Place of many crows
Moving on from Gundagai we have taken the Old Wagga Road down the northern side of the Murrumbidgee River. The road seems to track the river better than following the Sturt Hwy west. It also affords us the opportunity of passing by Wantabadgery, about a third of the way to Wagga Wagga, a small village in a mixed sheep and cattle grazing district across the river floodplain and adjacent rolling highlands. Wantabadgery Station was where Captain Moonlight bailed up the entire station, about sixty people, the station owners had refused he and his gang work and shelter on the property. Anyway the police came and two of the gang were killed, the others escaped but were later arrested nearby, Moonlight was executed in Sydney. As mentioned in the previous blog he was returned to Gundagai in 1995 to be reburied near the unmarked graves of the other two.
Today, Wantabadgery is a blip on the map, the old General Store abandoned. A few houses line the roadway in the village. A couple of kilometres to the south of Wantabadgery the Murrumbidgee twists and turns on its way to Wagga Wagga. We took a side road here down to Sandy Beach, it is a large free camping area with a big grassy area alongside the river banks. Quite a few vans were in residence. It would be a great spot for an overnight stay on an extended trip.
We were tempted but had to move on to Wagga Wagga, arriving for a late lunch at the Big 4. It was located adjacent to some light industrial enterprises near the city CBD. The river was across a grassy paddock for unpowered camping. It was a bit of an urban jungle, but then we are in an urban jungle. Some 60,000 or so people live in the area.
Wagga Wagga, it is suggested that it should be pronounced ‘wagger wagger’ and not ‘woggo woggo’. Others just call it ‘Wagga’. Anyway, it seems to mean in Wiradjuri ‘a place where crows congregate’, although some say this is not right due to miss pronunciation by early European settlers of the words that mean ‘like to dance’ or ‘many dances’, but as Alf says in ‘Home and Away’ ….. “Stone the crows!” ….that will do on this subject for Allthego.
There is a long walk around the city levee bank, goes for 30 km or so. But, Allthego did a short 4 km section of it, some nice river scenes and he bumped into a ‘crowd of crows’ under some gum trees.
We are nicely set up here for a couple of days looking at the attractions.
Tucker box time
Gundagai is a side hop these days off the Hume Hwy as it trundles its way to Melbourne. It wasn’t like this in the old days. Gundagai was a stop that was almost compulsory. The train from Sydney via Cootamundra pulled up here.
We have made it to Gundagai and the Riverside Camping ground is our home for three nights beside the Murrumbidgee.
Coming down from Cotter campground, bypassing Yass, we pulled in briefly to Burrinjuck dam. A tortuous narrow road down to the dam with van behind, but we made it ok. The Murrumbidgee was initially partially dammed here in 1909 for irrigation purposes and at that time was the fourth largest dam in the world, the dam was finally completed in 1929.
The dam controls the flow of water along the river and the take off into the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area that we will pass through in coming days.
Jugiong was our next stop, the Murrumbidgee runs nearby. A cattle show was in full swing on the Showgrounds. Big black beasts obediently lined up in rows awaiting instructions!
Great views from the lookout over the valley. Jugiong is currently a trendy spot to stop at, rejuvenated pub and produce sales. It is here that bushranger Ben Hall shot a policeman, later hung and buried in Forbes.
Five miles from Gundagai we just have to pull into the Dog on the Tucker Box memorial. Everyone knows this famous spot beside the Hume Highway, a special pull in lane is even provided for those eager for a look.
One version of the famous poem speaks of being 5 miles from Gundagai, whereas another says 9 miles. Political correctness has also replaced ‘bastard’ in the poem with ‘beggar’. Such was the significance of the occasion that the memorial was unveiled in 1932 by the then Prime Minister.
There were apparently two locations considered for it, one nine and the other five miles from Gundagai and both on creeks. Five won out and it’s been there now for nearly a hundred years. Explains the two versions.
During the COVID pandemic the Dog did not have many onlookers and roamed into town. As a result there are now three puppies on the footpath: one outside the butcher named ‘Snags’, another named ‘Chip’ outside the Family Hotel and the other name we have forgotten (but will have it somewhere).
We had an interesting couple of days in Gundagai. The town was wiped out by a major flood in 1852 and later rebuilt on higher ground off the flood plain. Many lives were lost and buildings destroyed in the flood waters.
Two indigenous Wiradjuri men, Yarra and Jacky Jacky played significant roles in rescuing townsfolk. Their efforts saved 69 townsfolk. The town has a memorial to them on the footpath as well mentions on other plaques in the town.
The Criterion Hotel where we had lunch also has murals commemorating the flood as well as the bush rangers that roamed the District.
