Echuca to Mildura Road Trip

Echuca to Mildura Road Trip ~ Victoria

During our recent road trip in our Motorhome, we stayed and explored Echuca, Lake Boga, Swan Hill, Sea Lake and Mildura. In this travel blog, we will share with you where we camped, what we experienced and other interesting information.

We start our road trip from Echuca, which is approximately 220 kilometres from Melbourne. 

Echuca

Echuca is a lovely historic town on the banks of the Murray River, in Victoria. It is located 216 kilometres from Melbourne and has heritage paddlesteamer cruises, fascinating history, and a lovely, relaxed atmosphere.

In Echuca, we stayed at the NRMA Echuca Holiday Park. This lovely caravan park is near the Murray River and a short walk into town.

The NRMA Echuca Holiday Park has reasonably sized powered and unpowered sites, nice new amenities, a camp kitchen and a recreation room. It also has a heated swimming pool, BBQ’s and a fun splash park.

While we were in Echuca, we went on a 1-hour Paddlesteamer Cruise on the PS Pevensey. Paddlesteamer cruises are available several times a day, every day.

We explored the Port of Echuca, saw the horse-drawn carriage rides and tasted some wine at St Anne’s Winery.

We drove out to The Great Aussie Beer Shed, which is approximately 3 kilometres from Echuca and is open Saturday and Sunday, Public and School Holidays from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm.

This fascinating, jam-packed museum opened in 2003 and has an impressive collection of more than 20,000 beer cans from around the world. It also features a huge selection of beer-related memorabilia and historic Australiana memorabilia.

For more information and things to do in Echuca, Victoria ~ Click Here.

After a few days in Echuca, we packed up and drove 140 kilometres to Lake Boga.

Lake Boga

Lake Boga is a lovely lake that is 3 kilometres wide and is a popular holiday camping spot. You can swim, kayak, fish and waterski here.

The Lake Boga Caravan Park has a traditional style caravan park on one side of the lake and unpowered sites on the other side of the lake.

We stayed on an unpowered site in the 501 area for $7.50 per person per night, which had great lake views and access to rustic toilets and showers.

It's the perfect place to relax, it is also dog-friendly, and you can have a fire in a fire pit when there isn’t a fire ban.

While in Lake Boga, we saw the lovely Silo Art created by Tim Bowtell. His colourful mural portrays the historic Catalina aircraft and renowned aviator George Urquhart "Scotty" Allan against the stunning backdrop of a Lake Boga sunset. 

We also visited the Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum. The museum is home to the historic Catalina flying boat and is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

The museum holds more than 500 artefacts relating to Lake Boga's World War II history. You can also explore the underground bunker. 

Then we drove 17 kilometres to Swan Hill

Swan Hill

Swan Hill is a lovely city on the banks of the Murray River. It has an interesting pioneer history, an iconic paddle steamer, a wonderful Pioneer Village, and a fantastic laser light show.

We stayed at the Big 4 Riverside Park in Swan Hill. We chose this park as it has lovely powered sites overlooking the Murray River and it’s within walking distance to the Pioneer Settlement. The Caravan Park also has a heated swimming pool, camp kitchen and nice amenities.

In Swan Hill, we explored the Pioneer Settlement. The Pioneer Settlement is a recreated 1800s Mallee township that was Australia’s first open-air museum.

It is open daily from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm, and your ticket is valid for two full days. We wandered around and looked in the shops and buildings. We enjoyed cruising around in a 1920s restored Dodge and a horse and carriage ride.

You can also take a cruise on the PS Pyap Paddlesteamer. The cruise departs at 2:30 pm Monday through Friday. On weekends and school holidays, cruises depart at 10:30 am and 2:30 pm.

In the evening, we walked from the Caravan Park back to the Pioneer Settlement to see the Laser Light Show.  Showing on alternate nights, the Heartbeat of the Murray or the new Legends of the Mallee laser light spectaculars are shows with brilliant colours, water, light, lasers, special effects, and booming sound! 

This state-of-the-art show was the first of its kind in the world to use a natural river environment and setting as its background.

While in Swan Hill, we also saw the Big Cod and enjoyed a wander along the river.

For more information and things to do in Swan Hill ~ Click Here.

Then we drove approximately 70 kilometres to Sea Lake.

Sea Lake

Sea Lake is a small farming town in the Mallee region in Victoria. It has fantastic silo and street art and is only 7 kilometres from Lake Tyrell, the largest salt lake in Victoria.

In Sea Lake, we stayed at the Sea Lake Royal Hotel for the night. You can camp for free in the carpark behind the hotel. It's convenient to have dinner in the hotel, and it’s a short walk to the Sea Lake silos. If you want a powered site, Sea Lake also has a reasonably priced caravan park.

The Sea Lake Silos were painted by The Zookeeper and Drapl in October 2019. This artwork depicts a young girl swinging from a mallee eucalyptus tree and gazing out over the endless vista of Lake Tyrrell. A powerful Wedge Tail Eagle soars above the girl, and emus run off into the night.

Every night after sunset, Sea Lake’s silos transform into an illuminated artwork. They feature vibrant animations that showcase the landscape, the changing seasons, Lake Tyrrell and the culture of the Mallee region. This light show is on every night and goes for about 25 minutes.

The next morning, we drove 7 kilometres to Lake Tyrrell.  Lake Tyrrell is Victoria’s largest salt lake and is popular with nature lovers and photographers due to the stunning reflections on the lake's surface.

This 120,000-year-old lake sometimes turns pink, due to red marine phytoplankton.

There is a viewing platform with information boards and a round boardwalk near the lake.

For more information and things to do in Sea Lake ~ Click Here.

Next, we headed approximately 200 kilometres to Mildura.

Mildura

Mildura is a vibrant regional City in north-west Victoria and enjoys more than 300 sunny days a year. It is a great destination to visit with paddlesteamer cruises on the Murray River, interesting historic landmarks and quirky attractions.

In Mildura, we stayed at the Riverside Discovery Park. This lovely bush-style caravan park is on the opposite side of the Murray River at Buronga. It has powered and unpowered sites, clean amenities and a camp kitchen. It also has a lovely swimming pool and a communal fire pit.

In Mildura, there are several cruises on the Murray River. The PS Melbourne is one of the last operating steam-driven paddle boats and has been cruising the majestic Murray River for over a century.

The PV Rothbury was built in 1881 and underwent restoration in 1968, during which its steam engine was replaced with a diesel engine.  A highlight of the 2-hour cruises is travelling through Lock 11, a fascinating engineering marvel. You will see the lock’s operation as the boat is gently lowered to the downstream level and raised again on the return. 

We enjoyed wandering along the Mildura Riverfront. There are lovely walking paths, picnic areas and several cafes to stop and enjoy a coffee while you watch the birds and boats on the river.

Mildura also has some lovely colourful street art around town, including the iconic Mildura Mural that was designed by Travis Price and is a celebration of the region's industry and tourism.

Not far from the caravan park, we discovered the Holden Museum, a privately owned collection of more than 30 immaculately restored Holden Vehicles that is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm.

We also went on the tractor tour at Orange World. Orange World is a 50-acre working citrus property. It is open daily from 9.30 am to 4.00 pm, and the Tractor Tours run daily at 10.30 am, 11.30 am and 2.30 pm.

For more information and things to do in Mildura ~ Click Here.