Barham (NSW)/ Koondrook (VIC) and Gunbower Island

I do occasionally go on holidays without the intention of taking photographs and on this occasion it was the offer of a cheap night's stay with my parents in their motel room that saw me spend a relaxing weekend up on the Murray River. The classic Murray situation is that each Victorian town has a counterpart across the river (and state border). Until recently, different gambling laws between the two states saw NSW towns along the Murray River flourish from the proceeds of poker machines and while they are now a lot quieter, the facilities remain. While the gambling crowds from Melbourne may have reduced, it only makes it more enjoyable for those that continue to visit these towns.

The poker machines were originally placed in either sporting clubs or RSL clubs (which also had sporting facilities) and this region boasts some of the best golf courses and lawn bowling greens around. A day on the golf course was therefore compulsory and since I don't often go to the Murray I took a camera along for a few snaps. Once you get the right attitude and don't worry about the bad shots (it is after all, just a game) you can relax and enjoy the bush settings of most of these courses with their abundant bird life. The Barham RSL Golf Club is a little more open than others I have played on but still has it's share of challenges including a DEEP bunker across the approach to one of the holes (I cleverly hooked the ball and approached from the adjoining fairway to avoid the bunker.... or at least that's my excuse).

It had been a while since I had been out in the bush so I also did a bit of exploring in my 4WD. The previous floods had only just receded and I approached my first unsealed road with caution expecting it to be soft and slippery as there were still patches water on the road. I was half right. It was slippery, very slippery, but the ground was quite firm. While this reduced my fear of getting bogged it still made cornering interesting with trees close to the tracks. I eventually headed for Gunbower Island expecting to see a great forest of redgums.

What I didn't know was that this area supplied a lot of timber during the WWII and so while there were a lot of redgums around they weren't really all that big. A few grand old trees remain and the forest is regrowing. Parts of the park are heavily protected to encourage native animals to reestablish the area with all traditional Australian uses of State Forest being banned.. i.e. riding unregistered motorbikes, off road riding/ driving and shooting anything that moves. From the highway on the Victorian side you would miss most of the forests along this stretch of the Murray unless you detour off the highway along many of the small roads that go to the river's edge.