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Wayne and I have just taken a short break away from the motel.  We went for a drive to Echuca and then on to Canberra for a few nights.  It was great to be the tourist for a change & staying in other motel/hotels was very interesting!  Helen & Peter were our relief managers and done a great job.

 

We have just had *Austar* (Pay TV) installed in Lime Holiday House, making your stay in the house an even more enjoyable and value for money holiday. 

 

Our wonderful guests who stay with us during the Country Music Festival all said they had an enjoyable time again this year.  Here is a photo of a country music singer called the 'Chook man' who apparently travels up and down the Murray River on his very unusual house boat.  His 'houseboat' was tied up near the wharf and at night he sang from the boat and even put on a light show I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August was a busy month with Wayne & I becoming grandparents for the first time.  We have made several trips back and forth to Adelaide to visit our beautiful granddaughter!  We have also just had our swimming pool fully renovated just in time for the summer heat.

 

I am calling July 'International' month as we have had quite a few guests from overseas staying at our motel.  Finland, Italy, Germany and New Zealand are just some of the countries they have come from.

 

 

This week we had the pleasure of meeting a very inspiring young man from Sydney.  Dome Deli is on a solo bicycle expedition from Sydney to Budapest, Hungary. 

 

His website is: www.bikevsworld.com where you can follow his travels.  This will be Dome's fifth consecutive year of riding across various parts of the world and is in the process of writing a book about his many travels.

 

 

This Kookaburra was sitting in the tree next to our fence.

 

 

Easter kept us busy as usual.  The weather was good and everyone had a great weekend.  Here are some photos that Wayne took during March and April.

 

 

 

March was fairly uneventful this year apart from getting some heavy rainfalls and then of course Mildura suffered through a Cricket  plague.  We were vacuuming the rooms twice a day just to keep them under control.  They have finally gone away, but it was very difficult for everyone in Mildura while they were here.  We were scooping 2  & 3 net fulls out of our pool nearly every morning. 

 

 

We have been kept busy this month with guests arriving from all over Australia to participate in the Junior National Grasscourt Tennis Championships.  Wayne has been doing quite a few airport pickups and dropoffs.

 

We have also had a group of 18 pensioners stay with us for 3 nights.  They arrived on the Vline bus from Melbourne and stayed in over half of the motel and also in the Lime Holiday House.  They all had a great time and as they booked the holiday house, they were all able to gather there.  The weather turned out perfect, making it lovely to stroll around Mildura.  On their last night here they had a bbq and party at the house which I think made a great end to their holiday in Mildura.

 

 

This month has seen Mildura receive so much rain that there has been some local flooding.  We have been very fortunate and not been affected by any floods so thought I would show you what the river is looking like today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mildura is currently experiencing its highest river levels and strongest water flows in at least 10 years.
These will continue until around 18 January 2011 and present ‘must see' opportunities for visitors.
We are not affected by flood and there is complete access to Mildura via major highways through SA, NSW and Victoria.

 

Mildura certainly received alot of rain over the last few weeks but that has all gone away now.  The gardens have loved the tropical weather though and everything is looking very green and lush.  We have been waiting on the Locusts to arrive, but they don't seem to be too bad.  Most days we don't see any of them at all.

 

We have just had another famous group stay at our motel! 'You Am I' booked out most of our rooms for one night.  They were all great guys and we went along to see them perform at 'The Settlers'. 

 

They were kind enough to pose for a quick photo & sign their cd for us

 

 

We have just purchased new bedding for one of our Queen rooms.  We will trial this just for the summer months.  Here is a photo.   

 

 

Last weekend we were excited to have Clare Bowditch and her Band, The New Slang stay with us for a night.  They performed at 'The Settlers' on Saturday night.  Wayne & I went along to watch and it was great.  Clare has many CD's out and is quite well known as a top singer/songwriter.  It was great to meet them and they were all really nice young people.

 

The Country Music Festival was held in Mildura during the last few weeks of September and finished on the 3rd October.  We were booked out for this and I think our guests had a great time attending all of the events. 

