Rothbury Paddle Boat Cruise, Mildura

As soon as I knew the dates we would be in Mildura, I booked us on the "Rothbury" paddle boat cruise that I knew we would both love. We chose the afternoon cruise that runs for two hours from 2pm - 4pm.  We arrived at the meeting place too early to board the boat so we decided to visit the Rio Vista Historic House that is a short distance from the paddle boat.

The Rio Vista home was owned and built by William Chaffey who, along with his brother George, established the first irrigation scheme in Australia.  The Mildura irrigation scheme was a remarkable success until the devastating drought and sadly the Chaffery brothers encountered financial difficulties and were declared bankrupt.  William tried to sell the house to cover some of his debts but there was no interest.  In 1950 Rio Vista was purchased by the Mildura City Council with a view to converting the place into an art gallery, which it did, but now the house is slowly being restored to its former splendour and is quite magnificent. The stained glass windows were hand made and imported from England and the tessellated entrance hall floor is made of Italian tiles. The original fountain was removed after one of the Chaffey children drowned in it but a replica now sits at the front of the home. It is free to walk around inside the home that is now also home to a restaurant/cafe.

After our walk around Rio Vista, it is now time to head to the "Rothbury" for boarding.  Surprisingly there are a large number of people ready to board the boat, mainly families, but it is a weekend so we should not be surprised.  The Rothbury sets sail promptly at 2.00 pm and in a short time we are heading into Lock 11 on the Murray River.  I love the locks and we have been through many over the course of our travels.  The deepest were on the river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam and the narrowest was travelling through the locks in Panama Canal in a cruise ship with just inches to spare on either side!

We travel quite a distance downstream passing by the Mildura Weir, before finally turning around for the return journey back to Mildura.  It is quite cold again so Philip and I are content to sit downstairs in the covered area that gives us a great view of the river banks where mega dollar houses are erected.  Our captain regales us with stories as we cruise along and as we pass various points of interest he shows us the floodwater heights of 2022.  It would have been pretty scary living on the banks of the Murray River in 2022.

Our time in Mildura has drawn to an end and tomorrow we head to Swan Hill for three nights. There are few interesting things to see and do in Swan Hill so three nights should be the right amount of time.