One of these was Captain Moonlight, whose story is told in the old gaol. He was captured in 1879 after the Wantabadgery station holdup and hung in Sydney in 1880, in 1995 his body was exhumed and what remained reburied here in the cemetery. Nice spot under a tree gazing out over the cemetery.
Time to leave the gang from Snake Gully and head for Wagga Wagga, on a back road via Wantabadgery.
Pathway for Bosses
We have left Namadgi and are headed towards the top of the Murrumbidgee Corridor at Cotter Campground. Here the Cotter River has been dammed, the Cotter is a tributary of the Murrumbidgee. Most of the water supply for Canberra and Queanbeyan is from the Cotter Dam and much of that water falls from the sky into the area protected by Namadgi NP.
From Namadgi our route took us back through Tharwa and then along beside Paddys River to the Cotter campground. A great spot perched overlooking the Cotter River, below the out of sight dam wall, no power but water to the van which was a bonus.
About 200 metres downstream from the campground the Cotter junctions with the Murrumbidgee. It is a quiet peaceful place, the water quite shallow tumbling over its rocky base.
The areas we have been in for the last week or so are the traditional lands of the Ngunawal people, they have been in these parts a lot longer than us lot of European heritage. It seems the tribal leaders would follow the Murrumbidgee as high as they could go, and the further they went the more responsibility they had as individuals. Upon reaching Namadgi they would be initiated, and learn about their law and connection to community. ‘Murrumbidgee’ for them meant ‘pathway for bosses’. ‘Murrum’ meaning ‘pathway’ and ‘bidgee’ meaning ‘boss’.
Allthego is growing in thinking about our indigenous peoples. It is not an easy subject. In a simple way one can say ‘ hey you know these guys were here for thousands of years before us’ show some respect! And so we should. They didn’t leave marks on the land like Europeans did but nonetheless they occupied it and cared for it. Part of their soul! Seems a little preposterous for us to put our national capital and Lake Burley Griffin in the middle of whatever that had. However, we had a nice lunch overlooking said Lake Burley Griffin and the water spout.
Homealone has some siblings who are occupying these parts, sister Cheryle and brother Stuart. So we dodged a night at Cotter campground and stayed with Cheryle and Peter and family for the night, leaving the van in darkness. Fun night with relos, thankfully most are Eels supporters.
Did a little tour back down Paddys River road to check out the Tintanbilla Tracking Station. This is our current contribution to the NASA deep space program. There is a 70 metre dish here that keeps an ear on deep space and anyone in Brisbane probably. It is the largest in the southern hemisphere, another is in Spain and another in the USA.
Some readers may recall the Voyager 1 and 2 launches. They had that genetic symbol of humanity on them. Anyway the Voyagers have now exited our solar system and are in inter stellar space. But our tracking station here has a role in keeping in contact with them. A very faint but continuing signal is recorded here, and they ask us to turn off our phones so as not to disturb anything. Makes one feel very small!
So Allthego is taking the hint and turning off this post before he gets to Gundagai!
Namadgi National Park
The Monaro Hwy continues to parallel the Murrumbidgee River away to the west, north of Bredbo, as we make our way to the Park, about 100km on the bitumen. There is a short cut across country but we missed the turnoff. We did this section a couple of days later without the van, lucky as it was pretty rough.
We crossed the Murrumbidgee again at Tharwa on the way to the Park. Impressive bridge here.
Our site is at the campground in the Orroral Valley, it is a bit remote. It is a well set up camp with some good facilities, recently rebuilt after the fires that ripped through the park a few years back. The Orroral River runs beside the camp.
The Orroral Valley is the spot where Australia’s first satellite tracking facility operated from 1965 to 1984. The station performed roles in the early Columbia space shuttle missions and before that the first meeting of Russian and American astronauts. The dish and buildings are now all removed, just a big concrete slab with some info boards remain.
The Orroral Homestead is perched on a high spot looking down the valley. It was built in the late 1860s and passed through a number of owners of the property. It has been preserved with a new roof over the original shingle roof but is otherwise the same as the original. Bare rooms inside. The old woolshed is also nearby. It would have been a lonely spot out here in the middle of winter.
We have used Namadgi as our base to explore the lower section of the Murrumbidgee that runs through the ACT, to the south and west of Canberra. The entire length of the river through the ACT is protected in what is known as the Murrumbidgee Corridor.
A walk goes the entire length, Allthego though did a small section of two and half km between Point Hut Crossing and Pine Island. Quite picturesque with views across the river flats and farm land to the mountains beyond.
