Cosmopolitan flavours of Mildura

By PETER ELEY

The Outback is a leisurely half-hour walk from the lobby of Mildura's rather smart Grand Hotel. Not the proper Outback, of course, but more of an entree, peppered with small farms and dusty roads.

The real thing is more like an hour's drive from this city of 50,000 which sits on the Murray River, near its junction with the Darling, about 600km from Melbourne.

Mildura was the site of Australia's first irrigation scheme in the 1880s. Murray water mixed with the area's sandy red soil and sunshine created ideal conditions for crops, such as citrus, asparagus and grapes. This in turn attracted waves of immigrants, many from Mediterranean countries, Italy in particular.

So A Gondola on the Murray was a fitting name for a TV food show, hosted by Stefano de Pieri, which screened here on Prime TV.

We are in Stefano's restaurant, a candlelit cellar underneath the Grand Hotel, which is owned by his father-in-law, Don Carrazzo.

They have made us an offer we can't refuse - a five-course gourmet dinner. The first course arrives, a poached egg with prosciutto and Parmesan cheese. That is followed by two zucchini flowers pierced by asparagus spears, filled with ricotta and deep fried in tempura batter.

Our Melbourne cab driver had warned us about Stefanos. "You get a flamin' huge meal there - don't eat anything for lunch." We had though, a substantial antipasto at a nearby bistro run by Stefano's wife, Donato.

But Stefano's courses are small, if perfectly formed. Next comes ravioli stuffed with minced quail before a more substantial course of lamb fillet with spinach and fried potatoes. Dessert is a light sponge in lemon sauce. Everything had been delicious, and the cabernet merlot and sauvignon blanc from the local Deakin estate complemented the food perfectly.

Earlier we had visited Gino Garreffa, a close friend of Stefano. He arrived from southern Italy in 1969, aged 22 and unable to speak English. Thirty-three years later the man from Calabria owns Tabletop Grapes, a 40ha property in Sultana Ave, Kings Billa-bong, Irymple South.

He specialises in dried fruit for the health market, but also sells sun-dried tomatoes and capsicums and grows wine grapes on another 80ha nearby.

The large, stylish red-brick home with designer kitchen, wood-fired pizza oven, and huge outdoor dining area sheltered by grape-laden vines show that business is good.

Has Australia been the lucky country? Gino's smile flickers. "Lucky for some. Everyone's been spoiled here with divorce and single parents.

"From the first day I came here, even when I couldn't speak English, I had two jobs. I often still work 18 hours a day."

He has found time to father six children, and is married to Elina, a dark, attractive woman who came here from Italy when she was 2. Elina ushers us to a table, where a bottle of Gino's home-made shiraz sits next to freshly baked loaves and plates of tomatoes and capsicums marinaded in olive oil.

We sip the wine with caution - it is 10.30am - but it is excellent and the glasses are soon empty. We dip our slices of bread in the oil. Gino cuts a loaf in half, scoops out the soft middle and pours in the marinaded vegetables. "The Italian way," he laughs. Tour guide Brian Erskine looks at his watch and we get the message. It's time to move on.

Our day reflects the cosmopolitan nature of the Mildura region. Brian is part-Israeli, and has just taken us to see an Italian grape-grower.

Our next stop is at Mildara Wines (it used to be Mildura until that name was trademarked by someone else) where the general manager is the very pale Krister Jonsson, who markets himself as Australia's only Swedish winemaker.

Then we move on to Boulevarde Nurseries, a state-of-the-art plant propagation laboratory. Two Kiwis, joint proprietor Paul Croxton and manager Kathy Mullins, and a staff of around 50 grow hundreds of thousands of plants a year in small glass jars, a method known as tissue culture.

We watch in awe as white-coated lab workers dissect tiny plants and put each piece into a new jar. Tissue culture can produce up to five times as many plants as traditional methods.

Grapevines for the region's growers are the main product, but increasingly important are highly prized zantedeschia lilies, which, like coals to Newcastle, are exported to Holland.

Zilzie Wines is state-of-the-art, too. A stainless steel monument to progress, it sits silent and sterile on the red sand, glinting in the sunlight. Manager Andrew Forbes tells us that Zilzie is Gaelic for first home, and was the name given to the land when the Forbes family arrived from Scotland in 1911.

There are no walls here, only crushing machines and temperature-controlled fermentation vats reached by a steel walkway and controlled from a computer in a portable shed 100m away. "The winemaker can log on in France or Italy and control things from there," Andrew says.

The ultra-modern approach to a traditional industry seems to work. Zilzie has won 18 medals at national wine shows in its short life. Zilzie symbolises the region's attempt to shrug off the name it has been known by for the best part of a century - Sunraysia, a play on sun, raisins, and the fact that the sun raises you (this was in the days before the ozone hole). It was coined by a whizz-kid PR in 1919.

The preferred name today is Murray on the Outback. It is a fitting tribute to the river that gives life to the region and provides much of its leisure activities.

The best way to see the Murray is by houseboat. These flat-bottomed craft range from the size of a small flat up to four-bedroom mansions complete with spa pool.

We are on the Aquarious, a more modest but still comfortable one with two-bedrooms, shower, toilet, fully equipped kitchen, TV, CD player, aluminium dinghy for fishing, and a freezer for bait and beer. Two 9.9hp four-stroke outboards push the Aquarious along at around six knots.

Owners Tim and Val Knight gave up their farm further south after 10 years of drought and frustration over international farm subsidies. They had always taken their holidays on the Murray, where Tim fished for Murray cod, so bought a houseboat. Another followed and now they run four, specialising in family holidays.

Tim says the fishing is the best it has been for many years, mainly because professional netting on the Murray was stopped three years ago. His biggest cod to date is just under 30kg, but he is taking a holiday next month on a remote part of the river where he hopes to beat that.

The Murray around Mildura offers tranquil cruising between tree-lined banks with the chance to see more than 120 species of bird. If the peace and quiet gets too much, you can moor up near a zoo, wineries, a couple of golf courses, a service club complete with pokies, or just jump over the side and swim in the river.

If you take a walk, there's the chance to see kangaroos, emus or goannas. But Tim has a warning: "Walk along the bank and don't lose sight of the river. Remember, it's the Outback out there."

* Peter Eley flew to Mildura courtesy of Tourism Victoria.

Case notes

Getting there:

Fly to Melbourne and take a connecting flight to Mildura (14-day advance economy return ticket from Qantas starts at $1120 including taxes). Or pick up a hire car from Melbourne. There are also buses linking Melbourne with Mildura, the journey takes about eight hours. The road journey from Melbourne to Mildura is 558km.

Getting around:

Mildura has plenty of public transport and hire car companies.

Things to see and do:

* Mildura is where the Murray meets the Living Outback and an ideal base for eco-tours to Mungo National Park, home to the spectacular "Walls of China" dune system.

* Cruise the Murray on a paddle steamer from Echuca-Moama, or try the other river ports offering cruises.

* At the heart of Murray River country, Corowa has a colourful history - particularly as the birthplace of Australia's federation. Today it has a superb golf course, with Rutherglen wineries nearby.

Visit Melbourne

Mildura Grand Hotel