Kayaking the mystical Murray

Kayak­ing at sun­set or sun­rise is when the beau­ty and seren­i­ty of the riv­er come to the fore, with spec­tac­u­lar hues of orange, pink and scar­let light­ing up the sky before you.

With only the slight­est of breezes, the riv­er is flat and glossy like a giant mir­ror, reflect­ing the sky above and turn­ing it into a daz­zling 360-degree light show.

All you can hear is the chirp­ing of birds and the gen­tle splash as your pad­dle hits the tran­quil water.

Inhale… Exhale… Relax. It’s just you, a kayak and the won­drous Mur­ray Riv­er.

An excit­ing, unex­plored opportunity

New infra­struc­ture installed at Paringa Pad­dock is pro­vid­ing kayak­ers with an excit­ing new oppor­tu­ni­ty to canoe direct­ly from the Riv­er Mur­ray, through a seclud­ed creek inlet, and into a fab­u­lous wet­land environment.

Paringa Pad­dock is con­ve­nient­ly locat­ed between two promi­nent River­land car­a­van parks, pro­vid­ing vis­i­tors with great access to explore this area

Pad­dling at Katarapko

With present­ly high­er water flows, you can see even more of areas of Katara­p­ko by explor­ing the flood­plain and wet­lands land­scapes – so now is a great time to visit.

And just under 250 kilo­me­tres (that’s about three hours’ dri­ve) from Ade­laide, between Berri and Lox­ton, it’s easy to get to.

Most­ly con­tained with­in the Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Parkthe Katara­p­ko area is about 9,000 hectares of flood­plains and wet­lands encom­pass­ing 38 kilo­me­tres of water­ways includ­ing The Splash, Sawmill and Pig­gy creeks, Katara­p­ko Island Horse­shoe lagoons, Katara­p­ko Island swamps, and Ngak Indau and Eck­ert Creek wet­lands. All that water makes it per­fect for kayaking.

What to see

Daz­zling sun­sets and sun­ris­es, incred­i­ble bird and aquat­ic life, tree lined banks straight from a Hans Hey­sen paint­ing – stun­ning nat­ur­al South Aus­tralian beauty.

Best time to visit

Kayak­ing is avail­able all year round. As for the best time of day to go, sun­set on the Riv­er Mur­ray is sim­ply magical. 

Who can go

Kayak­ing is suit­able for all ages and no pri­or expe­ri­ence is nec­es­sary. Plus all the waters around Katara­p­ko are rat­ed as ​‘flat­wa­ter’, with lit­tle or no cur­rent and pro­tec­tion from the wind, mean­ing they’re per­fect for first timers of all fit­ness lev­els, includ­ing kids.

While you are there…

There are heaps of oth­er activ­i­ties you can do at the Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Park:

• explore the riv­er and creeks by boat and vis­it Buly­ong Island.
• go fish­ing at Katara­p­ko Creek where you can catch gold­en perch, red fin and yabbies.
• learn about the park’s wildlife and his­to­ry along inter­pre­ta­tive walk­ing trails.
• bring your binoc­u­lars and watch for rare birdlife, such as the threat­ened regent parrot.
• view the stun­ning con­trast­ing land­scapes along the Mur­ray Pine Drive.
• go camp­ing along the riv­er in des­ig­nat­ed camp­grounds at Katara­p­ko and Lyrup Flats.

So, why not take the time to explore the beau­ty of our mag­i­cal Mur­ray? Just you, and a kayak. 

Con­tact the local vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion cen­tre to find tour operators.

Pho­to cred­it: Canoe Adven­tures — Riverland

Inter­est­ed in kayak­ing? Read our blog on 8 kayak­ing tips for begin­ners.