Well this is what the latest tourism campaign for Mildura wants us to believe. This cheeky rebranding just happened to kick off when we were visiting Mildura recently and the ambassador for the campaign is popular Australian actor Shane Jacobson.

The aim of the campaign is to target holiday makers who typically travel to Queensland with the selling point being that Mildura has more sunny days than the Sunshine Coast, loads of outdoor activities as well as terrific wining and dining options. All of that plus of course the fabulous Murray River, and no crocodiles!

(Ironically, the weather when we were there for a few days was cloudy and cool but that was just a minor glitch in the story).

It’s a fun tongue in cheek tourism pitch but it makes great sense for South Australians, with Mildura being only a little over a four hours’ drive from Adelaide. This makes it an easy destination to visit for a few days or longer for a getaway.

With the Murray River forming the border between Victoria and New South Wales, you can cross over and visit two states in the one holiday too.

Here’s a little of what we experienced on our latest visit to Mildura:

Stay

We were looking for a caravan park right on the river to take in the views and we stayed at the Apex Riverbeach Holiday Park. If you’re thinking beach in Mildura, well yes it is! There’s a big sandy beach on this bend of the river and they even have the Mildura surf lifesaving club on the edge of the beach.

There is a roadway between the caravan park and the river, but it’s a dead end for traffic and wasn’t too noisy when we were there. The park is one of the Kui Parks chain and the staff were very welcoming and the grounds really well maintained.  

This park along with others on the riverfront, sustained a heap of damage when the river flooded in 2023 and they’ve done a great job to restore the grounds and facilities, with some work still in progress. Quite a few trees in the park show watermarks where the flood waters reached and it’s quite staggering to believe how high the river was.

The park is pet friendly and they also have individual campfire pits to hire and wood to buy onsite. There is a boat ramp directly across the road and a walking and bike path that follows the river. The birdlife was wonderful and there was just the occasional car cruising by with doof doof music playing. (This seems to be a Mildura thing!)

Eats and drinks

There’s a great range of places to visit in Mildura and we tried to find a few different places this stay, but also had to revisit some favourites.

Thai-riffic is a popular Thai restaurant in town and the décor, food and service was all wonderful, this will be one we revisit in future. We tried the Mildura Brewery pub which has a comfortable lounge bar to sit in while you taste their naturally brewed beers. They have five permanent and other seasonal beers to try as well as a good wine list.

Across the river on the New South Wales side, we visited Trentham Winery, always a favourite for its great varieties of wines and beautiful river views on the deck and lawns outdoors. A lunch stop at the Gol Gol pub while you’re on this side of the river is a must. This is another venue that takes full advantage of the river views and you can get great meals at really good prices here to enjoy outdoors too.

Art

Mildura has quite a bit of street art and you can pick up a walking guide from the tourist information bureau so you can find them all. Mostly they are in the CBD, so you can find them while you’re visiting the shops including some great places to shop in the mall.

History

A free outdoor history trail can be found at the Old Mildura Homestead precinct. This re-created site shows some buildings and tools used when pastoralists arrived in the 1850s, including a replica of Mildura’s first cottage. Theres also a woolshed and stables and an old original timber girl guides shed.

This is just one part of a history trail that you can also take around town with maps available from the information bureau.

River and birdlife

The riverfront precinct has a walking and bike path that you can follow to see tranquil views of the river and the houseboats using it, cafes are along the way, exercise equipment, seating and lots of green space to enjoy.

Take a drive to Lock 11 for even more birdlife and if you’re lucky you may just see the lock in operation if a boat is passing through.

Keep ‘Tropical North Victoria’ in mind next time you’re looking for an easy, sunny, relaxing and fun getaway, not far from South Australia.

Cheers

Glenys