For New Years 2025 we escaped the wet season heat in the Top End and flew to Adelaide. It was great catching up with my Australian family before we went on exploring the Murray River region with which we fell in love right away.
On our first day in Adelaide, we found the Happy Valley Reservoir and walked around it. It’s a 10km flat gravel and dirt track around the lake. We were already halfway around when we remembered to look for Koalas but didn’t see any until we got to the short section along the highway. There, of all places, we saw a Koala with her baby. What a sight.
The next morning, we went for a walk in Belair National Park before visiting aunt and uncle for lunch. It was lovely to see them and catching up after a whole year!
After we headed to Port Willunga for New Years with my partners sister and her partner.
New Years Day we spent at Aldinga beach and in the late afternoon we got the toy car and whip out and all had a go at it, it was good fun.
New Years – what a day for the beach! 
The esky is way ahead 
The shade and chairs are lagging a bit behind, haha 
back from the beach we all had a go at the toy car 
great fun 
especially surprising everyone with the drone, haha 
next the whip got a go 
some were naturals 
soon targeting the drone 
others were absoutely hopeless 
knocked my sunnies off, half strangled myself, etc 
After New Years we took off in our rental car and headed to Renmark. On the way we drove around Lake Bonney and found the ruins of Lake Bonney Hotel.
everyone is out and about enjoying the glorious summer day 
1838 overlander (half business man, half explorer) Joseph Hawdon opened the stock/trade route along the Murray to Adelaide. It avoided a big loop of the Murray and went cross country, touching Lake Bonney. 
That spot became a regular camp of the overlanders. 1859 Pernell and Napper built the Lake Bonney Hotel. 
Two decades later the route became less used and the hotel was abandoned.
We found a fantastic free camp at Crooked Straight Campground, near Renmark.
In the morning, we explored the river on Paringa side and visited Lock 5 and the 80 tonne barge, Bunyip. We were lucky and a houseboat lined up at the lock to be let through and we watched the whole process.
The Bunyip was used to transport goods up and down the Murray River. 
The locks along the Murray River maintain a certain water level in each section. 
To be able to pass through the lock the boat gets in one end and the gates are locked again. 
Then it has to wait for the water level to adjust to the level on the other side of the lock. 
The second gate opens 
and the boat can pass through. 
Yep, 1956 I would have been in floodwater up to my neck! 
After breakfast, we walked all of the Murray River National Park in Renmark, including the Goat Island Loop and Paringa Paddock Track.
umm…we lost the track 
and here the track is under water 
What the heck?? 
in this little billabong we learned something new… 
the commotion… we assume its the mighty Murray Cod chasing the Karp? 
The Karps displayed an odd behaviour… 
they seemed to beach themselves 
turned out, they suck the algae off the floor, you can see the marks here 
a little frog 
a blue winged kingfisher (Kookaburra) 
a fresh water spring 
in a section where there is a salt crust over the soil (assume to rising water table due to tree loss in the past) 
Cormorants 
Not sure what the Pelicans were doing, but it sounded and looked like some sort of a mating call 
they all blew up their sacklike bottom beak and raised their heads and made an eerie noise 
Lock 5 from the other side 
nature does beautiful things 
Paringa Bridge – 1927 the railway bridge between Paringa and Renmark opened. It was the only lifting span bridge back in the day. The bridge was lifted on demand (the paddle steamers would blast their horn three times when about 1km away), today it lifts at set times twice a day. The railway line was replaced with a pedestrian path in 1986. 
A very popular spot for relaxing at the river and water sports – the Paringa Caravan Park
On the way back to camp, we paid the Woolshed Brewery a visit. The tasting room is in the old shearing shed on the banks of the Murray. The station on which they are situated used to be Murtho Park, originally a cattle farm, decades later a thriving wheat and sheep farm. 1988 it was bought by new owners who turned it into a brewery and cellar door.
The next morning we walked the extended Renmark Riverfront Walk (approx. 10km) before heading to Loxton where we visited the Historical Village.
This houseboat we saw every time we crossed the bridge, about time to have a closer look 
The Paringa bridge I mentioned earlier… 
Turns out, its someones house!! Thought it was part of the museum…oops 
The Pike Floodplain – until 1800 First Nations lived in this area off and with the river. Then the European diseases reached the area via the river and a lot of First Nations died. In 1830 Captain Charles Sturt was the first European party to travel past here. 1838 the Overland Stockroute which follows First Nations tracks opened and a decade later a ration depot was established to support the Aboriginal peoples who rapidly lost access to country and resources. Paringa Cattle Grazing Station was the first official European settlement in the area and by 1853 paddle steamers were transporting stock and produce for the pastoral industry. The paddle steamer transport was at its peak in 1880 with about 200 operating steamers. Each of them burned about a tonne of firewood per hour and a lot of trees got cut to supply fuel as well as clearing the boats paths. In 1956 Paringa experienced the biggest flood since settlement begun. 1960 houseboats started bringing in tourists. The houseboats are still booming on the Murray to this day. 
