Top Ten Houseboating Spots in Australia by Daniel Scott

Call me anti-social but in my travels around Australia, the places that I remember most vividly are those that were the least crowded when I visited. Happily, in a country as vast as ours, there are still plenty of places we can have virtually to ourselves. But perhaps the surest way of avoiding the masses, even in the most popular destinations, is to visit them outside the main tourist season.

There is nothing like a houseboating trip for getting away from it all. Even if civilisation is just around the corner, cruising Australia’s beautiful waterways brings with it a delicious sense of seclusion and relaxation. The only difficult question is where to do it. Here are ten suggestions for the perfect houseboating holiday.

DAMPIER ARCHIPELAGO, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

You can’t actually go anywhere on this houseboat, permanently moored in Peacefull Bay on the Dampier Archipelago, but there can be no more enticing place in Australia to bob about in a boat than this. The mooring is adjacent to a white sand beach in sheltered turquoise waters between Dolphin & Angel Islands, just 12 miles from Dampier, and offers total seclusion. If you do feel like moving or going fishing, then just jump into one of the small Plakka boats that come with the houseboat.

FRASER COAST, QUEENSLAND

The Fraser coast has two houseboating centres, at Hervey Bay and at Rainbow Beach, both allowing access to Fraser Island. The Hervey Bay centre is the closest to the island, under an hour’s cruise away from highlights such as White Cliffs (a huge sandblow) and Fraser’s many creeks and freshwater lakes. In season there is also the chance to see humpback whales in the Bay and year-round the fishing and crabbing in the Great Sandy straits is excellent.

GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND

For a completely different experience of the Gold coast, try houseboating. To the region’s south you can explore 60 kilometres of the Tweed River, flanked by sub-tropical rainforest, cane and dairy farms, with Mount Warning and the Macpherson Ranges in the background. Further north you can cruise for fifty kilometers along the protected coastal Broadwater.

HAWKESBURY RIVER, NSW

Given that Sydney is just around the corner, houseboating on the Hawkesbury has a miraculous sense of peace and isolation. Boats are available for hire at a few points along the river, including Berowra, Wiseman’s Ferry and Brooklyn. 

Picking up a boat at Brooklyn allows you to explore the lower reaches of the river and the fjord-like inlets of the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park.  Wobbling gently on a mooring at spots like Yeaoman’s Bay, Smith’s Creek and America Bay here, it is easy to feel a million miles away from the city.

LAKE EILDON, HIGH COUNTRY, VICTORIA

With over 500 kilometres of shoreline, sheltered bays and safe swimming areas, Lake Eildon is ideal for a houseboating holiday. Cruise its tranquil waters, fish for trout or venture into Lake Eildon National Park, surrounding much of the lake's shore for a bushwalk. Houseboating in Victoria’s High country, a scenic drive a few hours north-east of Melbourne, also offers a good chance to spot wildlife both on Lake Eildon itself and in the nearby forests and mountains.

MARY RIVER, NT

For a really unusual houseboating experience try cruising the Northern Territory’s Mary River. Travelling through this wonderful wetland area you can watch crocodiles lounging on the riverbank, fish for huge Barramundi and experience a large variety of birdlife. Houseboats are available from Corroboree Billabong.

MURRAY RIVER, ViCTORIA

Murray River remains the third longest navigable river in the world, after the Amazon and the Nile, and actually spans three states: New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Apart from the beauty and changing nature of the mighty Murray itself, cruising the river offers encounters with many different animal species that inhabit the river basin, including emus, koalas, Bearded Dragon lizards and red-rumped parrots. 

Victoria has two top houseboating centres on the river, at Mildura, a picturesque town in the midst of citrus groves and at Echuca-Moama, known as Australia’s paddlesteamer capital.

MURRAY RIVER, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

In South Australia, the Murray takes on yet another character, with the area between Swan Reach and Bow Hill particularly popular for houseboating due to its lofty sandstone cliffs and prolific birdlife. The cliffs in the Big Bend area are the tallest along the river’s entire length and with the Murray mirroring the rock face, this is a captivating place to bring a houseboat.

The attractive riverside town of Murray Bridge, an hour east of Adelaide, has for plenty of houseboats for hire while a little further north, at Mannum, you’ll find Australia’s most luxuriously appointed houseboat.

MYALL LAKES, NSW

With three huge coastal lakes systems (Myall, Smiths and Wallis) the possibilities for boating in the Great Lakes region, just over three hours north of Sydney, are limitless. The Myall Lake system, within Myall Lakes National Park, is the most popular for houseboating. Most people begin their cruise on the Myall River at Bulahdelah, from where it is a short distance to the lake, which offers all the peace, seclusion and fishing you could wish for. Good mooring spots include Violet Hill, Shelley Beach and Kataway Bay.

PORT STEPHENS, NSW

Although just south of the Myall Lakes, Port Stephens has a completely different flavour, with its series of blue bays, glittering white beaches and resident bottlenose dolphins. You can pick up a houseboat from Nelson Bay on the southern shores of Port Stephens and moor up at seductive spots like  Wander Beach, Little Salamander and further inland at Tilligerry Creek, where you’ll find koalas hanging out in onshore gum trees.