Paj and Heather's Big Adventure 2008
Part Nine - River Murray
We decided it was time for a change so we booked a houseboat on the River Murray. The river starts right up in New South Wales and flows down through Victoria and South Australia and finishes near Goolwa which is about an hour and a half southeast of Adelaide.
We arrived in Mannum on the 7th October and had lunch at the Pretoria Hotel before heading to the Marina for 2pm as arranged. We were given an hour to set up and then the staff came and gave us a run down of how everything worked before they sent us on our way.
Our
home for the next week was to be the Hannah Joy. All we had to take was
our food, drink, clothes and fishing gear. The boat was fully
self-contained with a spa on the top deck and a dishwasher.
We had 7 nights to play with so
we set off upriver and got as far as Swan Reach before turning round and
making our way back. The scenery was spectacular – towering cliffs,
farmland, woodland, rows of holiday shacks along the river bank. There
were a few towns along the river where we could hop off and get supplies
otherwise it was just a case of finding some trees to tie up to in the
evening.
The birdlife was amazing. The binoculars have certainly had a lot of use. I have been watching kingfishers, herons, nesting Peregrine Falcons and Kites with chicks and many other birds.
The Murray Princess is a huge Paddleboat that cruises up and down the river, stopping at various places of interest on the way. It is like a floating hotel.
Paj
tried his hand at fishing. He didn’t have much luck with the worms but
once he started using bread he started reeling in the European Carp.
There are no restrictions on the number or size of these as they are an
introduced species that they are trying to get rid of. It is illegal to
put them back in the river alive. The numbers of native fish are
dropping dramatically because the carp are destroying their natural
habitat.
Most of our evenings were spent on the top deck in the spa, watching the sunset and birds with a glass of wine in hand. Does that set the scene for you?
It would be good to be able to explore the whole length of the river. There are so many houseboats on the river both for hire and privately owned ones. The river is set up for them. It was a lovely relaxing week and we will definitely do it again.
