Camping along the Upper Murray River

The Murray River is probably the best known of all of the rivers in Australia. From holding the record as Australia's longest river to is colonial history, the Murray River has so much to offer. When we explored the Upper Murray region we found there was an unexpected charm about the towns and communities along side this iconic waterway.  There are plenty of places along the banks of the river to spend a night or two and take in the picturesque scenery of river as it cuts its way through the landscape. We found the folks in the local towns to be warm and friendly and always willing to provide advice on the best paces to visit.

The source of the Murray River is a place called Indi Springs and then makes its way, 2500km, through NSW, Vic & Sa, building volume until it empties out into the ocean at Goolwa SA.

We started our journey along the Uper Murray in a place called Tom Groggin in the Khancoban area of southern Kosciuszko National Park,, however we decided not to take the van any further than Indi Bridge but as we still wanted to get closer to the source of the Murray River we took the drive out to Tom Groggin. We crossed into NSW and travelled along the Alpine road which was well made but it does have some very tight curves and steep grades. For this trip Tom Groggin will be the furthest upstream we get to. The source of the Murray River is a further 70 km upstream from here. Tom Groggin also has a river crossing from NSW into VIC Alpine National Park and while we were tempted to make the crossing we decided just to dip our tyres in the water for a photo op . On the way we called into Scammells Lookout and the Murray 1 Hydro Power Station. You could feel the temperature drop as we went along the Alpine road.

Continuing our trip along the Murray River we called into the Lighthouse Crossing Reserve (about 12min out of Corryong) for the night. It is a beautiful location with amazing river views and the weather has been so kind to us so far. According to Google its about 182 km from the source of the Murray. Lighthouse Crossing Reserve is a free camp with absolutely no facilities so you need to be fully self contained. You also share the place with cows! And much to Wenda's disgust there was plenty of evidence of their presence. So if you are adverse to the odd cow patty then this place may not be for you. When we arrived there was a very frequent shotgun blast and we have determined it is one of those scatter guns things that they use to scare the Cockys away from the crops. The farmer did call past at around 4.30pm to switch it off so we had a very peaceful night.

We then made our way to Gadds Bend Gadds Bend camping area on the Murray River is a beautiful place to spend time free camping, only minutes from the Upper Murray towns of Walwa and Jingellic, we’d forgotten that it was a long weekend and the place filled up with vans and tents. Even so there was plenty of room for all and the weather has been just amazing for this time of year. We have spent three nights here and have enjoyed every moment from the evenings sitting in front of an open fire overlooking the river gently flowing by, making its way toward the ocean over 2000 km from here to the sun-drenched days enjoying the beauty of this region. Gadds Bend has no facilities and visitors need to be fully self contained, the area is quite uneven and finding a level spot was a challenge but being one of the first here we were able to find a prime position 

After a week of free camping we were ready for a few of the creature comforts of a caravan park and headed over to Ebden on the Lake Hume and about 20min out of Wodonga. It was a great opportunity to catch up with the washing and a bit of cleaning before heading off on the next leg of this epic adventure along the Murray River

We used Wiki Camps to find all of these places and there were so many more we could have picked. We think it could get quite busy here during the holiday periods and during the warmer months. We were fortunate to have these places mostly to ourselves.