On our way back to the campground we took the shortcut referred to at the start of this post. A rough road with a couple of steep sections descended down to the Murrumbidgee where the causeway had shallow water running across it, no worries here an easy crossing.
The road on the other side was much better and we were quickly back at the campground, passing our friend the Highland coo again.
In Search of the Murrumbidgee
We are now in Adaminaby at the Alpine Caravan Park for a couple of nights. It is on the edge of the small town. First thing done was to fill the fuel tank, 69 litres. Just made it, anlmost empty. The odd thing about Adaminaby was that there was no dump point in town for the onboard loo, now full. Closest one was 35 km away in Cooma! So it might have to wait another day or two.
Our objective here in Adaminaby was to seek out the Murrumbidgee as close to its source that we were able to access. In this search we have been frustrated by the National Parks people who have closed the northern section of Kosciusko NP to undertake a big feral animal cull, aimed mostly at wild horses, pigs and foxes. The horses, which number in their thousands, are very destructive of the fragile environment but are also much loved by some of the local horse brigade. The brumbies have that Man from Snowy River nostalgia.
The Murrumbidgee is Australia’s second longest river and flows 1,488 km from its source about 50 km north of Kiandra to join the Murray River near Boundary Bend, not far from Swan Hill. The actual bog where the river starts is on the ground below Peppercorn Hill, accessible for keen walkers. We were going to camp at a spot not far from there and then drive a short distance to make our first sighting before the river flows into Tantangara Reservoir, a large proportion of this dam’s water is diverted into Lake Eucumbene. What comes out of the dam for the Murrumbidgee system is a fraction of what it was pre dam. But plenty is then added as the river flows south through inaccessible valleys and then farmland towards Cooma. It seems that the road from Adaminaby to Yaouk fits the bill and we head out for a drive of about 20km along gently undulating grazing country. We find the river crossing near a group of homesteads below Tantangara dam at Yaouk, an aboriginal word, not sure what it means. Pretty spot as the river bubbles away downstream.
The road loops through grazing land on its way back to Adaminaby, passing through the small settlement of Shannon’s Flat.
Great views of the countryside. Just outside Adaminaby on the other side of town we again cross the Murrumbidgee, another pretty spot, bubbling along its way.
Adaminaby is also an ideal spot to stay to check out the old gold mining district of Kiandra. Not much of the old town is left today. It is the spot where skiing first started in Australia, 160 years or so ago. It fell by the wayside following the development of places like Thredbo and Perisher in the late 1950s and 60s. We strolled off on a 3 km loop walk to take in the alpine scenery.
Little more demanding than we anticipated along a well manicured track, that doubles as a cross country ski route in winter. A few relics from the gold mining days were passed as well as a sighting of some brumbies and their plentiful tell tale calling cards left behind on the track.
The journey continues from Adaminaby further south to Cooma where we encounter the Murrumbidgee again about 15 km out of town. It is here that the river does a big U turn, cutting its course through a gap in the Clear Ranges, and heads back north towards Canberra.
We join the Monaro Highway out of Cooma and head north. The road parallels the course of the river away to the west in the shadow of the Clear Ranges. It is largely inaccessible due to the surrounding grazing and farm land. We plan to stop the night in Bredbo, free camping behind the old Bredbo Inn. ‘Free camping’ is bit of a loose phrase in this case because there is the expectation that one dines in the pub. Which we did, rather good steak. Homealone, enjoyed a plate of flathead fillets. Chips of course too.
The Bredbo Inn was built in 1830s and has been operating ever since. There is much memorabilia on its walls. It is also claimed to have links to the Man from Snowy River story with Banjo Patterson reportedly a guest. The original Clancy of the Overflow may also have been an employee at the time. And as for the ‘Man’, a local identity may well be a candidate for the mantle, but who knows. Anyway this chap is said to have died in the Inn after falling from his horse crossing the bridge on a frosty morning. Something to talk about at the bar.
Nearby the Inn are two spots to see the river again. The prettier one is where it is joined by the Bredbo River.
Our next stop will be at the Namadgi NP for a couple of nights.
Before leaving Bredbo we indulged in the best sausage rolls so far at the Bredbo Bakery and picked up a couple of their famous frozen pies for a meal one night along the way.
Yarrangobilly Village
Despite planning a trip well there are times Allthego has found where you just get things wrong and you end up in a place that is not what you thought it was going to be like. In this post Yarrangobilly Village is shortened to YV to save the fingers. YV is a few kilometres from Yarrangobilly Caves, YC. Now, YC was our objective for this stop and we had planned a three night stopover here at YV to visit the caves and do a little exploring.
