Wide Open – Day 8 – All the tourist things

Wide Open – Day 8 – All the tourist things

E Sharp

31 May 2026 – 0 kms – Moulamein

Wamba Wamba Country

Just like yesterday, the day starts clear, the wind picks up and then the clouds roll in and bring afternoon showers. But that is no different to the forecast, so I’m up early to go see the sights before the precipitation arrives.

Moulamein sits at the junction of Billabong Creek and the Edward River (which, as we’ve seen over the past three days, is a big, long anabranch of the Murray). Billabong Creek is reportedly the longest creek in the Southern Hemisphere. It starts in the hills north of Woomargama about 40 kms north of Albury. Instead of making a hop over the low divide and dumping into the Murray somewhere around Albury, it instead goes for at least 320 kms in a long meander over pretty flat ground, picking up the flow of 16 minor tributaries along the way.

This river junction, and the flat nature of the terrain all around town, means that Moulamein is prone to flooding. The 2022 floods saw the highest-ever flows in the Edward River at Moulamein, and the town was completely cut off for some days. The nursing home was evacuated. Levees have been built around critical infrastructure and town levees upgraded over time.

This town is within one of the local government areas I worked with on the past two disaster resilience projects, so I wanted to see the place after everything I’ve read about it and all the flood maps and photos I’ve seen.

So here is your complete walking tour of Moulamein in pictures below.

Lake Moulamein – by the caravan park. Man-made lake for fishing, swimming and the like. It takes about 15 minutes to walk around. The nice path is open to vehicles though, so be aware.
The only real way nice things get done in local government: through federal and state gov grants.
Australia has this unique tradition of ‘War Memorial’ swimming pools. Constructed extensively during the post-WWII and Vietnam War eras, these facilities serve as functional, community-focused monuments. Every little town seems to have one. The problem is that they are all now reaching the end of their usable lives and local gov does not have the money to replace them. Some propose demolishing and replacing with a splash park. Really, the only way they get upgraded/replaced is…. through grant funding.
The primary school has these cool wooden vehicles in the playground. Pic for my dad – he’d build something similar.
Note the cool mural on the side of the school, too.
The water tower art of Moulamein.

Most of the houses in Moulamein look a bit like this – clad cottages from the 1950s onward. I thought there might be some nice Victorian or Edwardian homes given it’s such an old town, but no… or at least I didn’t see them.
Another typical house – this one just sold for $330,000.
Looking down the main street. There is an IGA here – it had decent veggies and meat options and enough of all the other things you might need that you could easily put together some healthy meals here.
The rest of the main street. The two pubs are down there on the river end of town. The old punt and wharf are at the end of the street down there.
This pub has been all fixed up and offers meals and accommodation.
This pub has not been in business since 1998. It had a sign on the front door that said, “Caution: feral children live here”. Right on cue, as I was reading the sign, a screaming child started going off his nut inside.
The old wharf – across the street from the pubs.

The old courthouse and police station – up river a couple hundred metres from the wharf and punt site.

Sort of across the road and on the same side of the river as the old courthouse is the footy oval, netball courts and bowling club (out of shot). They have a really nice setting amongst the trees.
See that really big gum tree down there?
For some size perspective….

The caravan park owner never comes over to tell me if the onsite van is available (I’m not interested in that anyway). Later in the afternoon, I see him sitting over on the deck of a cabin with a beer and cigarette. I go over and tell him that I need to settle up for last night and tonight. I also tell him I’m going to head on tomorrow.

He says, “Ok, how about $30 bucks.” Interestingly, his website says $12 per person per night, but $15 a night is still very cheap. I have monopolised the camp kitchen which is where, based on the number of cigarette butts and other evidence, he normally hangs out.

I tell him okay, but I don’t have $30 bucks in cash – I can either bring $50 up for change or put on eftpos if he will be in the office later. He just shrugs his shoulders and says, ‘you know, just keep it, no charge’.

I respond, “No, really, I have the cash just not the right change.”

But he says, “No, it’s fine. You aren’t costing me anything to be here. Nothing off my back, nothing off yours.”

I tell him thanks alot, and that I’ll pay it forward and ensure that $30 bucks helps someone else down the road at some point.

Later in the evening, after he has consumed a lot more beer I assume, he cranks the stereo up over at his house and those folks in the motorhome and I get a concert well past midnight. He even sings along with ‘The Gambler’ and ‘Jolene’. I’m not sure how to take all of it – the place was decent, they kept it clean and tidy, but maybe running a caravan park has started to wear on him. It was all just a bit odd.

Tomorrow we go for another ride in the dark and try to beat the incoming rain to Swan Hill. Given all of our options and my knowledge of how shitty the Sturt Hwy is between Balranald and Wentworth, we’re going to go the most southern route. We should get a tailwind assist tomorrow to help us do the 75 kms to Swan Hill before the rain arrives around 11am (based on the hourly forecast).

No chance of a dry tent in the morning, as it rained off and on again this arvo. But I’ve booked a motel for 3 nights in Swan Hill to wait out the shit weather, so there will be a non-wet pack-up day in our future very soon… since we won’t have to pack up at all for two mornings in a row.

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