Mildura has a fabulous history. Located in the middle of a desert it exists basically because of the ingenuity of the Chaffey brothers who were able to imagine a productive fruit growing empire if the land could be cleared and the water from the Murray used for irrigation. And they proceeded to do just that despite numerous setbacks and near disasters. These early years have left a wealth of interesting historical sites to visit, including homesteads, stately houses and steam driven pumping stations. We decided to take the self guided historical tour which started with the Mildura homestead. This was the first settlement in Mildura which was originally a sheep growing station.
The whole site has been beautifully restored complete with wool and machinery sheds.
We were amazed how complete the photographic record is of this early period, and we found the homestead has been used to house a remarkable set of photos and documents which trace the history of the early settlement.
The second item on the tour was the grand home of one of the Chaffey brothers - Rio Vista.
This beautiful homestead on the banks of the Murray has been beautifully preserved and today is part of the Mildura Arts precinct which includes theatres, galleries and a cafe.
While we were there we visited a special exhibition of Kylie Minogue's stage costumes. While not a fan of her music it was interesting to view the fabulous clothes which have been at the centre of so many of Kylie's stage shows. Everything we saw today was free (or a gold coin donation).
After all that it was time for a bit of shopping and then relaxing at our campsite in the beautiful weather. This evening we headed into town for dinner at an Indian restaurant, and so ended day 2 in Mildura. Tomorrow the forecast is for rain. The locals don't believe it and as I write this there is not a cloud in the sky. We'll see.
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