Renmark, South Australia: What is the Murray River Walk?
The Murray River Walk isn’t a real walking trail that independent travellers can take on. It’s an adventure meets luxury tourism product, involving houseboat stays and river cruising from Renmark in South Australia.
In recent years, Australia has seen a surge in multi-day walking trails. This is partly because such long distance walking trails have been hugely successful in New Zealand. Tourism marketing types have sensed an opportunity.
Sometimes, this has been a case of stitching several existing walking trails together into something bigger. In Sydney, the existing Bondi to Coogee coastal walk, Hermitage Foreshore walk and Spit Bridge to Manly walk have undergone such a treatment. They’re now all part of the eight day Great Coastal Walk, which covers 100km around Sydney’s beaches and harbour.
Elsewhere, creating the walking route has been a way of tying together the major attractions in an area. This is particularly the case in the Northern Territory’s national parks. Here, the Tabletop Track in Litchfield National Park, Larapinta Trail in the Red Centre and Jatbula Trail in Nitmiluk National Park pitch at hardier walkers.
The Murray River Walk in South Australia
Another iteration on the multi-day walking trail theme is self-contained products aimed at travellers with plenty of money to spend. The Murray River Walk is very much in this category.
The Murray River Walk is the brainchild of Murray River Trails. The company offers a four day package along the South Australian section of the Murray River. Most people blast through on the drive from Adelaide to Mildura, after exploring the Coorong from Goolwa.
The holiday involves staying on a cosy but relatively luxurious houseboat overnight. The walking sections are combined with cruising along Australia’s longest river. Every evening, three course meals with Riverland ingredients are cooked up.
Murray River Walk: Renmark to Headings Cliffs
The tour starts in the South Australian town of Renmark. The first day’s walk is 12km from Renmark to Headings Cliffs. This includes birdwatching on river lagoons, a World War II Japanese internment camp and river red gum forests. These forests are less extensive than those in the Murray Valley National Park and Barmah National Park, but impressive nonetheless.
Day two is a 14km walk from Headings Cliffs to Chowilla Creek. There’s more river red gum forest, plus Aboriginal canoe trees and small islands along Amazon Creek.
On day three, there’s just 10km of walking, but plenty of education. There’s a visit to the Chowilla Creek Environmental Regulator to learn about environmental water use. This is something that can be done upstream near Mildura on a tour of the Hattah Lakes, too. Wetlands form the bulk of the route.
Murray River Walk: Wilkadene Woolshed Brewery
The final day only has an optional 2km walk. The rest of the day’s about cruising and a visit to the Wilkadene Woolshed Brewery inside a century-old shearing shed.
The Murray River Walk is very much a product rather than a walking trail anyone can tackle. The $2,500 price will probably be prohibitive for most people. Should it be out of your range, but you still want to explore the Riverland area, there are always kayaking tours from Berri.
Great Walks of Australia
Travellers willing to pay that much, however, may prefer some of the other Great Walks of Australia. These include the Scenic Rim Trail in Queensland and the Cradle Mountain Huts Walk in Tasmania. There’s also the Cape to Cape Walk in Western Australia and the Twelve Apostles Lodge Walk in Victoria.