A Review by Nigel Hopkins
The Great Murray River Run Cruise 

The famed explorer Captain Charles Sturt never had it this good.

Back in 1830, when he and his crew rowed the length of the Murray River in a heavy whaleboat, followed by a return journey 1400km back upstream, river exploration was an exhausting and dangerous business.

Now, in an extraordinary development in river tourism, explorers can cover in 10 days what took the intrepid Captain Sturt more than two months. Called The Great Murray River Run, it takes place in two separate stages, each of five days.

The first is a 560km journey that runs from Wellington, on the shores of Lake Alexandrina near the mouth of the river, to Border Cliffs, 60km upstream from Renmark. The second stage of 426km goes from Renmark to Mildura as a separate tour, although intrepid explorers can combine both tours if they wish following a brief stopover in Renmark.

Instead of a clumsy whaleboat, modern river explorers travel in a fast, 13m Spirit of the Coorong, powered by 400hp motors that whisk its maximum of 20 passengers along at up to 35km/h – while at the same time being so maneuverable and shallow drafted it can still nose into all the backwaters and side creeks.

Instead of makeshift camps on sandbars, braving sometimes hostile Aborigines, today’s explorers enjoy real comfort, staying in river town hotels for the four nights of the first stage. The second stage, from Renmark to Mildura, offers a rustic change of pace with accommodation for four nights in original shearing quarters on working sheep stations.

All meals are included and, unlike Sturt whose crew had to row hard for their return journey, passengers are returned to their starting port by coach.

“It’s possibly the only river trip of its kind in the world,” says Spirit Australia Cruises director Jock Veenstra. “You can do wonderful river cruises on the Rhine or the Mississippi, but there’s nothing like this.”

In total the two cruises cover more than 1000km in 10 days, passing through all six river locks in SA, with side tours that include the Big Bend at Night tour to see wombats and other nocturnal wildlife, a trip to Wentworth and a 52km journey up the Darling River to Avoca Station.

Detailed histories are provided on the river, historic relics, towns and communities, and some of the magnificent homesteads passed along the way, such as Moorna and Chowilla.

The new cruises were developed by Mr Veenstra after passengers on his internationally renowned Spirit of the Coorong Cruises operating out of Goolwa commented that they wanted to go further, yet there were no commercial cruises available.

Concern over the future of 2530km Murray River has sparked even more interest among eco-tourists wanting to experience its unique environment and add their voices to those seeking its protection. The explorers’ mode of travel may have changed, but much of the river grandeur that enthralled Charles Sturt remains.

There are still the 30m high yellow cliffs, the remains of giant river red gum forests lining reedy river banks and wetlands, an ever-changing maze of swamps, horse shoe lagoons and islands that are home to some of South Australia’s most fascinating birds and animals.

There are still the marks of early indigenous cultures, with ancient red gums where bark canoes were cut with stone age flint axes and engravings cut into river rock walls. And after Sturt came a new history, when the river was Australia’s most important transport highway with a huge commercial steamboat trade and colourful riverside ports.

The Murray River is vital to Australians for many reasons – its prosperity, its environment, its communities and its future depend on it. Modern demands for agricultural, domestic and industrial use, as well as the importance of protecting its diverse ecosystems, require a balance that needs constant attention.

The Great Murray River Run provides an unequalled opportunity to discover the river, its history and its life. Captain Sturt would surely have loved to come along for the ride.