Deniliquin

There’s much more to Deniliquin than its annual muster, writes MIKEY CAHILL

DOES Deniliquin have more to offer than the Deni Ute Muster? After taking my young family there I can give you a very Ford answer without Holden back. It’s an emphatic yes. Once you include other stars of the Riverina region in Warragoon and Booroorban, Deni becomes an attractive school holiday destination, especially as it boasts the award-winning BIG4 Deniliquin Holiday Park.

“Where the bloody hell are you?” is the second question most Victorians ask when Deniliquin is mentioned. The answer Deniliquinians give is always the same: “Only 40 minutes north of Echuca.” Truthfully, it’s an hour. But the trip feels quick because the Cobb Highway is scenic and you’re going at a clip.

READY, SET, GO-KART

We spotted pedal go-karts on the way into the BIG4 Deniliquin Holiday Park and I immediately threw the gauntlet down to my sixyear-old daughter: “Juno, I’m going to give you a head start in a race around the park.”

The manual go-karts are one feature in a park full of them and they bounced nicely over speed bumps as we defied the speed limit and zoomed along bitumen trails parallel to the Edward River. Kookaburras laughed loudly on the balcony of our raised Riverfront Deluxe Cabin.

At night we chatted with Grey Nomads in the community kitchen area while cooking a barbecue. Mokanger Butchery is a more popular meat destination than the chain supermarkets and its marinated beef skewers made a level of smoke that correlated with the food’s tastiness.

We toasted marshmallows on open fires two nights in a row, somewhat of a lost tradition for kids, although it’s wise to cap the number of chewy, tart treats they have before bed. There’s a basketball ring, tennis court, jumping mat and, in summer, the Splash Water Park has a heated waterslide and a giant water bucket. Watersports options are available too with pontoon boats and skiing available. Sidenote: Juno “won” every race. Lot 100, Ochtertyre St, Deniliquin, big4.com.au

NOT THE ARCHIBALD

I smashed the Big Breakfast at The Crossing Cafe three days in a row, adding extra potato rosti and avocado until my belt bulged. They know how to make a mean piccolo and none of the baristas had bushranger beards.

Our two kids roamed around outside on the lawn, burning off energy, then we all traipsed next door into Peppin Heritage Centre. It’s an echoey old school hall where the Bald Archy exhibition was in its 26th year. The Bald Archy is the more irreverent, rough-around-the-edges twin to the Archibald Prize. It’s known around the world as the only art competition to be judged by a sulphur-crested cockatoo named Maude. We saw paintings of a ripped Christopher Pyne wielding a baseball bat. We gasped at Mark Latham and Pauline Hanson celebrating Hump Day as two cane toads. We marvelled at Senator Fraser Anning dressed as a German soldier from the early ’40s, an empty carton of eggs flanking his right side. Peppin Heritage Centre includes an oldschool classroom and displays that showcase the history of the Peppin Merino. (The Bald Archy tour has now moved on to Leura in the NSW Blue Mountains until August 4.) 295 George St, Deniliquin, baldarchy.com.au

GARDEN TO PLATE

Lawry, Kathy and their son Daniel Smits know a thing or two about paddock to plate. Everything we ate at Long Table Cafe came from their farm. Honey? The bees did it. The meringue tarts? The gold comes from their lemons. Bacon? From the sounder of swine out back.

“Pigs are actually one of the cleanest animals, despite what people think,” said Lawry. We went and visited them, with an important warning: the pigs are very protective of their young squealers and “will rip your hand off like a crocodile if you put it through the fence”.

We continued on our farm and garden tour and discovered alpine strawberries. They were shy and tiny but twice as juicy as normal-sized strawberries, quietly detonating in the mouth like a more-ish grenade. We enjoyed orange poppy seed cake and mulled wine. The warm, spicy plonk offset Warragoon’s ricocheting winds. As a bonus some good-natured gypsies had set themselves and their travelling caravan up on the side of the property. A sign on their living quarters had a carpe diem kick: “Today is the most important day of your life.” Mclaurins Rd, Warragoon, longtablecafe.com.au

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Deni is known to be almost strictly horizontal. We sped through 12km of mountain bike tracks in the Murray Valley Regional Park, navigating through river red gums and low hanging branches. There were a few fun mini-jumps and a single descent that at the time felt like The

Man from Snowy River on a pushie but watching the footage was actually more The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

We cut a few laps of a spot called Depression, a crater-like expanse that actually lifted our already high spirits. A few hopping wallabies popped up to say g’day. Eastern grey kangaroos and goannas also call the area home. The signs say to allow three hours for the trail but that applies to slow coaches. nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

FARM STAY

This was a revelation. We checked out Burraburoon Farm Stay property, a working sheep station that includes a homestead and guest accommodation in nifty old school caravans.

A lovely South African woman named Tertia Butcher entertained us with a cheese platter, glasses of Bonics XVIII organic shiraz and stories of working at a newspaper in Hay when the Mardi Gras comes to town. We chatted on bush camp’s deck as the sun set, admiring the lake where you can kayak if you’re keen. 1157 Burraburoon Wargam Rd, Booroorban, burraburoon.wixsite.com/farmstay

ON THE TRAIL OF HISTORY

The Cobb Highway follows a network of stock routes that became known as The Long Paddock, linking stockbreeding areas of inland NSW and Queensland with Victorian markets in the 1870. We were told about the headless horseman sculpture on the highway which led Juno to declare she wanted “to get a bit scared”. We downloaded a new augmented reality experience app which made the sculptures move and “talk”. Impressive.

Plains span as far as the eye can see either side and are flatter than a steel ruler. We’d see a truck in the distance doing 110km/h and it would take more than a minute to get to us. I showed the kids how to entice road-train drivers to beep their belligerent horns by tugging the air with a clenched fist. “Why Papa?” “Because Deniliquin has plenty of reasons to toot its horn.” thelongpaddock.com.au