#4: [29-Mar-23]

#2: [27-Oct-01]

#1: [11-Sep-01]

10-Jun-2004 -- We were driving southwards from Swan Hill towards Melbourne along the Loddon Valley Highway. We though we would take the slight side trip to visit the confluence at 36°S 144°E.

We turned left off the Loddon Valley Highway onto the Minicha-Canary Island road and proceeded East for just over 4 1/2 kms. This is a well maintained dirt road typical of country Victoria.

From the road, we could see that the confluence would be in the middle of an empty cow paddock to our left.

We jumped the road-fence into the empty paddock and kept one eye on avoiding cow pats while keeping the other eye on the GPS as we neared our goal.

We thought we were in the right paddock, but we quickly realised that we needed to be in the next one. We found a strong fence post to use as a place to move between the paddocks. I could see the electric fencing, so I tested the wire...without feeling any current. But once I was off the ground the fence gave me a good jolt - a lesson in being grounded when testing the fence! We were so fixated on getting to our goal that we failed to see the unlocked gate about 150m away. Oh well, at least it would make our exit more dignified.

Once in the correct paddock we quickly found the confluence, took our photos and then then quietly left (via the gate).

Upon returning home, we discovered that this confluence has previously been visited. Our impressions of the confluence are essentially the same as the previous visitors, except that there were no cows and no friendly farmers to help us.

Simon & Rod Chapple