Marina service
Riverglen Marina
About
Riverglen Marina at a glance
Established secure marina community on the Murray at White Sands, 50 minutes from Adelaide, with over 70 riverfront and marina-basin berths for houseboats, cruisers and small vessels. Berths have filtered water, pump-out waste and metered electricity, with gated parking, toilet and shower amenities, on-water refuelling and a houseboat hire fleet on site.
Service area: Murray River - Murraylands
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- Riverglen Marina
- Region
- Murray River - Murraylands
- Water body
- Murray River
- Wet berths
- 70
- Berth types
- permanent berthing, liveaboard
Facilities and services
- fuel
- pump-out
- power & water
- showers & laundry
- 24/7 security
- gas bottles
- private boat ramp
- houseboat hire fleet
- secure lock-up vehicle and trailer parking ($10/day)
- liveaboard berths
- residential strata lots adjoining
About Riverglen Marina
Riverglen occupies a wide bend of the lower Murray at White Sands, a few kilometres upstream of Murray Bridge and roughly fifty minutes from Adelaide up the South Eastern Freeway. It is one of the few genuinely secure, gated marina communities on the South Australian river, with more than seventy berths split between moorings right on the gum-lined riverbank and sheltered pens inside a locked basin. The character is distinctly riverine rather than coastal: houseboats dominate, ranging from compact two-person hire craft to substantial owner-built floating homes, alongside trailer cruisers and a scattering of small fishing boats. A small liveaboard population gives the place a settled, neighbourly feel, and the operator describes it as a working boat community where people maintain and launch their own vessels year-round. Several houseboat hire businesses, including Wow Houseboats and smaller Airbnb-listed craft such as Hex'd and River Girl, base their fleets here, so weekends see a steady turnover of holiday skippers loading eskies at the show-out bays while permanent berth-holders get on with antifouling chores. Residential strata lots on Marina View Road overlook the basin, and the whole precinct is ringed by high fencing with key-coded gates, a level of security that reflects how much value is afloat. Gum-lined banks, morning pelicans and relative quiet are the trade for being well away from salt water; the nearest lock, Lock 1 at Blanchetown, is about 160 river kilometres upstream, so the run down past Wellington to Lake Alexandrina is entirely lock-free. The Murray Bridge council also maintains a small public reserve beside the marina, so the bend doubles as a quiet picnic spot for locals even though the berths themselves stay behind locked gates.
Marina facilities
Berthing is offered in two classes. Riverfront berths on the open bank start from $875 per month and inner marina basin berths from $575 per month on current published rates; older fee sheets circulating from the operator show small jetty berths around $135 a month and cruiser berths near $264, indicating how pricing has stepped up with facility upgrades. Both short and long-term arrangements are available, and liveaboard occupancy is accepted. Every berth apart from the small jetties is supplied with filtered potable water, a pump-out waste connection and metered electricity, with power billed on consumption. Security is a genuine feature: high perimeter fencing, key-coded gate access, gated lock-up car and trailer parking at $10 per vehicle per day, and an on-site office by the top of the ramp staffed Monday to Thursday 10am to 3pm and Fridays to 5pm. A private boat ramp serves berth-holders and the hire fleet. The on-water refuelling bay, positioned next to the pump-out station, is one of the very few floating fuel services on the South Australian Murray, and the marina also handles gas bottle refills for houseboat galley and heating systems. Toilet, shower and laundry amenities sit beside the temporary car park. There is no travel lift or hardstand on site, so slipping and heavy maintenance are arranged at yards around Murray Bridge or further afield. The hire side operates several houseboats bookable through Airbnb and houseboat booking agencies from roughly $295 to $365 per night, with check-in briefings at the show-out bay and a $10 daily parking fee in the lock-up compound. Enquiries go through the office at Riverglen Drive, White Sands.
Local sailing knowledge
White Sands sits on a lock-free reach: downstream the river runs past the Murray Bridge road and rail bridges to the Wellington cable ferry, then opens into Lake Alexandrina and the Goolwa barrages, while upstream it is about 160 winding kilometres to Lock 1 at Blanchetown, the first barrier on the system. River height here is essentially pool level but wind and low-pressure systems can push levels around, and the 2022-23 flood, which peaked near 2.34 metres at Murray Bridge, is a reminder to check SA Water's daily river reports in high-flow years. Houseboat skippers heading upstream pass the cliffs at Walker Flat and the long reaches toward Swan Reach and Big Bend, classic overnighting territory with sandy banks and red gum shade. Provisioning is straightforward: Murray Bridge, a ten-minute drive, has supermarkets, hardware, marine mechanics and bottle shops, and the hire operators will stage cars in the lock-up compound while crews are away. Winter rain turns parts of the riverbank and reserve muddy, and the operator bluntly recommends gumboots after heavy weather. Birdlife is a constant, with pelicans, cormorants and corellas working the bend. The marina crowd is a mixture of Adelaide weekenders who keep cruisers here to avoid trailering, retirees living aboard, and hire-fleet turnarounds, busiest on Friday afternoons. Fuel on the water is the key convenience; the next reliable river fuel stops are at Murray Bridge or Mannum, so most skippers fill at the refuelling bay before casting off for longer runs upstream or down to the lakes.