Berri Street Art and Water Tower Lookout

Berri is most notable for being a citrus growing region in South Australia with the Murray River that it sits on, playing a major role in the success of the town. There are 3000 hectares of orchards around the town and it was where the Berri fruit juice company originated.

Oranges and grapes are still the major crops in the area and the river itself is another popular reason for visitors to head to this area with fishing, waterskiing, boating and houseboat hire being drawcards. This, combined with having an average daily temperature warmer than those of Adelaide in winter are all good reasons to head here and it’s only a little over 230 kilometres from the city.

A good place to start for an overview of the town is the Water Tower Lookout. Steps wind around the outside of this disused tower and then inside near the top. The view from the top looks over the town and you get a great view of just how wide the Murray is from this vantage point. The water tower is at the top of Vaughan Terrace which runs down to the picturesque riverfront and on the way you’ll pass shops to browse in, cafes and more and some dazzlingly brilliant mural art.

The colourful mural adorning the public toilet building was created by Adelaide artist Sarah Boese as part of the Hope Street Mural Project. The painting of a river turtle and plants is so bright and is another perfect example of bringing art to everybody. She has another mural in town, created in conjunction with local artist Suzanne Macpherson and it can be found brightening up a wall of the Surf N Street clothing store on nearby Wilson Street.

If you continue heading towards the river you’ll find more art under the bridge. This bridge replaced two ferries that used to cross the river between Berri and Loxton and was opened in 1997. To get to it from the waterfront you walk through a fence tunnel, past the water pumping station and there you’ll find a metal cut out mural of a dreaming story of the Ngarrindjeri people which tells of the creation of the Murray River and Ponde the giant Murray River Cod. Other river fish, yabbies and turtles feature on the panels under the bridge.