Riverland

The Murray runs differently in the Riverland — wider, slower, and lined with cliffs of white and ochre limestone rising from the water's edge in a geography that suggests Utah more than South Australia. The river here is the whole experience: this is houseboat country, canoe country, sit-on-the-deck-and-watch-the-pelicans country.

Renmark and Berri are the Riverland's two main towns, both sitting directly on the river, both with working irrigation infrastructure that has produced table grapes, citrus and almonds since the soldier settlers arrived in the early 1900s. The citrus harvest from August to October gives the roadside stalls a citrus weight and fragrance that draws food tourists as deliberately as wine tourism draws people to other parts of SA.

Katfish and Murray cod hold in the river's deep bends and submerged timber. The Murray River National Park, accessible only by river or foot, protects long sections of flood plain and cliff-edge habitat where native vegetation was never cleared — a rare and disorienting green corridor through otherwise intensively farmed country. Canoe camping along the river corridor, moving between riverside camps under red gum canopies, is one of the most genuinely relaxing ways to travel in South Australia.