--- title: "Murray River Guide — Murray-Darling Basin Touring" description: "The Murray River covers 15% of Australia's land area. Touring routes, experiences and learning resources for the Murray-Darling Basin's iconic waterway." url: "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/murray-river" date: "2026-07-09T12:09:11+00:00" language: "en-AU" --- # Murray River Outback & River Country Touring Region## The Murray River, Australia's Most Iconic Waterway Touring Routes & Experiences The Murray River is Australia's longest river, rising as a spring near the Pilot in Kosciuszko National Park and flowing west through the Upper Murray, the Riverina and the river-port towns to its junction with the Darling River at Wentworth, before continuing into South Australia to Lake Alexandrina. Together with the Darling it forms the backbone of the Murray–Darling Basin, which covers about 15% of Australia. Australia's Murray River, our longest river, and Darling River (our longest waterway) combine to form the backbone of the expansive Murray-Darling Basin (along with their respective tributaries). With such a diverse expansive landscape, that covers about 15% of the area of Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin lends itself perfectly to some great touring routes; and those that are lesser-known that come from years of experience. ## The Course of the Murray River The Murray River rises in the Australian Alps (as a spring near a point known as the Pilot in the Kosciuszko National Park) with the majority of its flow coming from the spring snowmelt on the western side of the alpine mountains which includes Australia's highest mountain Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m). From the Alpine region, the Murray river meanders its way west down through the Upper Murray region to Lake Hume near Albury, across the Riverina to Lake Mulwala (Yarrawonga) and onto Echuca which is the closest point the river gets to Melbourne and the reason Echuca became an important riverboat town. From Echuca, the Murray River heads northwest through the Barmah forest, through which it ephemerally spreads, before heading to Mildura via Swan Hill. About 20 km downstream from Mildura, it is joined by the Darling River at Wentworth, and as one they flow west across the border into South Australia and onto Morgan via Renmark and Loxton. From Morgan, the Murray river heads south via Blanchetown, Mannum, Murray Bridge, and Tailem Bend before reaching its final destination of Lake Alexandrina, and out to the Great Australian Bight via to Coorong. 📍 NSW · VIC · SA 🏔️ Source: Kosciuszko National Park 🌊 Mouth: Lake Alexandrina & the Coorong ## Explore the Murray River Touring Routes From the Upper Murray and Tom Groggin to the lower river and the timber-cutters' country — discover the touring options. [Darling River Run](https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/darling-river/run) [Corner Country](https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/cameron-corner) [Outback Wall Art](https://wallart.reddustsnow.com) ## Schema ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/murray-river#webpage", "url": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/murray-river", "name": "The Murray River, Australia's Most Iconic Waterway", "description": "Touring the Murray River — Australia's longest river — from the Australian Alps through the Riverina and river-port towns to Lake Alexandrina, with touring routes across the Murray–Darling Basin.", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/#/schema/WebSite/base" }, "about": { "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/murray-river#river" }, "creator": { "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/#/schema/Person/simon" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/#/schema/Organization/base" }, "author": { "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/#/schema/Person/simon" } }, { "@type": "Place", "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/murray-river#river", "name": "Murray River", "description": "Australia's longest river, rising in Kosciuszko National Park and flowing west through NSW, Victoria and South Australia to Lake Alexandrina.", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressCountry": "AU" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/murray-river#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Explorer", "item": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Murray River", "item": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/murray-river" } ] }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://reddustsnow.com.au/explorer/murray-river#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Where does the Murray River start?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The Murray River rises in the Australian Alps as a spring near a point known as the Pilot in Kosciuszko National Park, with most of its flow coming from spring snowmelt on the western side of the alpine mountains, which include Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m), Australia's highest mountain." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How long is the Murray River?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The Murray is Australia's longest river. 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