After visiting sunny Adelaide, we started heading back to the eastern coast of Australia. We crossed the amazing Adelaide Hills, which are famous for the wine regions. We drove through hills and trees in beautiful autumn colours and were rewarded with the closest contact to Australian wildlife since Phillip Island: We fed kangaroos and wallabies and even hugged a koala!

(the photo of both of us with the koala and maybe a bit of feeding)

Just after the Adelaide Hills we met the Murray River. It is the longest Australian river, and the third longest navigable river in the world after the Amazon and the Nile, flowing 2520 kilometers from the Australian alps in the east, through north Victoria to the ocean south of Adelaide. It passes through some of Australia's most productive farms, orchards and vineyards and it hides several picturesque river ports and impressive lookouts. 

We had already met it on our way up to Adelaide, when we crossed it with the van close to lake Alexandrina on the way to the camping at Langhorne Creek. On our way east we met it once again at Mannum, 89km from Adelaide, where we crossed on one of the free car ferries that serve all along the river. From Mannum we followed along the river's route and stopped at as many lookouts as we could find. One of the banks is low and offers nice riversided areas whil the other one (from where the street goes) is up on impressive cliffs. So at every other turn of the river, there are beautiful and breathtaking lookouts, two of which were:

- Younghusband (isn't this a funny name for a town?). 

- Big Bend, the most famous of the lookouts, a sweeping river curve from which we could see the ochre-coloured cliffs we were standing on.

At Waikerie (179km from Adelaide), we found an amazing free camping area just next to the river bank! This was one of the best places we have stayed till now!

The next stop on our route along the Murray was Renmark, the last major river town before the Victorian borders. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning 'red mud' and is the hub of the wine region around. Of course we took the opportunity and went to one of the cellar door sales, where we tasted their wines and bought some of the ones we liked. We also got some almonds from the local Almondo Almond Hut, which sells over 100 products related to almonds!

After Renmark we crossed back over to Victoria! We decided to keep driving along the Murray which had more interesting views than driving through the hinterland of New South Wales. The waters started getting a bit muddy, but the towns were prettier and prettier. The loveliest of all was Echuca. The name is aboriginal and means 'meeting of the waters'. The port area has remained unchanged since the time of the first settlers. It is pedestrian-only (so that cars don't spoil the feeling) and the buildings are original from that time. 

The highlight of our stop was a romantic paddle-steamer cruise. We boarded the spectacular paddle-steamer Emmylou where we had a really delicious lunch served at the rear side of the boat.

Afterwards we had time to watch the engine at work and see the engineer load the engine with wood. It was built in 1906 in England and it needs one tonne of wood per day! The engine was really well preserved and was shining all over!

Our trip along the Murray finished at Albury where we crossed over to New South Wales. The Murray is really the boarder between Victoria and New South Wales, but the street was from the Victorian side. At Albury we visited the dam at the Hume lake, where the Murray river leaves the lake and starts its journey. (ok to be precise the start is somewhere in the mountains but that's a detail) The view of the dam was breathtaking!

But the best part was the free camping we found at the lake, one of the most beautiful campings we have encountered in Australia till now! A perfect ending for a beautiful journey along the ever changing Murray river.