River Country Explore the Backroads of

Let your taste buds lead you on an adventure this winter - to River Country and the Backroads Trail.

The Backroads Trail weaves together the themes of heritage, environment, food, wine and culture in an informed and user-friendly way.

You’ll not only stand on the sites where history was made - you’ll be delighted by small businesses all along the way offering you delicious produce, a comfy bed for the night, and extra attractions such as stunning sculptures, leafy bushland walks and relaxing river cruises.

It will take you off the main highway, but it will open your eyes to this marvellous region.

With its signposted interpretive sites, you can see how the people of this region have lived on and shaped this land from Dreamtime prehistory to the present day.

The trail features 22 attractions, half of which are food or wine producers.

From our paddocks come some of the best of Australia’s beef, lamb, wool and grain. But it’s been a hard-won success.

You’ll learn about the search for water and the despair of watching the Earth crack open in drought, the long wait for the railway to arrive and finally connect remote settlers with city markets and, most importantly, with each other.

On the wide plains, parents built a school with their bare hands, bare knuckle boxers fought, and mechanised shearing was invented.

There is even an earthquake zone to show you. You will gain insights into the way your food is produced in this area, and get to meet some of the people who grow and create it.

The resources behind the Backroads Trail include historians, ecologists, agricultural experts and Indigenous archaeologists, as well as many farming families who have generously donated knowledge, time and personal photographs.

The lovely country towns of Moama, Mathoura, Deniliquin and Barham are the gateways to the Backroads Trail, and it is recommended you mix your trail touring with time to stay and play in these centres and in the small villages dotted along the route.

All along the Trail, you’ll find very special niche businesses offering you delicious delights such as meads, avocados, wines, honey, olives and citrus fruit - and even British-style pork pies and haggis. Hand made and nurtured from paddock to plate, our beautiful local produce is available for you to sample whilst chatting with the producers - driving around the Backroads Trail is like taking part in a progressive farmers’ market.

Visit working artists’ studios, and pick up some of their works to take home. At Barham and Koondrook, associated with the redgum timber milling industry

Places to visit:

• Border Flywheelers Club Heritage Museum

• Bundarra Berkshires

• The Little Pork Deni

• Arbuthnot Sawmills

• Restdown Wines and Walking Trail and Jungle Lane Beef Co.

• Old School Winery and Meadery

• Reed Beds Bird Hide Boardwalk

• Pacdon Park

• The Timbercutter

• Moira Station: Starry Nights Luxury Accommodation

• Pattison Pastoral Farm Stay

• Bright on the Murray

• Perricoota Station

• Mathoura Mandarins

• Sevilo Grove

• Barham Avocadoes

• Barham River Cruises

• Border Packers for more than a century, you’ll discover unique redgum carvings done by chainsaw. The Gulpa Creek bird hide near Mathoura allows you to get up close to birds basking in their prime habitat of the extensive Gulpa Creek wetlands, or perhaps you’d like to wander the wetland walking trail at Restdown Wines in Caldwell or admire the outdoor sculptures at Mathoura and Deniliquin, that were especially commissioned as part of The Long Paddock Touring Route.

• and so many more...

Learn more about tasting and enjoying your way through River Country by going to www.visitthemurray. com.au/places-to-go/central/rivercountry/things-todo/the-backroads-trail.

Following the artistic triumph of the inaugural Moama Lights in 2021 and 2022, this popular event – winner of a National Economic Development Award – lights up Moama’s Horseshoe Lagoon again in 2023.

Winter evenings will be transformed by beautiful light displays, an enticing new show, brand new stories and a new backdrop along the upgraded footbridges at Horseshoe Lagoon.

Explore in your own time, walking the path towards the historic Moama Wharf surrounded by towering river redgums, and soaking in the dusk sounds of this natural riverine lagoon.

Moama Lights is available to view from Thursday to Sunday each week between June 30 and July 23.

Last year attracting 25,000 visitors, be sure to get in quick to book your tickets.

Due to its popularity, more has been added to bolster the Murray River Council presented event this year.

In addition to the brilliant Moama Lights show, this year’s event will also include an ice skating rink, the American Hotel Beer Garden, kids entertainment and food trucks.

“The 2023 Moama Lights will once again showcase our beautiful bush