2012-Jul-07 Trip to Wodonga, Albury

WODONGA-EBDEN-ALBURY
I booked a day off on Monday, 9th of July, last day of Justin's Term 2 break.  And Mon was off too. It's always good to spend at least a day or two (or longer if workload, time and leave balance permits) together during school holidays.

A week before the school ends, we still haven't decided yet where to go... were thinking of Brisbane, Alice Springs, Perth, Sydney... but at the end, we thought 2 to 3 days were short.  Hence, we settled with a weekend getaway within Victoria.  I must say, it's a bit hard to decide where to go.  We want to avoid places with possible road closures or places where we may need to carry a chain given that it's winter.  Having been to most of the nearby places in Melbourne and with the wintery season, finding a destination for a weekend getaway was not easy.

Woodland Grove, Wodonga

I found Boathaven Holiday Parks located @ Ebden while surfing the net... Saw a few good photos and so we decided to book a night in one of their Lakeview Spa Villas. 

On July 7, we left home.  We arrived at Wodonga around lunch time...  lucky to find a street parking next to Woodland Grove, a small park with a tower and some steel sculptures. 

Justin - a bit upset, as he wanted
a KFC for lunch:-(

We had a quick lunch at Charcoal Chicken before driving to Boathaven  HP to check-in. 

Staying at Boathaven Holiday Parks was indeed a good choice.  I could imagine this place in summer -must be full-packed with kids.    The view from the pool overlooking Lake Hume was so peaceful and serene.  The place has big sandpit, playground, trampoline that can accommodate even adults.  And we couldn't complain with the room we booked. It was spacious for the three of us, I think. 

The view was awesome... If you have the things you need, you could do fishing, kayaking, or simply have BBQ in front of the villa. 


Some of the highlights on the  first day of our weekend getaway -

Hume Dam 
The Hume Dam is on the Murray River 16 kilometres upstream from Albury-Wodonga.  It regulates the flow of the Murray River.   Water from the dam is mainly used for irrigation in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia but water is also diverted from the Murray River for domestic use, for industrial use and for urban water supplies in South Australia.   
The dam itself is made up of four embankments and a concrete spillway section. Total length is 1,616 metres. Capacity is 3,038 gigalitres. [Source: http://www.travelling-australia.info/InfsheetsH/Humedam.html]

  
Lake Hume

Lake Hume is an artificial lake in Australia formed by the Hume Weir east of Albury-Wodonga on the Murray River  just downstream of its junction with the Mitta River.  It is often referred to as the Hume Weir, only named Lake Hume in the mid 1980s. [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Hume]





Eastern Hill Lookout, Albury
On the eastern side of Albury is the Eastern Hill Lookout overlooking the town and the airport.

 The View from Eastern Hill Lookout

 The View from Eastern Hill Lookout

It was already late to go for a long drive, so we've decided to just have a bit of walk around the town of Albury.

There we saw the Albury Post Office originally built in 1875.	Post Office
The old courthouse built in 1860 using local grey granite for the Palladian-style facade.	St Matthews Church

The Albury Library Museum, opened in 2007.  What a coincidence!!! At the corner was a steel sculpture perfect for me and Mon :-)

Justin... amazed by the birds at
the open space behind St Matthews,
the theatre and the library.

Albury Botanic Garden - located at the heart of the city's Central Business District.  Not worth a visit as there's nothing much to see (though they're expanding with bigger space for kids.  Been there at sunset - It was cold, nearly dark... We had a short walk and off we go.

We stopped over at a Thai Restaurant... Not a typical Thai Restaurant as they cooked  their dishes on the sidewalk... Not to bad for passers-by in winter.   We had our take-away dinner at the villa.  After dinner, Justin stayed in the room and enjoyed the spa, while me & hubby enjoyed the romantic atmosphere, walking around the vicinity under the stars...