For some reason Allthego had thought YV was a caravan park with power, water a dump point and fuel. I suppose it was the word ‘village’ that put him on this track. Well there was a village here back in the 1860s, the surrounding countryside was grazed, timber, gold mined at Kiandra etc. But over the next hundred years fortunes rose and fell, population declined and in 1969 the Post Office closed and the area became a national park. YV also spread across the river flats on the other side of the road.
Today, nothing remains except one house (can be rented from National Parks?) built in 1898 (has had some renovation since) overlooking the camping area and Yarrangobilly River, YR. So, we were a little short on the facilities we had anticipated.
Despite the initial negative vibe YV is a great stop over point along the Snowy Mountains Highway, about midway between Tumut and Cooma.
After setting up the site beside YR Allthego thought he would test the Long Drop facility, the onboard loo was nearly full and had to be nursed, along with our water, for the next couple of days to allow those now common early morning in the dark visits. Walking up the hill Allthego noticed a lady emerge from the facility and thought to himself ‘now I know her’. Allthego sauntered across and had a closer look. And said ‘ I know you’, she looked quizzically and I continued ‘Debbie’. She took her sunnies off and also had a closer look, paused a bit and said ‘Russell’. My cousin Debbie! Haven’t seen her for some time.
Her mother, my father’s sister, was 100 last September. She had just stopped by to use the loo and was on her way home to Dalgetty, on the Snowy River. We had a chat for a while before she and Ron, her husband, had to head off. One for the road!
The turn off to YC is about a 7 km drive from YV, there is then a one way 6 km one lane road/track to the YC Visitor’s Centre. The track is narrow in places but quite well graded, can’t bring a van down to the bottom.
The caves were first discovered by Europeans in the mid 1800s and became over the years a tourist attraction. The National Park people have set up a system of mostly guided entrance only to the caves. A one way ring road makes a circuit of the popular spots.
Numerous walks can take you to more remote spots and down into the gorge along the YR. We did a tour of Jillabenan (‘Dark Hole’) cave, which was only found by Europeans in 1910. It is very well preserved and presented, some amazing formations. Great tour.
The cave is a ‘perched’ cave sitting high up the ridge above the present course of the river. It is thought to be 2-3 million years old, whereas the caves lower down near the river are only 100,000 years or so old.
Allthego took the rather steep 700 metre path down to the thermal pool beside the river.
This pool is fed by an underground spring at the rate of 100,000 litres an hour, the water seeps in at the bottom of the pool and then flows out the top and down to the river. It is a pleasant 27 degrees and crystal clear. The walk back up the hill a little testing, but all ok! The road out of the gorge was also one way back to the top.
Back at the campsite we enjoyed a nightly fire to keep warm before bed, it hit -1 one morning. Bit chilly!
We now move on to Adaminaby and will need to manage the fuel which has got quite low, it is about 60km.
Made it to Tumut
We have made our way down from Inglewood (a contraction of ‘Ingol’ apparently for ‘cypress pine’ and ‘wood’ for the English ‘clump of trees’) to Tumut, after stopovers in Coonabarabran and Forbes. On the way to Coonabarabran we had a short stop beside the Newell Highway at Kiga Bore, a desolate spot amongst the rock and roadside dirt. The bore is surrounded by wattle trees and what is known as ‘sweet acacia’, a low growing very woody spiny shrub.
It’s the sort of place though that grows on you, some ducks swim around, maybe they use the partially submerged truck tyre as a resting spot. The water is a little grimy around the edges, maybe fertiliser run off from the surrounding cotton fields. But the scene makes a nice photo in the sunshine!
Coonabarabran is a favourite stop over for us, a great no frills campground that is never crowded and with plenty of room.
Moving on the next morning we pass through Dubbo, stopping for a roadside lunch. Between Dubbo and Parkes is Peak Hill which has a long gold mining heritage. We paused here for afternoon tea and took the opportunity to check out the old gold mining complex. Quite a sight looking down into the open pit, with it’s copper blue water lake in the bottom of the pit.
In Forbes we stayed beside the Lachlan River at the Apex Caravan Park, nice park location wise but a little squeezy. We will be back here at Forbes on our way home to Brisbane following the Lachlan River. The Lachlan is the major tributary of the Murrumbidgee, but more of that on the return trip. Homealone’s brother Stuart and wife Maree were coincidentally in Forbes staying with Maree’s father Bob and we had an evening roast lamb dinner with them. Very enjoyable indeed. Timing is everything they say!
The next morning it was off to Tumut via Grenfell and Young, the NSW cherry capital. Cherries were finished for the season but the autumn foliage was on full show around town.
Tumut is a busy little town and we decided to head further south along the Snowy Mountains Highway to a free campsite beside the Tumut River.
