What I See with Peter Fiorenza: Why my adventure on the mighty Murray River was so special

Here in WA we don’t have a great number of rivers.

I suppose if you look at a map, you probably could identify quite a few, but they don’t tend to dominate the landscape like they do in some other parts of the country.

Yes, we have the Swan in Perth and the Gascoyne and Murchison in our neck of the woods, however, the place of rivers in the geographical vernacular is not as prominent.

For instance, the Murray River, that winds through a good portion of South Australia and influences both NSW and Victoria could make up a whole volume of Australian geography on its own.

In fact, the mighty Murray, actually, forms the border between NSW and Victoria.

It was only on a recent trip through South Australia, that I got the opportunity to see quite a bit of this major waterway and appreciate its significance.

Travelling with friends on a 10-day adventure from Adelaide to historic mining settlements to the north and back through the famed wine regions, also included my first encounter with the Murray.

Despite having never seen the river before, I certainly knew quite a bit about it and its significance to life in this south-eastern corner of Australia.

Years ago, I fell in love with an Australian period television drama series, All the Rivers Run.

You might remember it, starring acting icons Sigrid Thornton and John Waters.

It was based on a novel written in 1958 by Nancy Cato and was the tale of the beautiful and spirited Philadelphia Gordon and her life, love and adventures.

It centres around the town of Echuca, a hub for the steamboat industry on the Murray River in the late 1800s.

The river was, indeed, the lifeblood of hundreds of communities as paddle steamers serviced thousands of Australians with vital supplies for everyday life.

Mannum, 84km east of Adelaide on the west bank of the Murray, is a quaint little settlement from where you can launch an adventure on the Murray.

And I did it onboard the PS Mayflower, considered to be the oldest steamboat operating on the Murray today.

No longer steam powered, The Mayflower is a little gem that makes its way down river at a speed conducive to an era long gone.

It was only a couple of hours down and back, but an experience none the less that will remain in my memory.

Surprisingly, bridges are few and far between.

Leaving Mannum, we had to board a little barge to cross to the other side and back on to the main road to Victor Harbour.

Goodbye dear Mannum.

But the adventure doesn’t stop there.

Part two of my encounter with the mighty Murray is soon to come.

Peter Fiorenza hosts Sports Shed Saturday (9am to noon) and Fiorenza on Sunday (10am to noon) on Radio MAMA