It was time to make a Murray River pilgrimage. Having seen the Murray River up as far as Mildura and having seen how it is flowing and looking healthier, we wanted to see what effect it was having downstream.

The day involved going to Port Elliot, Goolwa, The Murray mouth and Lake Alexandrina. Port Elliot was a real surprise with the very pretty costal scenery with a quaint smaller town feel. The history of the area and the number of ship wrecks in the area of Horseshoe bay was very interesting. This area is where Captain Flinders ( HMS Investigator ) had a chance encounter ( now named Encounter Bay ) with Captain Baudin ( French ship the Geographe ) back in 1802.

Goolwa was only a short drive away and had been a very important inland Port for the Paddle Steamer trade on the Murray River as it was situated close to the Mouth of the river. The road bridge over the Murray allowed out onto Hindmarsh Island where we went to look at one of the several Barrages across the various channels of the Murray. These barrages are to hold back fresh water for Lake Alexandrina and to prevent the salt water from the ocean coming back up with the tide.

A little further down Hindmarsh Island we reached a point where we could see the mouth of the Murray River. Many previous years of drought had been devastating to this area, which is the start of the Coorong. Better water flows and a lot have sand dredging have restored a lot of health to these very important environmental areas. It was a great feeling to see it looking so much healthier.

We look forward to seeing more of the upper reaches of the Murray when we go back into NSW and Victoria at a later date.

Dave