Waikerie Cliff Top Walk

Today we drove around 60 km west from Berri to a place called Waikerie in the Riverland area.  The Riverland is another lovely area of South Australia that is an area producing most of Australia's fruit including citrus and stone fruits and in later years has also become the biggest producer of Almonds.  But the most surprising of all, is the little known fact that this area is the largest producer of wine in Australia. In fact the majority of Barossa growers import wine from this region as they simply do not have the area to grow grapes like they do in the Riverland.

Our intention today is to walk the Waikerie Cliff Top Walk that has received many awards for being an outstanding walk, and I can tell you it is well deserved.  It is not a long walk - just under 4km - but it is challenging with its many steps and hill climbs.  We should have arrived about an hour earlier than we did (10am) but daylight saving has thrown out our body clocks and we didn't wake until after 7am.  The temperature today reached 37 degrees so the walk was quite warm.  There are lots of people out enjoying the walk as today is a public holiday across Australia.

We start our walk near the Ferry that we read is free, and is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!  It runs continuously and takes all manner of vehicles even trucks and trailers.  We notice that houseboats have to give way to the ferry and when the ferry pulls in to off-load the vehicles the houseboats make a mad dash across the river where the ferry crosses.  

The walk is wonderful with sweeping views of the Mighty Murray River and its red cliffs that soar high on either side of the river.  

We pass by pumping stations both old and new and are amazed at how much water is taken from the river for irrigation purposes.

We reach a fork in the road that diverts from the walk and takes us to the Silo Art.  I found a friend to sit with at the Silo Art.  His name is Murray.  There is actually quite a lot of artwork along the path that makes for an interesting walk.

Spring has certainly sprung in this area and the wildflowers, trees and vines are all flowering.  The grape vines are covered in new growth that is so different from the vines we saw in Clare back in August.

This area was hit badly by the floodwaters in 2022 and we see signs of river heights everywhere along the Murray River.  A lot of caravan parks that were on the river have now closed and some never to re-open with the damage being too severe.  It is pleasing to see though that in Waikerie a whole lot of new work is being carried out along the riverbank including what looks to us like a new caravan park.  In fact we have noticed in Murray Bridge and Berri that the river walkways have had complete make-overs making them beautiful places to walk.  But when you see this photo you know that floods are something the locals learn to live with...