Echua to Murray Bridge following the Murray

[slowrider]

I'm in the early planning stages for a tour along the Murray, already done the headwaters to Echua but am interested to gather information specifically about the section between Mildura and Renmark.

I would like to try and stay off the main roads as much as possible and I was looking at traveling along the old Mail Coach road between Mildura and Renmark.

Any information would be helpful; I will be using either my touring bike or mountain bike. I'm planning to travel around the end of Easter 2013.

Thanks in advance for any help.

David

[GJ_Coop]

If you want to get away from the crowds it is fun to cycle on the NSW side of the river via Wentworth and Rufus River.

It's all dirt from Wentworth until you get to the orcharding areas that start about 30km out of Renmark.

Takes two days and you can stay at Rufus River where there is a free campsite but no facilities other than water.

I found it a pretty good ride although there are some short soft areas from memory. It's better on a mountain bike I reckon, fatter tyres for the dirt.

[J Quinton]

Hello Mr Coop

Just wanted to say, I've been reading through your tour journals on your web site. I like your style very much. Your positive attitude is refreshing. Thank you.

James

[silentbutdeadly]

Like Coop says...you can go on the NSW side or you can take the Victorian side along the Old Mail Road. From Mildura CBD go down 11th St to Flora Ave and the Ranfurly Way up to Merbein then along the railway line to Merbein West via Yelta Road. Yelta Road turns into the Old Mail Road as it crosses Meridian Road. After that it is dirt all the way across to Lindsay Point on the SA border. But that dirt gives you access to Lindsay and Wallpolla Islands and many other locations along the River...great camping. The road is in good shape - mostly firm clay cap.

Only trick is that there's absolutely no services between Merbein and Renmark if you go this way - Lindsay Point is just a place. There are people who can help if you do get into trouble located at Neds Corner and Lock 9 but there's not much else. However, touring along the Murray around Easter is certainly going to be busy so there'll be plenty of people around the place. Worst comes to worse you could ride out to Lake Cululleraine.

Touring bike with 35c tyres (if it can manage them) will do this area fine. My cross bike with 700x35c Racing Ralphs deals with most of the surfaces this area and its roads throws at it - similar sized Marathons would have few dramas.

By the by...you can actually travel directly along the river from Robinvale to Mildura too. There's quite a few good tracks and between Wemen and Colignan through the Hattah-Kulkyne Parks there's a formed trail system. After Colignan it is back on to an informal trail network but it is certainly doable.

[slowrider]

Thanks everyone for the detailed info. It will be a great help in my planning.

[WestcoastPete]

Make sure you take some mozzy repellent eh (this is in no way meant to say "the mozzies are terrible and will ruin your trip"; it's more to say "there are mozzies and they can be annoying, and that annoyance will be allayed with some mozzy repellent").

Sounds like a great trip!

[WestcoastPete]

I just had a look at GJ's suggested route and it looks like a really fun ride. Good country out there...

[GJ_Coop]

Dunno how Slowrider went with this trip but I'm planning to head up the Murray in a week or so.

There's now an excellent old school, ie, paper, map that's been produced called Murray River & Mallee South Australia by Carto Graphics at a scale of 1:350,000 with it all in sections at 1:150,000 showing every dirt road and the names of the roads, ferry, etc.

It'd just be terrific if the information didn't stop at the state borders. It's a problem with most of the maps I've looked at which are bigger scale without the same depth of info on them. And the Vic ones don't show much of NSW and vice versa.

There's some issues with working out the tracks through the state forests, ie, around Barham, Barmah and Cohuna although there are some Rooftop maps at about $12 each.

[rifraf]

Watch out for bulldust. I got tossed from my bike on the western side of Mildura fracturing a couple of ribs. Hurt like hell for weeks but gave me a good excuse to explore Adelaide for a month while recuperating. Be sure when in Mildura to grab a lunch at the cafe' at the library/info centre as the meal I had there was one of the highlights of my tour heading west. It was a huge and delicious roast with all the trimmings for around $7 from memory.

[WarrenH]

There's some issues with working out the tracks through the state forests, ie, around Barham, Barmah and Cohuna ...

Possibly solved on the New South Wales side of the Murray with ... http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/ Go to BASEMAP top right, and strip off the satellite image from the topo. SIX Map is the new map replacing the slower 1:100,000 scale SIX Lite and replaces the even slower but highly detailed NSW Geospatial Portal map. If you have used SIX Lite or Geospatial Portal in the past, you'll appreciate the speed of SIX Map.

A couple of examples from SIX Map.





SIX Map has tools for planning a route.

Warren.

[WarrenH]

As an after note: I've not been able to find the key describing the features on the SIX Map site, but the features on SIX Map are consistent with the details found in the keys on topographic maps.

Warren.

[slowrider]

Been a bit tardy replying to this. I wasn't able to do the ride this year due to injury/surgery and 4 months post open rehab. Now aiming for next year and finding the info very helpful for planning, keep it coming thanks.

Slowrider

[silentbutdeadly]

There's some issues with working out the tracks through the state forests, ie, around Barham, Barmah and Cohuna

Try this little site...

http://mapshare2.dse.vic.gov.au/MapShar ... p?site=pam

[GJ_Coop]

SBD

Thanks for that.

It's funny how each state pretends they are their own little island, isn't this one country?

At the risk of starting an all out war the NSW site is easier to use than the Vics.

Roll on NZ.

[clackers]

At the risk of starting an all out war the NSW site is easier to use than the Vics.

I'd hope so - the Murray lies within NSW!

[WarrenH]

It's funny how each state pretends they are their own little island ...

They don't just pretend. The States and Territories are their own little islands. Land management, administration, regulations and infrastructure is not administered by the Nation, but by the States.

Take for example National Parks ... there is nothing National about them at all. They are only State administered Parks and Reserves.

Warren