Ulupna Island, Victoria: Camping, kangaroos and koalas

Koalas and kangaroos live on Ulupna Island, a Murray River island near Tocumwal and Strathmerton. They’re a fairly common part of the Ulupna Island camping experience, as are kookaburras, galahs, peregrine falcons and superb parrots.

Like Gunbower Island and Hindmarsh Island further downstream, Ulupna Island is a creation of the Murray River system. An anabranch of the Murray River – Ulupna Creek – creates the island.

The nearest towns to Ulupna Island are Tocumwal in New South Wales and Strathmerton in Victoria. This Murray River island is at the eastern end of the Barmah National Park, although not all of the island is inside the national park boundaries. Some of the land belongs to the Ulupna Island Station, which produces wagyu beef. There’s also a small timber industry on the unprotected parts of the island.

How to get to Ulupna Island, Victoria

Coming from Strathmerton, the small Ulupna Bridge crosses the Ulupna Creek. Once on the island, the creatures you’ll probably notice first are the birds, cicadas and flies. Crows caw, cicadas make a dreadful screech, and flies compound the misery on a roasting hot day.

But once you get beyond that dose of mild apocalypse, there’s plenty of cuter wildlife to be found on Ulupna Island. Around 120 bird species reside here, including the peregrine falcon, superb parrot and white-bellied sea eagle.

For more iconic Australian birds, listen out for the chortling laugh of the kookaburra and keep an eye out in the trees for a pink-breasted galah – a member of the cockatoo family.

galah in river red gum tree, Ulupna Island, Victoria — A galah in a river red gum tree, Ulupna Island. Galahs aren’t the only creatures found on this Murray River island – koalas and kangaroos live there too. Photo by David Whitley/ Australia Travel Questions

Koalas and kangaroos on Ulupna Island

Koalas also hang out in the trees on Ulupna Island. Specifically, the river red gum trees, with their bare, silvery trunks.

The island is also a popular hang-out for eastern grey kangaroos. They often bound around near the bumpy tracks across the island.

These bumpy tracks are a part of what makes visiting Ulupna Island a bit tricky. Some parts of the island are accessible in a conventional vehicle, but not reliably so. The tracks can get corrugated, potholed and waterlogged – a 4WD vehicle is advised.

Ulupna Island camping

If you hire a 4WD to visit Ulupna Island, you’ll have plenty of company. The riverside camping areas – particularly Carters Bend – are very popular with massively overequipped campers. People will come camping on Ulupna Island for days in enormous 4WDs, with solar panels, wood fires and hammocks. Many will have fishing rods, and many will play on the stony, silty beach. Beware of swimming, though – signs warn of currents and submerged obstacles in the Murray.

Ulupna Island is just under three hours’ drive north of Melbourne. It is perhaps best visited as part of a Murray River road trip, on the leg between Albury and Echuca. This Albury to Echuca drive can also include whisky tasting in Corowa, boating on Lake Mulwala, food sampling on the Murray Gate Farm Trail and walks in the Barmah National Park or Murray Valley National Park.