Caravanners are spoilt for places to stay on the Murray River in Mannum. As well as the caravan park, there are two off grid areas on the opposite side of the river where you can park with river views and enjoy the ambiance.

This part of the river saw some major flooding in 2023 when a slow deluge made its way down the river. Mannum had warning that the water would be rising so residents and businesses were able to prepare as best as possible, for what was to come. It became the third highest flooding event in recorded history.

Lower lying places were inundated with water but others on higher ground were spared. Now two years later, the resilient town of Mannum is back to its beautiful best and the townspeople are only too eager to have visitors back enjoying this spectacular part of the river.

The caravan park prepared for the flood by creating a huge levee bank which weaved its way through the park and managed to hold back much of the water and didn’t cause too much damage that can be noticed today.

Mannum has two car ferries to get you across the river and like all the Murray River ferries in South Australia, they are free to use and operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Taking a ferry across the river and turning right will take you to Bolto Reserve, a council run off grid caravan and camping spot. There are lots of spaces to stay, including some on the riverfront and it costs $10 per night for a maximum of 5 nights. There is a ticket machine located at the toilet block to pay for your stay.

Bolto Reserve has a toilet block with flushing toilets and there are lots of bins provided, and you can have a fire in pits provided. It’s an easy walk from here to the ferry so you can leave the car behind and walk everywhere once you’ve set up.

If you turn left from the ferry crossing, a short distance along will bring you to Haythorpe Reserve. This riverside camping and caravanning spot has had some work done to repair flood damage but the toilet block and dump point that used to be there, haven’t been replaced as yet. There’s also nowhere to pay to stay either so if you want to stay here you’ll have to be completely self-contained.

From Haythorpe Reserve you can also easily walk back to the ferry to cross back into town on foot.

On our recent visit we found a few new shops and businesses had popped up in town including lovely gift, homewares, and clothing shops and a must visit is Nourish Home and Pantry, which offers locally grown and produced food, wholefoods, dried fruits and nuts, teas, chocolates and lots of beautiful kitchenware.

There are plenty of good places to eat in Mannum too, so next time you’re in town make sure to visit the Mannum Club, the Pretoria Hotel and the Mannum Hotel and spend up.

Enjoy

Glenys

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