Coorong National Park, SA: Coorong cruise vs kayaking tour

The two best ways to visit the Coorong National Park in South Australia are Coorong cruises and Coorong kayaking tours. Both include birdwatching, the Mouth of the Murray River and pipis on the beach.

The Coorong National Park in South Australia has to be one of the most underrated parts of Australia. The Coorong is where the Murray River – Australia’s longest river – empties out into Encounter Bay and the Southern Ocean.

But it goes through a series of lakes on the way, and finally a large lagoon. The best ways to explore this lagoon, and the surrounding beaches, are on a 3.5 hour boat cruise or a day-long kayaking tour.

Kayaks on beach on Younghusband Peninsula, The Coorong, South Australia — Kayaks beached on the Younghusband Peninsula in the Coorong, South Australia, as part of the Canoe The Coorong kayaking tour.

The Coorong National Park’s combination of islands, lakes, beaches and wildlife makes it delightfully idyllic, and the Murray petering out after its long journey lends a marvellous edge of the world feel.

Where is the Coorong National Park?

Getting to Coorong gateway town Goolwa is pretty easy. It’s about 82km south of Adelaide, South Australia’s capital, and the drive takes just over an hour. But once in Goolwa, ditch the car.

The mouth of the Murray is flanked by two long, sandy peninsulas that require four wheel drive vehicles to access. And driving around the Younghusband Peninsula is such an absurdly long detour – it takes hours – you’d need a very good reason to bother.

Spirit of the Coorong cruise

The most popular way to see the Coorong is on cruise boat Spirit Of The Coorong. The company offers different length cruises on different days of the week.

These Coorong cruises visit the Goolwa Barrage, part of a system which keeps the brackish water of the lagoon separate from the fresh drinking water of the lakes, and the seals that hang around outside it.

Further into the Coorong cruise, there’s the mouth of the Murray, a whole host of strutting pelicans and a walk over the dunes to the ocean beach. Here, the sand is dotted with pipis (cockles), and the southern ocean’s waves crash seductively to shore.

Coorong National Park kayaking tours

The Coorong cruises are lovely, but if you truly want to get under the Coorong National Park’s spell, take a Coorong kayaking tour.

Canoe The Coorong runs six hour kayaking tours which cover much the same ground as the Coorong cruises. However, these Coorong kayaking cruises do so lower to the water and with a greater sense of being immersed in the surroundings.

Kayaks can get closer to the Coorong pelicans and pull up in quieter spots to explore the peninsula beaches – including the longest beach in Australia. There’s also a greater sense of achievement when the exploration is self-powered.

The full day Coorong kayaking tours cost $160 and should be booked in advance. A reasonable degree of fitness is required, but no previous kayaking experience is necessary.

The Coorong kayaking tours tours depart from Hindmarsh Island, which is connected to the mainland via a bridge.

The Coorong can be included on the Mildura to Adelaide leg of a Murray River road trip. Cheapish accommodation is available at the Goolwa Caravan Park.