Holiday rituals are funny things. One time you just try something new, and then over the years the holiday just isn't a holiday without it. The familiar camping spot, the same order at your favourite shop, the friends you only ever see for one week a year but pick up with like no time's passed at all.
There's something about knowing it's coming. Marking out the calendar for the same week every year. The holiday you start the countdown for on the car ride home from the last one. That's how rituals are made. The annual mini golf comp nobody's allowed to skip. The water ski off that's been going since before you can remember. That’s how family legends begin, made once and told a hundred times after. And that's just what a holiday in the Murray region can turn into.
Dad says he's not getting rum and raisin again this year, but we all know that's not true. Every family's got their own version of this pilgrimage. Monumental Ice Creamery in Albury, with its unique small batch flavours, Tocumwal Ice Creamery which is perfect after a play at the splash park, the Port Ice Creamery which is conveniently (and deliciously) close to the Port of Echuca, the Corner Shop in Cobram just because. It’s not really a holiday until you’ve got that double scoop in hand.
Mealtimes go out the window in the best possible way on Murray region family holidays. If you love a boiled sweet, Pioneer Settlement's General Store is the perfect spot for favourites like raspberry drops and humbugs. The Echuca Heritage Sweet Company in Echuca Moama and Bushells On Tenth Ye Olde Lolly Shop in Mildura let you step back into a traditional sweet shop and find favourites from your childhood, as well as plenty of new ones too. If chocolate is more to your taste, you can watch handmade truffles and bars being made on site at the Echuca Chocolate Company, before picking your favourites to take home. Or at Corowa Whisky and Chocolate, everyone can make their own giant freckle. Nobody's counting how many you come home with (promise!)
Holidaying connects us with people we'd never have met otherwise. Kids find the family in the next cabin over. Within the hour they're gone, bikes circling the park, a fishing line dangling off the riverbank, back only when dinner is called. You end up making your own version of the same thing. A drink on the deck with the neighbours. A card game that's become its own tradition. An easy routine that makes a holiday feel like a real getaway.
Nobody can quite explain the allure of a giant object, but it's as Aussie a tradition as the road trip itself, and the Murray region's got you covered. The Big Strawberry at Koonoomoo and the Not So Itsy Spider Sculpture at Urana (sorry arachnophobes) are favourites. Then there’s the Big Murray Cod at Tocumwal, Arnold the Giant Murray Cod in Swan Hill and Herbie the Big Yabby in Wentworth. And let's not forget the Submarine HMAS Otway in Holbrook, because it’s not every day you get up close to something that big. Take the same photo at the same spot every year and you'll find you’ve created some of the best memories in your photo albums.
It could be a low-stakes card night or a high-stakes family fish-off. Family holidays have this way of bringing out our competitive side. For the land lovers, you’ll find plenty of perfect options for an annual mini golf championship from Rich River Golf Club in Echuca Moama and Sporties Mini Golf in Cobram Barooga to Mini Golf on the Murray - Corowa, Tunzafun in Yarrawonga Mulwala and Putt Putt Mildura.
Out on the water, it's whoever reels in the biggest one, or who pulls off the best trick behind the boat (the whole family egging you on to try something new, even though last year was the first time you mastered standing up on your skis). Maybe it's quieter than that, keeping track of who can skim a stone the furthest across the water. Nobody's writing it down, but everyone knows the score and there's almost immediate chatter of next year's rematch.
A glass of fizzy drink over lunch always has a way of making kids feel a little bit more grown up. It's part of the ritual with a good counter meal. At the Star Hotel in Echuca Moama, that's a table across from the wharf, watching the paddlesteamers glide past while the parmas come out. At Lake Mulwala Hotel, it's a beer garden looking straight at the water. There's a certain kind of pub that just feels like yours. The vibe and the menu you know by heart. The table you book ahead for, the one with the view or close enough to the playground to keep an eye on the kids while they run off some energy. When you find 'your' pub, it's golden. Luckily, there’s a lot to choose from (and some even worth a detour).
Every tradition has to start somewhere. That first scoop of ice cream, that impromptu stop on the road trip where you round the kids up for a family shot. Do it once, and it’s a nice holiday memory. Do it twice, and it starts to become yours. And there's no better time than this year to start it.
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