The camp is a few kilometres below the Blowering Reservoir, and the river is a small trickle of what it once would have been. It is known as the mighty Tumut!
Great spot for the night before heading further south to the source of the Murrumbidgee.
Murrumbidgee Run
We are off to the Murrumbidgee River in southern NSW. The objective is to follow it from its source to its junction with the Murray River. The source of the river is in the Great Dividing Range to the north of Cooma and to the south of Canberra, also a bit to the west. More about this later in the journey, except to say that the river flows south of its source towards Cooma and then does a fish hook type turn and heads back towards Canberra. Near the nation’s capital it turns northwest towards Gundagai and then flows west past Wagga, Narrandera, Hay and Balranald before joining the Murray near a place called Boundary Bend.
We are now at Coonabarabran for the night, having made our way from Inglewood. These are our usual stopover points on the way south from Brisbane. It is generally a bit of a dash for us to get here and we don’t pay too much attention to the passing countryside. The Cunningham Highway, which leads out of Brisbane, meanders through the city’s hinterland before climbing the Range and passing through Cunningham’s Gap.
Bogabilla, south of Goondiwindi.The road then rolls along to Goondiwindi crossing the Western Downs, a Queensland food bowl. The road follows the railway west past rural hamlets, many relics of Cobb & Co days.
Our stopover in the old tobacco town of Inglewood is a favourite spot for us beside MacIntyre Brook. Olives have replaced tobacco here and we find the Lion’s Park ablution block now has a mural since our last visit.
Local butterflies, symbolising serenity and calmness, together with wind turbines adorn the block for our enjoyment.
Tomorrow, we head for Forbes for another one night stand.
The Big Easy
We arrived in New Orleans on a Monday morning in gloomy weather. It stayed gloomy for three days. Just heavy cloud, no sun, a little chilly and on and off drizzle, not enough to hamper us getting around to get a look at things.
We stayed in a Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street which is the main drag through town and on the up river edge of the French Quarter. The FQ is the main touristy district of The Big Easy. New Orleans is known as ‘The Big Easy’ because it is considered to be a ‘laid back’ place. Allthego suspects this ‘laid back’ approach to things might come from the fusion of cultures that exist here. French, Spanish, African, Native American, Italian even a bit of English had seeped in. Food is a great example of this, the food New Orleans is known for is relatively inexpensive and mirrors the ‘peasant foods’ of provincial France, West Africa and Italy.
as(left) and Beignets.Beignets are a classic breakfast item. Donut like but with a hollowish interior, heavily dusted with icing sugar (most of which we brushed off!). We had these again at Cafe du Monde in the French Markets, listening to a sax player playing ‘Old Man River’ among others. Calas is a slave era rice based ‘dumpling’, flavoured with nutmeg. Eaten at breakfast, hard to get these days. We found it a bit dry.
The gumbo is a southern classic, originated during the Slave period as a staple. Stew like and quite heavily spiced. Comes with varied ingredients, meat, sausage, shrimp, fish etc.
We had pre booked a 3 hour food tour of the FQ, turned up for it in the drizzle and finally found the red headed Irish descended (plus some French) young lady guide. As the only starters we effectively had a private tour, really interesting chats with her along the way as we sampled the iconic foods in local establishments.
Poboy is a contraction of ‘Poor Boy’, a soft bun with a crisp thin crust stuffed with almost anything on hand. Plus lettuce, tomato and mayo. Originated from old times when the poor were given stale French bread and left over meats, hence Poboy. If you leave off the lettuce etc they are said to be ‘undressed’, as opposed to being ‘dressed’.
Muffaletta shows the Italian influence, salami, ham and cheese in a seed topped bun. In the middle is a chopped green olive salad. Rather tasty, if you like olives.
Gator balls are self explanatory, the gator is supposed to taste like chicken. We found these didn’t have quite enough bite for our tastes.
The tour finished in the early evening and it was a slow walk back along Bourbon Street in the drizzle. Being the start of the week things are a little slow and the live music only starts up in earnest around 8pm. It is apparently livelier earlier towards the end of the week.
We headed back to the hotel, felt more comfortable back there. Starting to be a little wary as the years roll on.
The next couple of days were spent getting around on the Hop on Hop off bus. We particularly enjoyed the Garden District with the old pre and post Civil War mansions, many having been restored.
The bus ticket included a guided walk up and around the Washington St block. The guide noted that iron work on a property was a symbol of wealth, the more elaborate the greater the wealth!
Interesting bits of historic urban memorabilia remain on some of the footpaths; hitching posts, iron posts on street corners and iron plates with street names over gutters. Strolled past Sandra Bullock’s local digs. Impressive property.
