Portee a Murray River Outback Homestead. A picture of outback Australia

Portee is steeped in history, being amongst the one of the earliest areas settled in South Australia outside the city of Adelaide.

Situated in outback country. Portee is an easy 2 hour drive or 1/2hr flight from Adelaide. Portee has its own air strip named in honour of Edward John Eyre, an early South Australian Explorer.

The homestead built in 1873 on the floodplain of the River Murray, is in the wetlands, allowing the abundant bird life that inhabit the slow flowing creek and age old river gums to provide a unique experience in a tranquil and restful setting.

The Murray River fronts the property and the homestead has a private (Portee) creek surrounded by wetlands.
The Murray River is accessible by 4WD for boating, jet skis, canoes and kayaking enthusiasts. A private area with slipway and pontoon.

The perfect retreat for holidays, weddings, bucks and hens parties, birthday celebrations, spiritual gatherings, business training and team building, carers and carer recipients.

The homestead offers exclusive hire of the homestead and surrounding property.
Self cater accommodation.

Portee is managed as a shining example of nature based tourism.

Great accommodation for kayak, watersport, bushwalking and wildlife enthusiasts.

Exclusive Hire of Portee Station Homestead

Self cater in our full commercial kitchen or bbq facilities for special occasions or holidays with family and friends. We have a dining area to seat twenty and facilities to enable outdoor eating.

Venue for Spiritual or Carers Retreat. Ideal for a spiritual retreat to allow time for reflection, prayer or meditation.

Ultimate respite retreat for carers and carer recipients, for relaxing and convalescence.

Venue for Weddings Or Special Occasions. A perfect setting for true Aussie weddings, bucks or hens show, birthday celebrations or any other special occasions to make your day an unforgettable experience.

Business meetings, conferences and training facility.
Ideal for small Corporate conferences, training and team building

History Of Portee Station Homestead

First settled in 1841, Moorundie the area that we now call Sandy Beach, is the site of the home of explorer Edward John Eyre, who was given the job of Protector of the Aborigines. Due to the sandbars at that point in the river it became a place to cross the river on the road to Sydney, eventually developed into the bustling township of Sturt, with a Police Station and Army Barracks, until a flood washed it away in 1870 and the town was moved to it’s present day site of Blanchetown. Portee Station now encompasses tourism for international and domestic guests.

Portee Homestead is located in the Murray River International Dark Sky Reserve.
All astronomy enthusiasts who love stargazing, bring your telescopes and binoculars and you will see some of the darkest skies and brightest stars in the world and have first class views of the Milky Way in South Australia at Portee.

The homestead has eight bedrooms all with ensuite bathrooms, 7 queen beds and 8 single beds. There is an additional wheelchair access bathroom and additional toilet separate to the bedrooms in the breezeway of the homestead.
A floorplan of the homestead can be sent to you on request.

The Riverland and Murraylands have restrictions for bringing up fruit and some fruiting vegetables, due to fruit fly infestations in the region.
The current restrictions are that no fruit or seeded fruiting vegetables are permitted to come up to the Riverland from northern SA Riverland areas, the Barossa and Adelaide. An itemised receipt from a most shopping retailers are no longer accepted.
If there is a random inspection just before Blanchetown and you bring in fruit and fruiting vegetables that are restricted, they will confiscate it and fine you $400.
Please check the following link before your arrival to Portee to see what the current restrictions are, I would hate for anyone to be fined at a random inspection.
The fruit fly site will show you the restricted zones. https://fruitfly.sa.gov.au/
There are a few local shopping retailers we or yourself can order through for your fruit and fruiting vegetable needs for your stay.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need further clarification or need to place an order for your fruit before your stay. We can work it out.

We have an open fireplace in the lounge/dining area, and the firewood is supplied.

We also have a fire pit near the creek if you want to have a campfire.
We can supply you the firewood at an additional cost for a trailer load or you are welcome to bring your own.
Please advise if you want a trailer load of firewood, as you need to book it directly with my husband so he can organise it before your arrival.
Please note campfires are only permitted during non bushfire season.

We have a full commercial kitchen for all your cooking needs.
The kitchen has a Waldorf commercial stovetop/oven with eight gas burners, a griddle and two large ovens, Waldorf gas grill, two 5.5l air fryers, Sunbeam stand mixer, electric wok, Delonghi Nespresso coffee pod machine with milk frothers, two toasters, two kettles, slow cooker, rice cookers, food processor, Birko urn, industrial coffee dripalator and deep fryer.
We supply some oils, instant coffee, teabags, sugar, salt & pepper, tea towels, garbage bags and paper towel.
For your outside cooking needs we have a four burner flattop gas bbq and two Matador heatbead kettles. We supply some heatbeads and firelighters.

For outdoor entertaining we have four 6-8 seater wooden tables with chairs.

For our guests we have one double kayak, two kayaks and some life jackets.
Please note we do not supply life jackets for small children.