Great camping spots: Booky Cliffs

Rush­ing the kids to school, rac­ing to work, we’re often so busy we don’t even have a moment for lunch, let alone for spend­ing qual­i­ty time with family.

But there’s no bet­ter way to bring a fam­i­ly togeth­er than a camp­ing hol­i­day in the beau­ti­ful South Aus­tralian bush, and just a few hours’ dri­ve north east of Ade­laide is the per­fect spot: Booky Cliffs campground.

Locat­ed at Katara­p­ko in the Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Park, about 240 km from Ade­laide between Berri and Lox­ton, Booky Cliffs is acces­si­ble by 2WD car and can accom­mo­date small car­a­vans and camper trail­ers, mak­ing it ide­al for group and fam­i­ly camp­ing get­aways right on the riverbank.

Pitch your tent among the gum trees, look out across the water and lis­ten to the birds in the icon­ic riv­er red gums. You’ll swear you’re the first per­son to ever set foot in the place. Lucky for mod­ern campers though, you’re not – Booky Cliffs is well equipped with eight sep­a­rate sites, and toi­let facil­i­ties (phew!).

Wake up to incred­i­ble orange and pink sun­ris­es that reflect off the water and light up the stun­ning Bookpurnong Cliffs, and go to sleep under mil­lions of twin­kling stars.

Kids will love spot­ting the abun­dant wildlife in the area – keep an eye out for kan­ga­roos, echid­nas, sand goan­nas and brush­tail pos­sums, and don’t for­get to pack your fish­ing rod. Booky Cliffs is a great fish­ing spot, with avail­able species includ­ing gold­en perch, yab­bies and Euro­pean carp.

A breed­ing area for many native birds such as Aus­tralian Reed-War­blers, Lit­tle Grass­birds, Superb Fairy­wrens and the threat­ened Regent Par­rot, the park is also a bird­watcher’s par­adise – so bring your binoculars.

With mul­ti­ple walk­ing trails near­by, and ample oppor­tu­ni­ties for canoe­ing and kayak­ing, Booky Cliffs offers a range of activ­i­ties to enter­tain all fit­ness and ener­gy lev­els. And of course, it’s easy to spend a day just sit­ting qui­et­ly by the riv­er, breath­ing in the clean air, soak­ing up the sun and watch­ing the world go by.

Camp­ing in Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Park is only allowed at des­ig­nat­ed camp­sites. To camp at Booky Cliffs, book online before you go at the Nation­al Parks SA web­site. Select camp­site 7, 8 or 9 in the Katara­p­ko sec­tion of the park. Fees apply.

Booky Cliffs is just one of many great places to vis­it in the Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Park.