DIARY OF AN AUSSIE WOMBAT: Torrumbarry Weir and Echuca 19th

DIARY OF AN AUSSIE WOMBAT - GOODBYE THE GULF CAMPING AREA BARMAH NATIONAL FOREST...

HELLO TORRUMBARRY WEIR HOLIDAY PARK

Well... hello again! It's hard to let people know what's going on when the internet coverage totally sucks! We have been here five days and in a nutshell... I didn't go on the paddle steamer with mum and dad and I was disappointed though... because mum had a lovely time and a nice lunch and got all sorts of really cool photos of the engine and even a video of it starting up and another one of the "Emmylou's" engine being loaded with lots of red gum... mum said she could feel the heat from where she was standing. We did the touristy things at Echuca and dad got cranky pants when he missed the turn and crossed the bridge into NSW again! So at the next roundabout dad went around and made his way back into Echuca where we got fresh drinking water as the water at Torrumbarry Weir is straight from the river. I think it should be bottled for the price they charged per day, and dad agreed... but as usual mum set us both straight reminding us that it was still peak season as the kids hadn't gone back to school... yep, she was right.

It's nice to have a strong warm shower after a nice swim in the heated pool and then just relax by the annex. Today is going to be a very pleasant 29 degrees, so we all decided to go for a walk up to the big weir or 'lock' to watch the Mighty Murray river zoom through the gates, we hoped that the gates would be opening allowing the water to flow through with what dad said was 'environmental flow'. Of course being a wombat I had absolutely no idea what that meant, then mum said the Murray River was very very sick during the drought and the farmers were taking the water for their crops and a yucky stuff called blue green algae started to form on the river, a lot of the yucky stuff was from the chemicals that the farmers use to keep the bugs off their crops. I asked mum 'if the farmers need the water, why are they hurting it with their croppy stuff?'. Dad said that was a very clever question for a 3 1/2 year old wombat. He said it was all to do with 'greedy land owners'.. yeah, whatever. Didn't answer my question, if he didn't know the answer he could have just said so.

We heard all about the history of the Murray River and how three rivers, the Darling, the Murrumbidgee and the Goulburn River all flow into the Murray and pipe water to Adelaide (that's in South Australia... can't wait to get there that's when I see Kylee!) Port Augusta and all those really dry places that makes Australia into a semi arid country... basically, a desert! We heard about how the indigenous people of this area the Yorta Yorta people know that the forest must be flooded every season to ensure all the fish and animals survive. They have four animal spirits. The Murray Cod, the Trout Cod, the Emu and the Kangaroo. We have seen all four and it's fun to watch the emus run!

When we got back to the Park, Peter the nice man who owned the park said he had told his wife about me and she wanted to see me! So mum carried me up to the office where Leanne sat. She thought was beautiful! (I like Leanne!) Mum said I had a 'blog on the internet'... Leanne said she could use a little helper in the office so I sat at the desk and sorted out her bookings for the Australia Day Long Weekend. We leave before then, so I wanted to make sure everything was 'ticketeeboo' as mum says. After that, Leanne said her Facebook friends all liked me... and now I have fans in Mauritius! WOW! Then I got to choose an ice cream and went to play on the park playground equipment and my favourite was the digger... Wombats dig really good holes! I did such a good job I think I will go into the excavation business when I grow up.

Mum and dad went for a late swim and stayed in there until it was 10pm as that's the time Peter locks up the pool, and went for a long shower. Mum soaped, shampooed and conditioned my fur twice as she said the next place we are going to doesn't have anything like the caravan park did. I looked at her "you mean? no pool? no playground and NO ICE CREAMS?" She shook her head, I stamped my paws... 'then I'M NOT GOING!' Mum said that was fine and started to pack up then next morning, mum and dad kept on walking past me. I think I went too far... Dad just picked me up and put me on the bonnet of the car while they packed up the annex. A Kookaburra there didn't like me and he flew down and started pecking me and shaking me! "Mum!! Dad!!" Dad just took me back off the car roof and mum took me inside. "So", she said, "are you still staying?"... I mumbled "no...."

We said good bye to Peter and Leanne and thanked them for the lovely time and it started to rain as we left, just a little bit.. but boy oh boy! Talk about hassles! (more of what happened next time!)

Until then.. enjoy the photos!