Murray River National Park

Murray River National Park

A section of the Commonage Drive in Paringa Paddock has become inundated as a result of environmental watering operations and is not accessible by vehicles. Details

Park fees:
Accommodation from: $14.50 per night
Fees must be paid before entry to the park. Campsite fees are per night, subject to availability.
239.81km from Adelaide
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Come and explore the Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Park. The park pro­vides ample oppor­tu­ni­ty for a vari­ety of recre­ation­al activ­i­ties such as walk­ing, bike rid­ing, canoe­ing, bird watch­ing and bush camp­ing. Des­ig­nat­ed camp­ing areas, with toi­lets (in select­ed areas) and park­ing facil­i­ties as well as walk­ing trails and a self-guid­ed dri­ve trail are estab­lished over sev­er­al areas in the park. This park enables the con­ser­va­tion of more than 14,879 hectares and includes a vast net­work of Mur­ray Riv­er wet­lands and flood­plains that pro­vide unique nat­ur­al experiences.

Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Park is divid­ed into six sep­a­rate areas: Katara­p­ko, Lyrup Flats, Kingston-on-Mur­ray, Paringa Pad­dock, Gur­ra Gur­ra and Buly­ong Island. As these areas are sep­a­rat­ed by towns, vis­i­tors will need to ensure they famil­iarise them­selves with maps of the region.

Katara­p­ko

Lyrup Flats

Paringa Pad­dock

Gur­ra Gurra

Kingston-on-Mur­ray

Buly­ong Island

Access

4WD/​boat/​2WD in dry conditions

Boat only

Near­est Town

Berri

Lyrup

Renmark/​Paringa

Berri

Kingston-on-Mur­ray

Ren­mark

Camp­ing

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Bins Pro­vid­ed

No – Please Take Your Rub­bish With You

Walking/​Bike Trails

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

Toi­lets

Yes – long drop

Yes – long drop

No

No

No

No

Wood Col­lec­tion

No

No

No

No

No

No

Dogs allowed

Restrict­ed area for dogs on leash in old Rodeo Grounds only

Yes – on leash

Yes – on leash

No

Yes — on leash

No

Gen­er­a­tor

No – per­mis­sion required

Hors­es

No

No

No

No

No

No

Trail­bike riding

No

No

No

No

No

N/A

Off-road 4WD driving

No

No

No

No

No

N/A

Katara­p­ko

Katara­p­ko fea­tures over 9,500 hectares of black box, red gum and lignum cov­ered flood­plains and wet­lands alive with aquat­ic bird species. Katara­p­ko Creek and Eck­erts Creek are sig­nif­i­cant water­ways that flow through the park and pro­vide great canoe adven­tur­ing and are very impor­tant habi­tats for native fish. The Ngak Indau Wet­land trail is ide­al for view­ing wet­land birdlife, with a bird hide for the avid birdwatchers. 

Katara­p­ko has three entrances: Lock 4 entrance (Drap­er Road, via Berri), Eckert’s Creek entrance (via Low­er Winkie Road) and Katara­p­ko Creek entrance (via Katara­p­ko Cres­cent). Vis­i­tors may access any area of the Park from these entrances. There are also a total of 55 camp­sites with­in this sec­tion of the Park.

There are a num­ber of trails for walk­ers and moun­tain bike rid­ers of all ages to explore the Park and learn about the nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al his­to­ry. More infor­ma­tion about these trails can be found under see and do. Your dog is allowed in old Rodeo Grounds area only, pro­vid­ing it is on a lead not exceed­ing three metres in length, or con­fined in a motor vehi­cle, trail­er or ves­sel (refer to map).

Kat­fish Reach is a com­mu­ni­ty envi­ron­men­tal reha­bil­i­ta­tion project that encom­pass­es the Katara­p­ko and Eck­ert Creek area. The area has been iden­ti­fied as a pri­or­i­ty flood­plain for envi­ron­men­tal flows, and for broad scale reha­bil­i­ta­tion works for native fish.

Sec­tions of the park will, at times, be inun­dat­ed by envi­ron­men­tal water to improve the health and resilience of the flood­plain trees, your patience will be required as your vis­it may be impact­ed by oper­a­tions and main­te­nance of the new infra­struc­ture and access to some areas.

Lyrup Flats

Includes 2,000 hectares along the flood­plain on the north­ern side of the riv­er and fer­ry at Lyrup. It pro­vides won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ties for bird­watch­ing, fish­ing and camp­ing. Seclud­ed camp­sites are locat­ed along the Mur­ray Riv­er, with two camp­grounds, Black Box and Col­li­gans avail­able for larg­er groups. Your dog is allowed in Lyrup Flats pro­vid­ing it is on a lead.

