Cheryl's Travels: A bit more wine, and some Murray River sightseeing

I've headed over to Albury/Wodonga now - the place where I did my first exchange in 1996. Twenty years on and I'm still so fortunate to have many wonderful friends living here - and it was great catching up with some of them again.

Rutherglen is a wine region not far from Albury/Wodonga and during my many visits to Australia I've been to several of the wineries here. Rutherglen's "big" wine bottle is a good marker for the area. The tower was completed in 1900 to serve as the town's water supply, with the top of the bottle being erected in 1969. It is 117 feet tall and is a wonderful emblem for the region's most prominent industry.

This time my goal was to go to a winery I'd never been to before. Lake Moodemere Vineyards is where I ended up, with its views of Lake Moodemere ... and even a 'hole in one' golf challenge with the 'T' up on top of the bank just beside where I was standing. If you make the shot you get $1000.00 - and surprisingly the fellow at the cellar door said it has been done --- although not often.

Scion Vineyard and Winery also found me visiting today - turns out I have been to this winery before but as you can see, given the colour of its cellar door it is a winery that was made for me.

Dinner with friends one night and these beautiful creatures came to visit - enjoying their own dinner of sunflower seeds. A check in a bird book tells me that they're King Parrots.

Constructed over a 17 year period between 1919 and 1936, the Hume Dam is about 15 minutes away from Albury/Wodonga. It was built across the Murray River and when full, Lake Hume is estimated to hold approximately six times the volume of water in Sydney Harbour. Due to drought conditions here now Lake Hume is currently at only 37.5%.

Bethanga Bridge (built in 1930) is one of several crossings over Lake Hume but what makes this one unique is that is also delineates the Victorian State waters in Lake Hume from the New South Wales State waters. So I guess you could say that my left leg is in New South Wales and my right leg is in Victoria --- how's that for straddling a state boundary?

As I've always said, life in Albury/Wodonga was just a bit more 'rural' than I was used to living in Toronto ... and still is! Here we are on our way back into town from Lake Hume - and remember this is the side of the road I'm driving on!

New since my last visit here is a beautiful walking trail called the Wagirra Trail which runs alongside the Murray River, and for part of the trail you also walk by Horseshoe Lagoon, home to many species of birds.