Itineraries

This easy ride takes you to the first area developed by the Chaffey brothers between Kings Billabong and Mildura on the Murray River.

The loop will take you past wetlands, the racecourse, golf course and cemetery. For a challenge, keep an eye out for the working windmill – you will likely hear it before you see it.

Trail Overview Terrain: Easy

Distance: Approximately 20km

Highlights: Nature, history and sports

There’s free, unrestricted parking at the Mildura Visitor Information Centre (marker 1 on the map). From there, turn left onto Twelfth Street and then, at the sporting grounds, take a left onto Etiwanda Avenue.

Insider Tips Toilets are located at the Nichols Point Recreation Reserve (Fifth Street, Nichols Point). Before you set off, pick up a map of Bruce’s Bend Marina and Kings Billabong from the Mildura Visitor Information Centre (180-190 Deakin Avenue, Mildura) so you can explore further. To dive deeper into the region’s history, visit The Chaffey Trail website. As you get closer to the river, you’ll come to the Etiwanda Wetlands Eco-Tourism site, located on Etiwanda Avenue between Seventh Street and River Boulevard (marker 2 on the map). Take a break to watch the many species of birds which call this wetland home. Take the 1.5km loop around the ponds and visit the bird hide. The ponds are designed to capture 80 per cent of the storm water runoff from the Mildura township, clean and stabilise it before it enters the Murray River.

Head back onto Etiwanda Avenue, turn right and follow the bitumen until you come to an unsealed road that leads to River Boulevard (also unsealed). Turning right, you will pass the Mildura Ski Club , home to the Easter 100 Ski Race (marker 3 on the map). You’ll then arrive at the Benetook Avenue intersection where the road becomes sealed again. From here, you can stay on the bitumen or take the bicycle track which winds along the Murray River for 500 metres to Cowra Avenue and Park Road.

Continuing on Park Road, you’ll travel around the back of the Mildura Racecourse (marker 4 on the map). The track hosts around 8 meetings a year with the Mildura Cup, Melbourne Cup and Oaks Day races being the highlights.

Opposite the racecourse is the Riverside Golf Club (marker 5 on the map). One of the region’s premier golf courses, it features 18 grass greens and watered fairways set amongst majestic river red gum and box trees. The river frontage sees the course home to abundant native birdlife, be sure to look for the water birds that nest in the natural billabongs adjacent to the Murray River.

Veer right from Park Road onto Cemetery Road and you’ll pass by the Nichols Point Cemetery (marker 6 on the map). Established in 1898, this was the original cemetery for Mildura. It includes a war graves section, created after World War II for the service men of the Air Force Training Base and a lawn cemetery section which was established in the 1970s. Once you’ve past the cemetery, turn left onto Karadoc Avenue and then right onto Billabong Road at the bottom of the hill.

Need a bike, parts or a tune up? Hires

Dockside Mildura Cafe Dockside Drive, Mildura, T: 03 5023 5222

7th Street Motel 153 Seventh Street, Mildura, T: 03 5021 1584

Sales and repairs

Cycling Mythology 48 Olive Avenue, Mildura, T: 0437 462 303

Mildura Cycles 154 Ninth Street, Mildura, T: 03 5021 1584

Sales

Deakin Motorcycles and Bicycles 24 Deakin Avenue, Mildura, T: 03 5022 7088

Billabong Road will take you to Irymple Avenue. Continue straight ahead and you’ll reach Bruce’s Bend Marina and Kings Billabong (marker 7 on the map). There are unsealed tracks best suited to mountain bikes throughout this area. Use the map you picked up from the Mildura Visitor Information and Booking Centre to help you explore.

Jump back on Irymple Avenue, turn right and ride up the hill, through 2 intersections until you reach Fifth Street. You’re now in Nichols Point (marker 8 on the map), named after John Henry Nichols, a stockman who was chased up a tree by a maverick bull. He was found still in the tree the next morning and his mates decided to name the area after him. Although the famous tree is no longer there you can find his grave in the Nichols Point Cemetery. The Nichols Point Store is a good spot to rest your legs and pick up a coffee, snack or meal. Once you’ve refuelled, take the gravel bike track that borders the road and finishes close to Cureton Avenue. Turn left onto Cureton Avenue to head back to Mildura.

From there, go straight through the five-way roundabout at the Palms Caravan Park to continue on Cureton Avenue which then turns into Cureton Avenue East. Turn left onto Etiwanda Avenue and continue to retrace your path from the start of the loop, taking a right onto Twelfth Street to arrive back at the Mildura Visitor Information Centre (marker 1 on the map).

More information: Mildura Visitor Information Centre , 180-190 Deakin Avenue, Mildura. T: 03 5018 8380.

Body image courtesy of Parks Victoria.

Itineraries

Racecourse Loop Bike Trail

Merbein Loop Bike Trail

Mildura Riverfront History Bike Trail

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