River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve Astronomy Tour | Review

Step inside a world of awe and wonder with a Juggle House stargazing tour at the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve!

Review by Angelica-Hazel Toutounji

Did you know that just 90 minutes from Adelaide you can visit Australia’s first internationally recognised Dark Sky Reserve? Located in South Australia’s Murraylands region, the Dark Sky Reserve covers over 3,200 square kilometres and offers unparalleled views of the night sky. The area is not only free from light pollution, it also boasts some of the darkest skies on earth, making it an incredible destination for astrophotographers, astronomers, stargazers and nature lovers alike.

Visiting this incredible region and experiencing the night sky was on our family bucket list for quite some time. In order to make the most of the experience and to help our kids understand what they were seeing, we decided to book an astronomy tour with Juggle House Experiences.

There are two options for star gazing tours, a gold stars sunset dinner which includes dinner, an eco-boat cruise, transport from Mannum and of course the astronomy session or the astronomy only tour. As our kids had a big week at school and factoring in that we drove from Adelaide on the same day, we opted for the latter.  

Our lovely host Kelly, text us the address ahead of time and we made the short journey from Mannum to Walker Flat with two excited kids squealing in the backseat. Arriving at the site it was pitch black, so we had to navigate to meet the tour group using the light of our phone. Once there, we were instructed to put away our phones and lights to let our eyes adjust. We took a seat in a circle and it wasn’t long before we were introduced to our amazing astronomer, Joe Grida, an absolute rockstar astronomer with over 50 years’ experience observing the night sky.

Joe had his huge telescope set up in the middle of the circle and he also had a laser pointer that caught our girls’ attention from the get go. The tour ran for an hour and a half and was so interactive, Joe would speak about a star or a planet and then the group would take turns viewing it through the telescope. Not only was Joe engaging and knowledgeable, he was happy to answer all the questions along the way and tailor the experience to the groups interest. My husband loved seeing the moon, I loved seeing this beautiful cluster of stars and both our daughters loved seeing Saturn.

Alongside learning about the solar system and seeing it through the telescope, Kelly made everyone warm Milo drinks and brought us a selection of Milky Way and Mars Bars, which was such a nice touch. Throughout the tour you were able to lie down on a yoga mat and look up at the stars, sit on a selection of seats or sit back in one of the dry repurposed baths which were set up with fluffy blankets and pillows.

Not only was the tour educational and fun, what we didn’t expect was how calming it was. From the moment Kel started talking I could feel my jaw unclench, my shoulders relax and I felt a deep sense of peace wash over me. From start to finish we loved this tour. We loved how welcoming Kelly was, we loved experiencing the night sky on a deeper level, guided by a professional and most of all we loved watching our girls take it all in. I know that this tour and experiencing the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve will be something we will treasure for years to come.

What we like about it:

• We loved being able to learn about the night sky and having access to a telescope to see everything that was spoken about.
• We loved our host Kelly, she made the experience fun and was so welcoming.

Things to consider:

• This tour is weather dependent so it’s good to stay a couple of nights in Mannum or be flexible with your dates.
• Depending on when you book this tour it can be quite late as they need the sky to be quite dark, when we visited our tour started at 7:30pm and ended just after 9pm (September 2026) so it will be later during daylight savings.
• We visited with two adults and 2 kids aged 6 and 8, our kids loved it but they like learning about space, we would recommend its better for older kids to make the most out of the experience .
• It is quite dark so its good to know this before hand if you have vision or mobility issues.

Location:

4 Randell Street, Mannum (you will receive instructions of where to go when you book)

For more information and all enquiries please visit the Juggle House River Murray Tours website.

At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.

As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go (2026).

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