Echuca Archives - INSPIRING MAX

Most Australians love to escape with a beer or two. However Neil Thomas has taken this to a new level. He is the owner of the Great Aussie Beer Shed filled with over 20,000 cans from Australia and around the world he claims to have drunk over the last 45 years. It is a true Aladdin’s cave of wonder. Also in the mix are 4000 beer steins, beer bottles, beer holders, barrels, signs and other beer or alcohol related objects.

To get his guests in the mood, a drink is included with admission. I chose a Mexican beer and my husband a Stout. For anyone who didn’t drink alcohol there were soft drinks available. The Australian and world history we gained listening to Neil’s passion was memorable.

I hope you enjoy sharing our escape. If you every get the chance to travel to Echuca don’t miss this amazing museum.

The original Carlton Draught Clydesdales Carriage

This post was inspired by Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Escape.

The Murray River is Australia’s longest river and it divides the Victorian and New South Wales states. Echuca is a city on the Victorian side and Moama is its sister city on the New South Wales side.

Founded in 1853 Ecucha was once Australia’s largest inland port due to the river trade. Paddlesteamers were very busy going up and down the Murray carrying people and cargo, mainy redgum timber and wool. To honour the city’s history, Echuca has built a Discovery centre around the old port.

The original paddlesteamers have been brought back to life and today are used for tourism. Unfortunately, for us we visited Echuca on a long weekend. This meant the paddlesteamers were fully booked. Never mind, next time will do.

The Port of Echuca Discovery Centre was amazing. We spent hours emersing ourselves in a forgotten time. Learning about life in the early days of Echuca. I loved that they have rebuilt the original wharves mostly using the original timber. They are 3 stories high. This is due to the various changes in river depth and so at any level the cargo could unload. The flood marker below gives an indication or the river levels. During our visit the levels were low.

The scary thing for the river crews was that if the river level dropped too much the paddlesteamers became “stuck” and couldn’t move until it rained and the river levels rose again. This often meant waiting it out until the snow melted or the rains came.