Steamin' Ahead
I'd been to a Junction Steam rally six years ago and decided to head up again this year as well. Organized by the local Steam Restoration Club, the rally pulls together a whole range of bygone era machinery ranging from tractors, trucks and classic cars through to a vast range of engines running on all types of fuel.
And because the rally is held on the banks of the river at the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers, there's always plenty of paddle boats in attendance. This year's Rally Feature was Steam Marine Engines, so there was a whole flotilla of small craft in attendance as well, all of them complete with boiler and lots of steam.
The weather on the day wasn't much, with a gusty Northerly blowing for most of the day. So while there were plenty of bigger paddle steamers tied up along the bank, a few of the organized displays by these vessels were postponed until the Sunday. Even the much publicized cruises by the recently restored RUBY were called off by early afternoon.
In any case the boys with their kero and steam engines were making plenty of noise all over the place while out on the river most of the smaller trailerable steam boats were parading up and down.
One boat I had a chance to take a close look at was a steel hulled vessel called Lil Toot. She was shipped out to Australia in the mid 70's and has been recently restored and put back on the water after being abandoned on the river bank for many years. We were told by her proud skipper that she had no electics on board at all. Right down to the kero lamps for lighting, she was completely from a past ere.
Amongst the lineup of paddle stemaers there were three or four of the recently built vessels like Settler which have been built by a local shipwright. They have a steel hull and are generally fitted out very well for luxury cruising. They make a welcome site on the river from the many pontoon houseboats that appear everywhere.
In all I spent an interesting three hours travelling back in time and would highly recommend a visit in the future should you get the chance.
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