Murray Bridge, SA

Our three week stay in Murray Bridge was our last in South Australia before we headed off back towards NSW. We had an old spacious cottage on the edge of town which was only a ten minute walk to the central area (Murray Bridge is not very big, it was also only about a 10 minute walk to leave the town entirely…)

There was an area nearby called ‘Rocky Gully Wetlands’ which took about ten minutes walk to get to (told you..) and from there, there was a trail that looped back into town along some irrigation channels and joined the Murray River. At the back of this area were desolate gravel roads which were also good for walking on.

It was also around a 10 minute walk to an ‘actual’ Murray Bridge – eg. a bridge across the Murray River – and walking over this led to a trail alongside the river in both directions.

But without doubt, the star attraction of Murray Bridge was the ‘Bunyip’ – located alongside the river in the nice parkland in town. The ‘Bunyip’ is part of the creation story of the Ngarrindjeri people (to them, the Bunyip is known as the Mulyawonk.) The story teaches children not to swim alone, and not to take more fish from the river than needed. The Bunyip from the story lives in a cave near Tailem Bend, whereas this Bunyip in Murray Bridge was created in 1972 and is quite a spectacle. Pushing a button releases the Bunyip from its underwater lair, and when it emerges it makes a very scary noise…

Murray Bridge is only around an hour from Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula, so we took a couple of trips out to go down memory lane and visit some places that we had been before when we were staying in these areas. We also took a couple of trips to Kinchina Conservation Park which was close by and had some walking trails.