Ever since seeing Ava Gardner in the big M.G.M movie musical Showboat, Wally Cowin has dreamed of travelling on a big, slow paddle wheeler.

With this in mind, I headed to Mannum and the next best thing, the PS Murray Princess, a “stern wheeler”.

Everything on the Murray River moves slowly with the majestic Princess setting the pace at a leisurely six knots. The river bank is a kaleidoscope of colours; rich ochre reds, and splashes of green, and flapping flourishes of pink and gray as we disturb billions of galahs from their river bank perches.

Most of our fellow travellers were also in a retiring mood but also ready to soak up some of the history and romance of the Riverlands.

Dinner every night was the highlight. The upper deck boasts the Stuart dining room and bar where the PS Murray Princess turns into a floating restaurant.

Set tables of eight or ten for dinner, with roving seating at lunch and buffet breakfast, gave us the opportunity to talk with everyone on board We met seasoned travellers from New Zealand, Victoria and Queenslanders from Harvey Bay.

In the tradition of large ocean liners, the Captain’s formal dinner gave the officers the duty to dine with passengers. After dinner entertainment saw the crew sing ditties, tell tall stories and, encouraged by wild applause and shrieks of laughter, one male passenger even dressed as a lady and sat next to the captain, sipping cocktails with the officers.

The chefs were excellent. The Neptune seafood buffet saw cameras snapping. Cauldrons of mist, stacks of Spencer Gulf prawns, layers of local Coffin Bay oysters, whole baked salmon, stunning salads, iced cold smoked salmon, fried crumbed morsels with lashings of home made mayo… and all you could eat!

Our well appointed en suite cabin was serviced daily with a nightly turn down with chocolates and a schedule of the morrow’s activities. Our cabin had a large picture window, air conditioning and electric blankets. 24 hour tea, coffee & biscuits are available in the aft lounge and you get to keep your monogrammed Murray Princess coffee mug.

The Murray Princess only cruises during the day. Huge picture windows in the aft lounge cover two decks - the same size as the paddle wheel. It’s a great sight when splashing her way past the willows or meandering through the sand banks and snags in the Murray River channels.

We enjoyed a day trip to Angaston and the Barossa to see how the immigrant pioneers have put their mark on local produce. Ah, the prunes dipped in chocolate, home made fudge, wine, pickled onions, chilli chutney, wine and dried apricots, beetroot dip, sliced goat cheese, garlic sausage, gourmet stuffed olives… oh! Did I say wine?

It was well over 36 degrees when the Sunnyvale tractors and wagons met the Princess at the river bank on the Big Bend. After a dusty drive to a sheep shearing shed for a woodshed sound and light show, we were happy to spend our small change at a mock sheep auction to raise funds for the wild life sanctuary rehabilitation of wombats, wallabies and emus which had been injured on local roads.

At the Swan Reach Museum you had to sign the visitor’s book with a fountain pen by dipping the nib into an inkwell with some of the younger folk having a bit of trouble doing it! This little museum was packed to the rafters with implements of a bygone era and stories with graphic photos of the last big flood in 1956.

One morning we tied up at one of Australia’s most significant archaeological sites, Ngaunt Ngaunt, an aboriginal reserve. A light climb of just under 300 steps to the top of the cliffs has you marvelling at the glorious view. We listened to stories about before the white man came and thousand year old rock carvings were explained to us.

We spent seven nights on board doing a 3 day and a 4 day cruise together; getting an education while relaxing. It’s a great way to get away and I recommend it to anyone who’s not in a hurry.

Wally Cowin is an Accredited Small Ships Cruising Specialist with Captain Cook Cruises & Queensland rep for Gay and Lesbian Tourism Australia.

Captain Cook Cruises operate cruises up the Murray River from Mannum. Visit www.captaincook.com.au