The Young and the Restless | Travelling back in time

One such place that has not only preserved its buildings for their aesthetic appeal, but made the whole old-fashioned theme the very focus of the town’s tourist attractions, is Echuca, less than one hour’s drive away, making it a great destination for spontaneous day trips.

I would imagine most GV locals would have visited Echuca at least once in their lives, but it really is a town that offers such a variety you can keep going back.

I’ve been with girlfriends to stand-up paddleboard on the mighty Murray past the historic port.

I’ve been with family to camp in nature and in holiday parks.

I’ve been on romantic child-free getaways with my ex-husband.

I’ve been on a rowdy bus pub crawl there.

I’ve watched the thrilling Southern 80 ski race.

I’ve tasted the region’s wines there.

I’ve ridden a camel there.

I’ve ran a race on foot against a paddlesteamer on water (Sweat vs Steam).

I’ve driven the kids there at night purely for dinner and ice-cream.

I’ve taken them to Billabong Ranch (and they’ve been there on school camps, too).

There are music festivals, horse races, a motor museum, a ‘Great Aussie Beer Shed’.

You can hire houseboats, travel in a horse and cart, visit a science museum.

You can even stand with one foot in Victoria and one in NSW and snap a photo of yourself doing it with a painted caption on the wall behind you for proof.

So, when a friend phoned while I was trying to avoid housework on Saturday morning to invite us to go with her and her kids that afternoon, we jumped at the chance, despite only having been there a couple of months ago.

It was a beautiful summer’s day — perfect to be onboard a paddlesteamer on the water with a nice chilled moscato in the mums’ hands for the journey, while the kids sipped on some Echuca-famous River Port old-style soft drinks.

Now the river has receded post-floods, holidaymakers were in abundance — set-up on the sandbars and cooling down in the water.

Stand-up paddleboarders and kayakers were out paddling, fisherfolk were fishing, nature-lovers were camping and enjoying the environment around them.

When we disembarked after a relaxing and educational (thanks to our informative French captain) voyage on the Canberra, we wandered the historic Port and tourist area of town (where all those beautiful old buildings I mentioned exist).

We popped in and out of charming little shops and probably consumed our entire weekend’s calorie allowance in just a few hours, with visits to the lolly shop, the ice-creamery, the juice bar, the bakery and the St Anne’s Winery cellar door.

We also sat for a while on a deck by the Campaspe, watching birdlife, kayaks and fisherfolk pass by on that river, too.

All this when we only arrived well after lunch and were home well before dinner (not that we needed any!).

Shops and cafés started closing around 4ish, so we’d left our run a little late to do a couple of things we’d have liked to with kids in tow, but I’m sure if it was just us mums there would have been plenty of nightlife to keep us entertained until all hours.

Nevertheless, it was another nice little trip over and back that didn’t cost the earth, didn’t cut into our weekend too much (it meant I still ‘had to’ — I mean was ‘still able to’ — do the housework on Sunday) and really didn’t require us to take pack anything other than hats, drink bottles and some sunscreen.

And some weekends, that’s about all us parents have the energy for!

Highly recommend day-travelling back in time for a change of scenery in this pretty and historic place.