Goolwa

A revegetated forest area on Hindmarsh Island created by community Landcare planting - a quiet bushland walk with birdlife and views to the Murray channel.

A casual beachside cafe on the road into Goolwa Beach, with ocean views, gelato counter and the standard cafe menu - the natural lunch stop after a Goolwa Beach walk.

A 1926 boatshed where wooden hulls are still saved

A working heritage boatshed on Riverside Drive where volunteers restore and build traditional wooden Murray River boats using century-old slipway equipment. Drop in on open days to watch the craft in action.

Goolwa's leading contemporary art gallery on Cadell Street, representing a wide stable of Fleurieu and South Australian artists across paintings, sculpture, ceramics and jewellery.

A Shaw-family Currency Creek estate (with a second cellar door at the Goolwa Wharf) pouring cool-climate Fleurieu reds and whites.

A heritage-listed wetland with small waterfalls, prolific birdlife and Aboriginal scar trees where canoes were once cut.

Seafood and river views on Barrage Road

An award-winning Goolwa cafe on the edge of the Murray River showcasing local produce - Coorong mullet, Goolwa cockles and Fleurieu wines - in a light-filled riverside dining room.

A riverside nature playground with a wooden boat

Goolwa's premier riverside park features an award-winning nature playspace built around a 10-metre restored wooden fishing boat, right on the Murray River with BBQs, shelters and a shallow swimming beach.

A 130-kilometre lagoon and dune system stretching east from the Murray Mouth - one of Australia's most significant wetlands, reachable from Goolwa via the barrage and across Hindmarsh Island.

A pioneer cemetery containing the resting place of many 19th-century Murray River paddle-steamer captains.

One of South Australia's tallest historic rail viaducts, a short walk through the creek valley from the Currency Creek Lions Park.

A historic township once considered by William Light as the capital of South Australia, with a Lions Park picnic area beside the spring-fed creek and an 1913 Institute building.

Electric bike rental along the 31km Encounter Bikeway with pickup at Goolwa, Middleton or Port Elliot - self-guided coastal cycling.

Walk the wall where the Murray meets the sea

A 630-metre concrete barrage built in 1940 to keep salt water out of the Lower Lakes, the Goolwa Barrage is a favourite wildlife spot where fur seals, pelicans and cormorants gather and visitors can walk right out over the lock gates.

Eighteen kilometres of open Southern Ocean sand

Goolwa Beach is the southern end of an 18-kilometre stretch of wave-pounded Southern Ocean sand running all the way to the Murray Mouth, with a patrolled swimming area and a legendary (and legal) 4WD beach drive.

A 170 m timber boardwalk over the Goolwa dunes to a lookout with panoramas of Sir Richard Peninsula, the Hindmarsh Island Bridge and the Coorong.

An 1853 stone hotel on the corner of Cadell Street, still trading after 170 years, with the salvaged figurehead from the Irish sailing ship Mozambique displayed on its facade.

A State Heritage Area covering 19 historic sites along the Goolwa wharf - paddle steamer, railway, goods sheds, hotels and Little Scotland - the best-preserved 19th-century river port in Australia.

A European-inspired wine bar and restaurant in a rustic exposed-brick space just off Cadell Street, Goolwa - share plates, natural wines and slow service the way it should be.

Riverfront dining on the Goolwa Wharf

Modern Australian restaurant on the Goolwa Wharf with uninterrupted views over the Murray and the PS Oscar W paddle steamer.

A stone obelisk on Hindmarsh Island commemorating the explorer Charles Sturt, who reached the Murray Mouth here in 1830 - a quiet riverside heritage stop.

A Mediterranean and Palm Springs-inspired cellar door and wine bar in Currency Creek, pouring easy-drinking estate wines alongside a co-designed mezze menu.

The only pub on Hindmarsh Island - a relaxed country tavern serving counter meals, local wine and beer, with views to the river channel and the Goolwa bridge.

A Goolwa-based surf school running lessons across the Fleurieu - Goolwa Beach, Middleton, Port Elliot and Victor Harbor - run by experienced surf coach Kingo with private and group options year-round.

