Swan Hill

Swan Hill is a lovely town on the banks of the Murray River in Victoria, and was our stop when travelling between Robinvale and Echuca. We stayed at the Big4 Riverside Swan Hill caravan park in the middle of town and spent a few days exploring the region. This is a great Big4 situated alongside the beautiful Riverside Park with play equipment, exercise equipment, picnic tables, walking and cycling paths, public toilets, plenty of shade and a lovely Cafe (Riverside Cafe on Monash Street).

Swan Hill  was one of the major inland river trading ports and a popular tourist attraction in town is the Pioneer Settlement, situated at the junction of the Murray and Little Murray Rivers. This settlement has restored historical buildings, machinery and household memorabilia where you can take a ride aboard the P.S. Pyap, a paddlesteamer built in 1896.

It is just a short drive across the Murray River to the iconic Murray Downs Golf Resort and hundred of golfers visit the area each year to play on this challenging course. We headed out for a look at the resort and golf course and enjoyed a lovely lunch in the clubhouse. The old timber bridge across the river is single lane with a central span that was raised to allow paddle steamers to pass - there a few of these bridges along the Murray River.

Other sights to see in Swan Hill are:

• clock tower opposite the post office
• town hall (built in 1935)
• war memorial along the centre of McCallum Street.
• giant replica of a Murray Cod (a former movie prop) in front of the Swan Hill railway station 
• Burke & Wills Tree in Curlewis Street - a Moreton Bay fig tree believed to be the largest tree of its kind in Australia - beautiful 

This is a huge fruit growing area and you can see large citrus farms and vineyards as you drive into town - we were amazed at the size of some of these plantings. There are plenty of shopping facilities and the town quite busy during our visit - easy enough to find parking even when towing the caravan. We found a good walking/cycling path which covers about 4.6 kilometres along the banks of the Murray and Marroboor Rivers - at one end is the Milloo Street Wetlands and near the other end is Pioneer Settlement.