. In the early 20th Century, pump houses were built to irrigate the surrounding farm-lands. We found an example close by where we stayed.

Kings Billabong, aside from being fed by the Murray, is an extensive wet-land, and recreational park with boat ramps, camping areas and walking tracks. It’s the kind of landscape that I don’t often find around Sydney since a lot of its wetlands have been developed.