Paringa Pad­dock

Nes­tled between the towns of Ren­mark and Paringa, Paringa Pad­dock (which includes Goat Island) con­tains areas of river­ine wood­lands, wet­lands and riv­er flats cov­er­ing 1161Ha. Mag­nif­i­cent riv­er red gum (Euca­lyp­tus camal­d­u­len­sis ssp. camal­d­u­len­sis) and riv­er box (E. largi­flo­rens) line the flood­plain. The wet­land com­plex includes a num­ber of per­ma­nent and tem­po­rary wet­lands which pro­vide habi­tat for koalas, birds and reptiles.

A great recre­ation­al park with some­thing to do for peo­ple of all ages and abil­i­ties, there are a mul­ti­tude of walk­ing and bik­ing trails devel­oped by the Ren­mark Paringa Coun­cil and the local com­mu­ni­ty. Your dog is allowed in Paringa Pad­dock pro­vid­ing it is on a lead not exceed­ing three metres in length, or con­fined in a motor vehi­cle, trail­er or ves­sel (refer to map). This is a day vis­it area only and no camp­ing or fires are allowed.

Wood and sol­id fuel fires, includ­ing camp­fires, are strict­ly pro­hib­it­ed in this park all year round. Gas fires are per­mit­ted in this area.

Gur­ra Gurra

A beau­ti­ful area (520.8Ha) of River­ine wood­land locat­ed just across the riv­er south of Berri, and direct­ly oppo­site the riv­er from Katara­p­ko. Encom­pass­ing a por­tion of Gur­ra Gur­ra Creek at the west­ern end of the Gur­ra Lakes Wet­land Com­plex (a wet­land of nation­al impor­tance), Cause­way and Lit­tle Duck Lagoons. An impor­tant area pro­vid­ing habi­tat for many species of mam­mals, rep­tiles, birds, frogs, fish and oth­er invertebrates.

Mean­der qui­et­ly through these wet­lands in your canoe or small boat and enjoy some bird­watch­ing or fishing. 

Kingston-on-Mur­ray

Cov­er­ing 93Ha of most­ly per­ma­nent healthy fresh­wa­ter wet­land on the south­ern bank of the Mur­ray Riv­er, adja­cent the town­ship of Kingston-on-Mur­ray. This fea­tures mature, healthy river­ine wood­lands, with riv­er red gums along the banks and fur­ther inland pro­vid­ing essen­tial habi­tat for many species of mam­mals, rep­tiles, birds and inver­te­brates. The area is ide­al for fish­ing, canoe­ing or bird watch­ing, with Wach­tels Lagoon and Loch Luna near­by to also explore. For the avid walk­er, a new­ly devel­oped walk­ing trails will take you from Kingston-on-Mur­ray to Moorook. Your dog is allowed in Kingston-on-Mur­ray pro­vid­ing it is on a lead not exceed­ing three meters in length, or con­fined in a motor vehi­cle, trail­er or ves­sel (refer to map).

Buly­ong Island

North of Ren­mark, this area is only acces­si­ble by boat. The Gool­wa street boat ramp is the clos­est launch point. The island is home to a num­ber of wildlife species, such as west­ern grey kan­ga­roos, emus, pel­i­cans, king­fish­ers and par­rots. It is a fan­tas­tic area for canoe­ing and explor­ing the exten­sive water­ways above Ren­mark by small boat.

Park maps

Camp­ground maps

Canoe­ing trails

For infor­ma­tion on how to pur­chase detailed, inde­pen­dent­ly pro­duced canoe trail maps please con­tact the Berri Vis­i­tor Infor­ma­tion Cen­tre or the Ren­mark Paringa Vis­i­tor Infor­ma­tion Cen­tre.

Maps on your mobile

If you have a smart­phone or tablet you can down­load the free Aven­za Map app and have inter­ac­tive nation­al park maps on hand when you need them.

The app uses your device’s built-in GPS to plot your real-time loca­tion with­in the park onto a map. The app can be used with­out a net­work con­nec­tion and with­out roam­ing charges. You can also mea­sure area and dis­tance, plot pho­tos and drop place­mark pins. 

How to get it work­ing on your device:

1. Down­load the Aven­za Maps app from the app store (iOS/Android) whilst you are still in range (its free!).
2. Open up the app and click the shop­ping cart icon.
3. Click Find’ and type the name of the nation­al park or reserve you are look­ing for.
4. Click on the map you are after and install it (all our maps are free).
5. You will now find a list of your installed maps on the home page of the Aven­za Maps app.
6. Use our maps through the Aven­za Mapa app while in the park and nev­er take a wrong turn again.

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