Discover something new in a familiar place
Ouyen has always meant home to Brooke Thomas.
After growing up there and moving to Melbourne at 17, she still made the trip back several times a year to see her parents, uncle and sister.
When her own children came along, those visits became a way to explore the wider Murray region, from the Pink Lakes and Pine Plains to Hattah Lakes and the Murray River at Wemen.
When Ouyen Lake opened in 2018, it quickly became a favourite and gave the family another reason to spend time in Brooke’s hometown. The kids took to swimming and paddleboarding, while their mum discovered her favourite spot to capture Ouyen’s sunsets.
The inflatable paddleboard gets squeezed into the car every time. The lake has already claimed a paddle and a pair of sunglasses that slipped off Brooke’s head when she dived off the pontoon. And when the kids were once offered a holiday somewhere else – with Queensland, Adelaide, the Grampians or Mornington Peninsula among the possibilities – their answer said it all:
“Can’t we just go to Ouyen?”
With thanks to the Thomas family
Think you know your favourite Murray spot? It might still surprise you. See Cobram Barooga in a new light at Bullanginya Dreaming or swap your usual holiday house for a houseboat in Mildura. Sometimes the next tradition starts somewhere familiar.
Discover Murray destinations and ideas that suit the way you want to holiday now.
