Our river Queen – the PS Marion
I arrive in the resilient town of Mannum and there she is sitting elegantly on the Murray River. Painted white with red trim, with a smokestack and life-preservers like giant, dangling orange doughnuts, the PS Marion is resplendent. She’s a three-storey floating museum with a pulse.
After my luggage is carried to my top-deck quarters, I mingle and swap pleasantries with fellow passengers and crew members who are all volunteers.
Onboard are couples, families and travelling companions from SA and interstate. Margaret and Nigel are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and are joined by Doreen, Margaret’s 106-year-old mother (you read that right), for the first leg of the trip.
We’ve chosen the three-night upstream voyage from Mannum to Morgan and we’re itching to start our adventure on this magical river.
A rich history
The steam-powered PS Marion is the oldest wooden-hulled paddleboat in the world. Since 1900, she’s travelled the Murray and Darling Rivers and done it all, from carrying goods (and high-ranking politicians) to serving at official post-Federation government functions.
After entering dry dock in 1963, PS Marion became a static museum. In 1989, the Mannum community and council wisely decided to restore the vessel to her former glory. Thanks to thousands of volunteer hours, PS Marion was recommissioned in 1994 as a fully functional paddleboat with accommodation for 28 people.
Still cruisin’ after all these years
After a loud whistle, we push off and soon we’re cruising at about 9km/h. It’s the perfect speed to soak in the ever-changing beauty of this 130-million-year-old waterway.
“There’s no hurry on the Murray,” our captain Jim says.
PS Marion is powered by a wood-fired boiler, staffed around the clock by two blue overcoat-clad professionals – engineer Bryan and fireman John. At full steam, the boiler burns a tonne of wood every three hours to maintain it at 1300C-1400C. John sleeps below deck and pops the occasional log on the fire during the night. The boiler also gives us hot showers – an indispensable creature comfort on any holiday.
One of the great pleasures of this trip is the people I meet. There’s Peter and Alyson and their friends Richard and Sharon – all farmers from WA’s Wheatbelt – who’ve been touring SA and discovered the PS Marion only days before boarding.
For Yvonne and her husband John, retired farmers from Mallala, this trip is a long-held ambition. As a child, Yvonne visited the river with her family during the floods of 1956.
“My father said it’ll never be this bad again,” Yvonne tells me.
So far, he was right but the floods of 2022-2023 were the largest since 1956, and along the river, you can see plenty of signs of where the water reached.
Rolling on the river
Each day on the PS Marion brings something new. Whether it’s the mist hanging above the water in the early morning or sunny skies making the water glint and dance, river life is an endless delight. The riverscape boasts stunning scenery on every stretch, from orange wind and water-carved sandstone cliffs to placid pelicans drifting gently among ghostly tree graveyards, creating V-shaped wakes. Rustic shacks line the riverbank, and houseboats are moored among the ubiquitous weeping willows.
In places, the riverbank seems almost touchable, before widening and narrowing again. Half-dead gum trees cling desperately to the river’s edge – their vast root systems rinsed clean by decades of rushing water. Others have conceded defeat, and their gnarled trunks lie partially submerged in the shallows, providing welcome sanctuary for fledgling fish.
PS Marion is a symphony of interesting noises. The rhythmic hum of the flywheel – like a tumble dryer in a distant laundromat – combines with the cacophony of tweets, squawks and honks from the local birdlife, to create a satisfying soundtrack. Of course, there’s the unmistakable steam whistle – a remnant warning device, long before radar and GPS.
Oh, the food!
Our chef Derek is arguably the most popular crew member. After he beats a frying pan vigorously to announce mealtime, passengers stream expectantly towards the dining room. The food transports me back to my late nan’s Plympton kitchen – and that’s a special feeling.
From homemade choc-chip biscuits, quiche, and corned beef with white sauce to panna cotta and the best bread-and-butter pudding I’ve ever had (sorry Nan), the food is plentiful and tasty.
Food is prepared daily in the galley with produce from Derek’s garden. Our meals are served with minimum fuss. They’re served with love.
Off-boat activities
This is a river voyage, but we’re also treated to fun activities like sheep shearing demonstrations at Big Bend, presentations about the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve and even a tour around the campsites, vineyards and orchards of our first mate’s family property, Cordola Camping and Recreation. It’s the perfect way to break up our trip and learn something new.
I cherished every minute aboard this grand old dame of the river. I hugged goodbye to people who were total strangers only days earlier. I exchanged numbers with new-found friends, and I saw some of the very best of nature, right here in my home state.
I’ll never write like my literary idol, Mark Twain, but at least I can say we share a love of riverboats.
Dreaming of a paddleboat trip?
Book your voyage on the PS Marion with an RAA travel agent.