The Paddle Steamer Industry was built in 1911 to de-snag the river to keep it clear for the paddle steamer trade. Later she was used for the construction of the Locks along the river. By 1960 she became obsolete and stayed anchored as a floating museum until 1995 when she was worked over and now takes tourist for a ride 20 times a year. Usually she is anchored behind the Visitor Centre in Renmark. She also starred as the Lady Mabel in the TV series The River Kings. 
This is the original boiler of the P.S. Beechworth, built in 1865. She burnt to the waterline on its mooring point only 2years later. The ship was rebuilt and named Jane Eliza, which had the original bottom and engine and was used as a passenger and cargo carrier. In 1878 during a refit the boiler was removed and probably became a part of the Goolwa foundry. Jane Eliza and the Goolwa foundry were bought by the Chaffey brothers who started a reticulation business and used boiler and Jane Eliza’s engine for the irrigation pumps. The boiler was found in this exact spot in 1963 when the Showell family bought these grounds. 
The silos showcase portraits of important persons of the area. Read their stories on https://www.australiansiloarttrail.com/paringa 
The Loxton Historical Village tells the stories of the regions early settlers and their families and has a lot of original equipment on display. 
To begin farming on new land was a difficult task, especially in this region as the land was thick with Mallee scrub, that thick that “I couldn’t find a spot for a tent!” 
To cultivate the land for farming, small patches were cleared at a time. Wifes and kids worked alongside their men. 
Cellars were a necessity to store produce before refrigeration was available. It truly feels 10-15 degrees cooler in there than outside! 
A typical settler’s hut – simple and only the bare necessities. Its tiny, but nice and cool inside. I imagine it would be bitter cold in winter though. 
These huts were built of split pine slabs, pugged with clay, sand and straw and then rendered with lime wash inside and out. 
Laundry 
Many of the other buildings like the shearer shed, cow and milking sheds, horse stables, machinery sheds and pig stys, had mallee root stump walls and straw roofs. Its cool and airy in its shade. Probably insulates a fair bit in the winter too. 
Blacksmith 
Bakery – 1946 1200 loaves of bread were baked and sold per week, by 1965 it were 9000 
Bank 
in 1951 Kathleen Clare Twartz had an enterprising idea and registered her four-wheeled caravan with an empty weight of 1,7t as the Pie Cart. The full story can be read in the book “An enterprising Business Venture LOXTON PIE CART Owned and Managed by Kathleen Twartz. June 8, 1951” 
Grocery Store 
Town Institutes were the social hub of small rural communities, like Loxton. They were used for a variety of purposes such as libraries, rooms for reading, meetings, community and social gatherings, theatres and consulting rooms for visiting professionals. 
In the early 1900’s the Loxton Farming Company built the “Taldra to Pike Monorail” to transport bagged grain from the farm to the Murray River for shipping in a cost effective method as roads were practically non-existent. 
Fire Brigade 
This “Donalds” No.4 woolpress was used to press wool into bales for transport to Woollen Mills. 
Brick making 
Jail 
The telephone exchange – this manual switchboard was manned by an operator who connected the calls and also kept a log book of in- and outgoing calls. The callers were billed by the length of the calls. 
The first automatic exchange in the region, originally installed in Moorook 
We spent the night at Thiele’s Sandbar, another free camp. Quite nice, but was very crowded. We went further downstream and found three spots to ourselves away from the big crowd.
In the morning we tried to get into the Murray River National Park near Loxton, unfortunately the access is in Berri and we had to drive all the way back, well it was only 20minutes…
We tackled the first half of the 20km Katarapko Trail (Berri to Booky Cliffs). It’s a beautiful walk through forest with constant view of the river. Booky Cliffs are stunning and we considered staying the night at the camp there to walk the other half (Booky Cliffs to Murray River Lookout) but it was too early in the day to stop.
Instead we followed the Murray downstream in the car and ended up at Lake Bonney again. I’ve seen a free camp in the Loch Luna Game Reserve, a swamp next to the lake. Unfortunately, you look right at the bridge of the highway crossing the swamp and the mosquitoes were abundant, not to talk about the flies swarming the cadavers of the Karp.