Also had some time along a section of Magazine St, a local shopping and food precinct. Some unusual little establishments to look through.
We also took the opportunity to hop off and have a look at the city’s Catholic Cathedral off Jackson Square, near the spot where the United States purchased Louisiana from the French in 1803.
Also near here is a museum with a Mardi Gras display and the Cyclone Katrina story. Mardi Gras is quite an event here, reflecting its French and African roots. All of society seems to take part with floats and parades. A bit of a contrast with Sydney’s Mardi Gras which seems to be mostly an event popularised by the LGBTQ+ community.
The Cyclone Katrina display was also revealing. A lot more than what we saw on the TV in Australia went on during this disaster and in the months long recovery period. Makes our flood clean ups look like Sunday school picnics, to use an old expression!
Allthego has focussed a bit on food in this blog, but hey y’all that’s one of his weaknesses, the stomach. Y’all is a ‘new’ word he has learnt. A plural second person pronoun, in Aus we say ‘you lot’ and some have been heard to say ‘youse all’. This little book might help me inflict some Southern cooking on y’all. Howzat!
We enjoyed the short stopover in New Orleans, despite the weather, and now head off to Houston to visit Mitchell and Piper for Thanksgiving Week and her birthday.
Up around the bend
An old Credence song came to mind as we plied our way down the river after leaving Natchez. Credence was singing about a road and meeting people ‘up around the bend’, all we met ‘up around the bend’ was more water and more bends.
Quite a few river barges passed us as well, carrying various cargoes up and down the river. It is an industrial and commercial waterway and has suffered ecologically from that experience over the last 150 years, it is starting to make a comeback. But a big job!
The Mississippi is the second longest river in the US at 3,766 km. It and its tributaries pass through 32 States. It rises in Northern Minnesota and flows south draining 2.98m sq km between the Rocky Mts in the west and the Appalachian Mts in the east. The Missouri is the longest river in the US, rising in the Rockies in Montana flowing east and south for 3,767 km, it is 1 km longer than the Mississippi an example of American precision! The Missouri joins the Mississippi at St Louis, more or less the middle of the US. The rivers form the fourth longest river system in the world. It truly is a big ditch.
Our first stop after Natchez is at St. Francisville and marks the transition from the dominance of cotton to sugar cane. It was around these parts that the sugar plantations would stretch for miles with immense wealth being generated from the application of slave labour before the Civil War in the 1860s. In St. Francisville we visit our first plantation mansion, a much restored property. The Myrtles, originally built in 1796. Quite a sight. And a great contrast with the slaves living conditions.
The plantation mansions were generally surrounded by huge oak trees, some are still here 150-250 years old. Many of the homes were destroyed during the civil war and others fell into disrepair. Later restored they have been turned into hotels and tourist attractions.
We had a short wander around St. Francisville, quite a small town at about 1800 people. It has its roots in Cajun country but there is a big English historical influence in the post Civil War Victorian homes that dot the town among a number of prewar homes.
Grace Episcopal Church also pre dates the war, the graveyard has numerous memorials to the fallen.
It was Veteran’s Day when we were there and the military had been through planting flags on all the graves of veterans, including those from the civil war.
Further down the river we called into Houmas House and Nottoway House. Their stories being much the same. Some readers may recognise the name Paul Ramsay, the Australian entrepreneur (now dead) behind the Ramsay Hospital Group. He acquired Nottoway House in the early 2000s for US$4.5m, subsequently spent US$14m restoring it for guests etc. In 2019, after his death, it was sold for US$3.5m. His plot for it hadn’t worked and he did his dough in a big way!
At the end of the Civil War the slaves were freed but in a lot of cases they really had nowhere to go. So they remained on the plantations as share farmers. Holding small plots that sold their crop to the former plantation owner who paid them. This money was then spent in the plantation store for food etc and also for supplies in order to plant the following crop. Not much if anything was left over. A bit like the English feudal system! The system eventually began to collapse with the advance of mechanisation in the years before and after WW1.
Nottoway was our last stop before journeying the last 140km or so down to New Orleans. We didn’t see much of this part of the river as we were asleep arriving in New Orleans at about 3am.
The trip has been an interesting experience. The river itself is not a ‘pretty picture’; its attraction I think is in the human history, the music story and the culinary delights that one passes through along the way. We did not see a lot of wild life on the river, even aboard the boat things were subdued!
Including us there were 8 Aussies aboard, a few from various parts of the UK and Ireland. The rest Americans. We tried to make up for them!
New Orleans awaits for a few days.
On our way
The morning after arriving from Memphis we headed off from the Terrene Landing on the bus to Cleveland, our first shore excursion.