 

 

 

 

 

On September 5, we had some Bike Racers staying at our motel who were competing in the 'Tour of the Murray River' Race.  They were the MERIDA Australia Road Team from Queensland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to take a few days off from the motel and as a lot of our guests seem to be either on their way to Broken Hill or returning from there, that's where we went.  We hadn't been there before so it was great to see what Broken Hill has to offer.  Here are some photos we took:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Variety Bash visited Mildura on August 16 and two groups stayed at our motel.  Here is a photo of their cars.

 

'The Fairy Girls'                              'The Beatles'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rock & Roll Festival was held in August and although the weather didn't turn out to be the best, there were some great cars to see.  Here is one that belonged to a couple staying at our motel and the other was parked out the front.

 

Chrysler - Left Hand Drive

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thought I would show you some of the paintings we have on our walls here at the motel.  Apparently they were painted by one of the previous owners of the motel.  They are very good hand paintings.  We often hear Kookaburras in the morning and a couple of times, some have been sitting on our fence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of our guests at the beginning of May was a lovely lady (Mary) holidaying by herself in Mildura.  She caught the bus here, walked across the road and checked in with us for the next 7 days. Her goal was to see and do as much as she could while here and I think she certainly achieved that.  Mary booked in to go on a 'Discover Wentworth' Day Tour.  As we are also new to Mildura, and the day was looking quiet, I decided to go on the bus tour as well.  The weather was perfect and we were driven around Wentworth by Phil from 'Discover Mildura Day Tours'.  We went to Perry Sandhills, also the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers, the Old Wentworth Gaol, had morning tea and lunch on the banks of the river and finished it off with a cruise on the 'Spirit of the Murray' and a special treat, a personal tour of the PS Ruby Paddlesteamer.

 

Everyone on the tour really enjoyed the day and we would certainly recommend any of the tours run by 'Discover Mildura Tours'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo above is at the junction of the Murray & Darling Rivers, we got up close to this wonderful Kookaburra and the other photo is of the Perry Sandhills near Wentworth.

 

 

On the left here, is a photo that Mary took while on a Hot Air Balloon ride over Mildura at sunrise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course Wayne needed to get out for a day as well, so a few days later he went to Mungo National Park on the Sunraysia Discovery Tour.  Again, the weather was just perfect and all on the tour really enjoyed the day.  Here are some photos that Wayne took of the Mungo National Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter 2010 at 7th Street Motel was a great weekend. We had perfect weather, wonderful guests and Wayne and I even got to escape for a few hours on Sunday.  We had a picnic lunch by the river with our family and got to see some of our guests in the Ski racing.  Here is a photo of the Racing Boat that belonged to some of our guests, the Mr RatsakSki Racing Team.

 

 

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Some members of the Mustang Car Club stayed with us for a night, on their way to Adelaide.

 

The car on the left is a 2007 Mustang Shelby GT500.  The car below is a 1965 Mustang Convertible.

 

 

 

 

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We have been in the motel for three months now and in that time we have met some very lovely people from all over the world.  Most recently was a couple from America.  These two people flew into Sydney, hired a car and were driving around Australia to visit their customers.  They run a business back home.  I know this sounds very normal but these lovely people were in their late eighties! Both were very fit and healthy and an inspiration to both of us. 

 

Wehave had quite a few backpackers stay with us for their last night in Mildura. They then are able to just walk across the road to the bus terminal in the morning to catch their bus.  English, French and German seem to be the main nationalities.  We did have two Japanese girls who turned up Christmas morning.  I awoke about 7am christmas morning and thought I heard someone talking.  When I looked out the window, there were two young Japanese girls standing out the front of the motel with blankets wrapped around them.  I quickly got dressed and opened the office door to see if I could assist them. They told me they had arrived on the 6.30am bus and tried to get into the backpackers hostel down the road, but no-one would answer.  I offered them a room at a special xmas day price and after checking in, showed them to their room.  They did not speak much English but I gathered they were very tired and wanted to sleep most of the day.  We did not see or here from them at all for the rest of the day.  They checked out the next morning thanking us and saying they had a great rest.

 

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We have been getting alot of people staying with us for the sole purpose of going to eat at Stefano's Restaurant. At least one couple per week recently.  Last week, one couple caught the bus/train from Melbourne, arriving here at about 4.00pm.  They went to dinner at Stefano's that evening then caught the 9am bus back to Melbourne the following morning! Going there myself is on my 'must do' list and I am very envious when guests tell me how they really enjoyed the food.