Don’t need to tell you that despite the lovely scenery we bolted and went back to Booky Cliffs. Unfortunately all the camp sites facing the cliffs were booked, the site we scored a bit further downstream was lovely and way away from everyone.
We were fascinated by the ants. The bigger ones seemed to collect the youngsters and shoo them back home.
Then we followed the Murray further downstream, visited Morgan which features two pubs right next to each other – the Terminus and the Commercial. The Terminus was busy and hip as, the Commercial was quiet and …ummm, far from hip. From there we went to Blanchetown, another ferry trip to get there. We went for a look at the riverfront, seemed to be all new houses and quite flash. Very nice area. We called in at the pub and had an interesting chat with a local. The riverfront houses were all flooded recently (couple years ago), but it wasn’t really in the news. As it is with small towns out in the nowhere, they get often forgotten by the news and also by the flood management.
We found a beautiful camp near Swan Reach (Pipeline Road) and thought we away from any civilization until Proud Mary, one of the old paddle steamers pulled up opposite us. No, it wasn’t just the sunset stop, they stopped for good. We got the whole entertainment on the outside speakers, including the Trivia Night. It was good fun, after we got over the shock of having a cruiseboat right in front of our camp, haha.
First the ‘nice’ camp was occupied and we stopped at the small camp site (there are only two) 
after they left we moved to the big camp with the better ‘ramp’ for a swim. (Proud Mary is already approaching in this photo) 
here she comes 
we went about our own business – dropping a found jerrabin pot in the river 
she’s anchored for good 
Lucky! the Common Kingfisher hung out in the tree for a bit… 
Early morning… 
Got the kingfisher again in the morning 
a curious kangaroo 
and a content duck
The following day we kept following the Murray all the way to Mannum. We crossed the Murray with the ferry in Swan Reach and stopped at the Big Bend – it sure is a big bend, the land East of the river looks like an Island in that bend.
The Murray is 2756km long, 1986km of which are navigable. It spans over three states – Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. It’s the major water supply for 1,5 million households and is the third largest water catchment on earth.
We stopped at the Bowhill General Store for a coffee. They have tables and umbrellas on the lawn right on the river.
After admiring some of the old steam boats in Mannum we called in at the Hotel Pretoria which has a beer garden right on the river. From there we made our way to the Barossa Valley.
On the way we needed fuel and found Wilksch’s Garage in Mount Pleasant. The Garage was a view! Never seen such a pile of everything. The start of the pile you see on the photo goes through the whole shed! No wonder there is a sign “Customers. For safety reasons please do not enter workshop.” Hahaha
In Tanunda, the main town of the Barossa Valley we went for a wine tasting at the Chateau Tanunda. The building is stunning, with an amazing backyard. The tasting was a bit posh, we are not used to that. The wines were very good and we bought one we will drink on our next break.
After that we went to the Tanunda Hotel for lunch, where we also got a room for the night. From there we went for a bit of an explore and another winetasting. We did not realise that all the wineries close around 4pm and we ended up at the Brewery (Rehn Bier Brewery) in the Old Mill in town.
It was only a quick visit to the Barossa Valley in the heat of a heat wave, 40+ degrees. We got a good idea of it though. The Barossa Valley is famous for heavy red wine. We do like red wine, but usually on the less heavy side and mostly white wine, for which the Clare Valley would be a better destination.
Next to the brewery is a lovely café where we got a coffee before we headed off back to Adelaide as we had to catch our planes the next day.
After a decent car wash we unloaded all our gear from the rental car and packed our bags in a motel in Hyde Park. Hyde Park is a great place, as it has every style of food you can imagine and more. For example, we found a delicious Mexican during our first stay and today the Hello Neighbour – a brunch specialist – for a late breakfast. A licenced café, where I had my very first Bloody Mary and it was dangerously delicious. At night the same shop turns into Artusi By Night – a gnocchi bar.
That night we went to the Tavern where we met aunt and uncle for a goodbye dinner. Its always a pleasure catching up with them again.
The next day I had an early morning flight back to Darwin.
Not to sure what comes next, so watch this space to be as surprised as me 🙂
Explored January 2026, written February 2026
Love the photos and memories! Was awesome to have you both here. Take care, safe travels and love ya both. C & K ❤️
Thank you!! We enjoyed it very much and looking forward to next time 😘
Absolutely loved having you both here, so many laughs! Love your Blog, and the memories! ❤️