There are 28 Clevelands in the United States. Named presumably after Grover Cleveland, twice President in the late 1800s. Quite a good stop in Cleveland. First off was the Grammy Museum, a branch of the Los Angeles institution. It is situated here in Cleveland because of its position on Route 61, the music trail from New Orleans to Chicago.
The museum documents grammy history with a mesmerising video about the Grammy Nights with excerpts from Grammy winners and their songs. The museum also tells the story of how ‘the blues’ morphed from its genesis in the slaved labour cotton fields into southern church music and finally big band music. The music seemed to seep its way up the highway. There are various landmarks along the route explaining its progress.
We then went to a rather good model railway housed in an old railway station. Amazing work and presentation. Tap the video below for all the action.
The final stop was at the museum documenting the role of Chinese immigrants in the local community. There was a tear jerker video telling the story of how two young descendants, living in LA, of a Chinese immigrant had discovered their family history at the museum. Quite a story. The Chinese immigrants from the mid late 1800s in the USA appear to have been subject to the some sort of prejudices as those in Australia at the same time. They had their own version of the White Australia policy.
Back to the boat for the sail away at 5pm and a night on board steaming down to Natchez. We had originally been scheduled to stop earlier at Vicksburg, the site of a major Civil War battle. This had to be cancelled because of water levels.
Vicksburg is located in a canal off the River and we couldn’t get up it to the landing. So it was a day of steamboating along the river. This was not a bad option because we got to see the river in daylight, the boat was to do most of the journey at night when we’re asleep.
The weather was very pleasant and we had some good views of the river banks, forests and sand bars along the way. The river flows quite quickly and is very muddy.
That evening we were entertained by a Mark Twain look a like, he regaled us in a monologue of snippets of his life. Really good stuff!
Arrived in Natchez in the early hours next morning and tied up at the landing below what is known as the ‘town under the hill’. In the old days this was the seedy part of Natchez, it is now gone having been washed away in floods. Natchez is one of the oldest towns along the river having been founded by the Spanish, before the French and later the English arrived. It was a major cotton plantation area in the 1800s.
The town sits atop a bluff with commanding views of the river in both directions, a strategic location. This was where the well to do lived.
We had a music adventure first up at the Big Muddy, a renovated Victorian era house. It operates as an inn and blues room. Quite a show was put on while we ate some canapés and sipped a Mimosa or two. Amy Allen pumped out a smorgasbord of old blues hits while thumping the piano and guitar. Best seen in the video above.
After lunch it was off to a functioning cotton plantation, Frogmore. It was formerly a slave property that has continued on to the present day. Changing farming practices along the way. Some museum pieces in the fields hark back to the 1800s, Allthego gets down and dirty picking some cotton.
The weather has been treating us kindly, sunny blue skies. The town residents though keep saying “never seen the river so low”. More about the river next time.
Post update
In the last post there was a bit about the ducks and a photo. The photo is actually a link to a video, tap the photo and it will take you to an exciting video!
Ducks and the King
Ahead of joining the American Queen on the river we had to move hotels to be where the cruise connection was located. Fortunately, it was a short one block walk to the Memphis Peabody Hotel and we were able to get there and receive an early check in.
The Peabody is perhaps Memphis’s oldest hotel. The original building was opened in the late 1860s and was later enlarged and remodelled in Italianate style in 1925.
It is an imposing building with a very ornate and elaborate foyer. It was the place to stay and be seen in prewar Memphis. It closed in the 1970s but was soon reopened and spruced up by new owners. Today the hotel appears a little tired, the décor and carpets a bit worn. But then most of the people staying there with us appeared a little tired and worn too. Just like us!
The big attraction though at the hotel are ducks. The world famous Peabody Ducks. Since 1933 ducks have marched on some red carpet from the elevators to the lobby fountain and back again. The ducks live on the roof of the hotel in the Duck Palace. At 11 am each morning they come down the elevator and march to the fountain. They swim around in the fountain until 5 pm when they get out and march back to the elevator and go up to the Duck Palace for the night. This show has been repeated every day since 1933, controlled by the Duckmaster. Quite a show!
Tap the picture and it will take you to a video.
The hotels French restaurant does not serve duck!
The next morning we headed off on an excursion to Graceland. This was included as part of the river cruise program. Allthego is not a huge fan of the King of Rock & Roll, a little before Allthego’s time. Graceland and the associated tourist complex across the road though is an eye opener to his influence and impact on the music scene.
The house itself, although large and with a few ‘gimic’ rooms, is relatively modest. The TV and music room is quite small and simple, apart from 3 TVs. He liked to have the 3 then stations on at the same time so that he didn’t miss anything. The pool room was unusual!