Hall-of-Fame Ngarrindjeri cultural tours led by elder Mark Koolmatrie - Coorong cruises, dune walks, smoke ceremonies and Nurrunderi Creation Story storytelling.

Beachside seafood shack at Goolwa Beach

Seafood kiosk and cafe at the Goolwa Beach carpark from the Goolwa Pipi Company - specialising in pipis (kuti) pulled from the beach out front.

A central, no-fuss motel on Cadell Street in the heart of Goolwa, with on-site cafe (Jack's Place) and walking distance to the wharf, the Cockle Train, the brewery and the river.

A treasured main-street Goolwa cafe for gourmet coffee, all-day brunch and produce-driven lunch plates.

Family-friendly Aboriginal walking tours from Narnu Farm covering bush food, traditional tools and Ngarrindjeri culture along the Coorong fringe.

A heritage Hindmarsh Island farm with twice-daily animal feeding (deer, pigs, emu, lambs, chicks), a nature playspace, sports arena and farm-stay cottages.

A Currency Creek winery, providore and restaurant on a sprawling vineyard estate, with multiple event spaces and a long lunch reputation.

An estate-grown EVOO producer at the Nangkita Olive Grove, with sit-down oil tastings, share platters and grove discovery tours - open the first full weekend of every month.

A 1908 wood-fired paddle steamer still steaming

One of only a handful of original Murray River paddle steamers still in regular operation, the wood-fired PS Oscar W offers one-hour heritage cruises from Goolwa Wharf on weekends.

An Austrian Salomon family Finniss River estate producing premium Fleurieu Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and the flagship Alttus blend.

A reclaimed, vintage and salvage homewares shop in Goolwa - a treasure-hunt destination for industrial, coastal and farmhouse pieces.

A 900-acre family-owned Currency Creek estate, the anchor of the Currency Creek wine district, pouring a broad range including sparkling.

Daily 2, 3.5 and 6-hour cruises from Goolwa Wharf through the barrage and into the Coorong - the only operator running scheduled cruises through the Murray Mouth.

A small-batch microbrewery in the historic Goolwa Wharf goods shed, sharing a building with The Fleurieu Distillery and pouring four preservative-free hand-crafted beers.

Guided forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku) sessions in pristine riverine bush at Yundi - less than an hour from Adelaide.

A dark-sky astronomy site run by the Astronomical Society of South Australia, with public observing nights in the rural Tooperang hamlet.

David and Mary Woolaway's working pottery, jewellery, photography and scraperboard studios at Goolwa North - classes, workshops and B&B accommodation onsite.

A guided walk with a Ngarrindjeri or Kaurna Tribal Elder through Yundi bushland, with a meal of local produce afterward.

Kayak tours into the Coorong wetlands

Guided kayak tours from Hindmarsh Island into the Coorong National Park - a Ramsar-listed wetland system of lagoons, sand dunes and waterbirds.

Riverside market on the Goolwa Wharf

A community market on the Goolwa Wharf with over 80 stalls of fresh produce, crafts, food and music - held on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month.

Contemporary gallery on the Goolwa Wharf

A contemporary and touring exhibition gallery housed in a landmark building on the Goolwa Wharf, looking out over the Murray River.

Single malt whisky & Moon River Gin at Goolwa Wharf

Award-winning Australian single malt whisky distillery on Cutting Road at Goolwa Wharf, shared with the Steam Exchange Brewery.

Where Australia's greatest river meets the Southern Ocean

The opening where the River Murray - Australia's longest river - meets the Southern Ocean, about 10km southeast of Goolwa in the Coorong National Park.

Heritage steam trains along the coast since 1887

The historic Cockle Train follows the coast from Goolwa to Victor Harbor on tracks laid in 1887, run by SteamRanger Heritage Railway.

Heritage hotel on the Goolwa wharf road

Historic stone hotel on Railway Terrace, Goolwa - one of the town's most recognisable 19th-century buildings, with a pub, restaurant and accommodation.

Goolwa's Murray island with a controversial bridge

A large inland river island in the lower Murray near Goolwa, connected to the mainland by the 2001 Hindmarsh Island Bridge - a gateway to the Coorong and Murray Mouth.