It took about an hour to tour through the house and some of the outside buildings which show cased the family history. The racquet ball building had been recently renovated and opened, this was like his personal squash court. It is where he played a game and later retired to the house and died a few hours later.
The outside walk then took us around to the area where Elvis is buried along with his parents and daughter Lisa Marie. Quite a simple area with some ornamentation.
It was then over to the ‘tourist’ complex for a couple of hours wandering around the exhibits, including Elvis’s two aeroplanes.
It was quite a display of his musical history; gold records, jump suits, motor cars all sorts of memorabilia, war time service details etc. The list goes on. In the background there is Elvis singing away as you look around.
One of the highlights though was having a quick lunch. It was hard to choose from the extensive menu of tasty treats. But we both settled on a plate of Peanut Butter and Banana toasted sandwiches.
These were one of Elvis’s favourite meals. Ours were toasted with butter, we passed on the bacon grease option. Probably would not go for these again. Not offensive in any way, just not the greatest taste.
Looking back on Graceland and the touristy stuff one senses that the King’s life and times have been sanitised a fair bit, there is none of the ‘blood and guts’ that happened along the way. But then, hey, why worry about all that stuff! The ‘family’ is telling the story, some rose coloured glasses are ok.
Back on the bus we returned to Memphis for a guided drive around the town before heading off to the boat. Our luggage had already been taken ahead of us.
The Mississippi River is currently running at very low water levels and travel along it is being hampered significantly. Some of the ports can’t be entered and our itinerary has been changed a little.
Unfortunately, the steamboat can’t get up the river to Memphis and we have to be bussed south to Cleveland to join it there for the night. It took a couple of hours to get there and board as the sun was going down. The luggage had also arrived ok, so we were all set for a week of steamboating.
Memphis
We have arrived in Memphis for a few days before joining the American Queen paddle boat on its journey to New Orleans down the Mississippi River. We have actually now left Memphis and are on the boat. So this is a little catch up on our time in Memphis.
Memphis is an old cotton town and dates back to the early 1800s, named after Memphis on the River Nile (also but a much older cotton town).
Today, Memphis is still big in cotton but the cotton comes no where near the town like in the old days. Today it is from the farm direct to the transport, with no physical trading and wholesaling. A bit like wool is done in Australia.
’s rooftop.That is enough about cotton. Memphis is also famous for its food and Beale Street. A reinvigorated touristy area with plenty of eateries. Pork in various forms is everywhere, distinguished in its preparation by the eateries own special marinades and sauces.
Pulled pork burgers, bacon, ribs and bones abound. Then there is the deep fried chicken specialties, again with various sauces. Hot dogs. Shrimp. Chips. And finally catfish, fried and grilled, rounds out the main fare offerings. We have had a go at a few of these to get into the spirit of the place. Steak and three veg were around but low down on the menus.
With the food comes the music, another Memphis draw card. Blues, Soul and Gospel have their roots in this part of the Deep South. We had lunch at the BB King’s Blues Club, named after the legendary singer. A band was playing full blast, at times we couldn’t hear ourselves eating!
We got up and down Main Street, and it is the main street, on the trolley system. $1 each way. This took us to the area where Martin Luther King was assassinated, the Lorraine Motel.
The Motel and surrounding buildings are much the same. There is a permanent wreath on the railing outside the room where he was shot. The National Civil Rights Museum is housed there.
Memphis is also a town of murals. Celebrating music, musicians, civil rights themes, football, basketball and stuff you can’t work out! They abound on buildings in many streets and alleys.
The biggest attraction though in Memphis is the King of Rock n Roll; Elvis Presley and Graceland.
But more about him and this extraordinary place Graceland, next time!
O’l Man River
Off to the United States today for a month. Visiting Mitchell in Houston.
This is our first international flight in four years. COVID interrupted travel has kept us on the ground. The joys of airports abound in having to get there three hours before take off, participating in the technological revolution of contactless checking in, a long wait in a queue if there is some issue that the machine can’t cope with, like multiple stops on the way to the destination.
Then there is of course the need for a tea and coffee and some overpriced raisin toast to fill in some time before the plane opens its doors. On the other hand getting through security and border control was a breeze! Now sitting at the gate with an hour to go.
Before Houston we are heading for Memphis to join a paddle wheeler on the lower Mississippi River down to New Orleans for seven days. One of those bucket list trips. It will be worth the airline tucker to get to Memphis, going to take about 30 hours including stopovers in Auckland and Chicago.
Graceland and Elvis in Memphis ……..here we come!
Allthegobro 