Air safari over Riverland flood zone reveals mother nature in watercolour

Country Aviation pilot Oliver Du Rieu curated this new flight itinerary in partnership with Wrightsair. The day-long air safari allows visitors to enjoy birds-eye views of Mother Nature brushing strokes across her swirling canvas. And I'm in the cockpit with Wrightsair pilot Tyler Bunder.

Tyler points out a submerged Lock 6. And what were sandy hills with 4WD tracks beyond are now islands requiring boat access to station homesteads where sheds and farm fences slip beneath the water.

While the floods have had a significant human impact on communities, farming and tourism, the environmental benefits are life-giving. The Murray River is having a huge cleanout, flushing its self of stagnant waters and salinity, and purging itself of invasive carp detrimental to its biodiversity.

Nearing Wentworth Junction, we spot the Great Darling Anabranch amid waters quenching ancient river channels, wetlands, billabongs and creek beds. It's an ecological gift for wildlife, insects and fish. Long-parched trees and plants drink for the first time in half a century, where spoonbills, ibis and pelicans now wade, feed and breed.

We land at Pooncarie, before an RFDS aircraft takes off leaving a trail of orange dust. At this lonesome airstrip, Bob Marshall loads us into his Ute to brunch at his Old Wharf Cafe. Inside, paintings and crafts of indigenous flora and fauna by artist Wendy Owen are on display for sale. Sitting outside, bacon and eggs never tasted so gourmet, watching the Darling River flow around an oasis of river red gums and mallee scrub to the quintessential Riverland soundtrack of birdsong.

Taking off again, Lakes Yartla and Mindona come into view where the world becomes an ordnance survey map of forests, lakes and waterholes. We drop from 1000 feet to 500 feet for close-up views of stealthily flowing watercourses breaching salt lakes and sandy lunettes.

While dead trees from historic floods still stand bare, submerged living trees use their leafy crowns as snorkels like a flotilla of bushy barges sailing in a sea of S-bends. So vast is the spread of water, the scene mildly mimics Lake Eyre, with its jade-stained hues and pastel blues.

Landing at Menindee for lunch, we tuck into outback fare at 1853-built Maiden's Hotel. Above the bar hang timber signs bearing the names Burke and Wills, who stayed here during their 1860 expedition. Publican Arthur Bunney shows us a peeling and splintered veranda post sporting an arrow. It's believed to have been etched by one of the Burke and Wills party. Down the road, rising from a desolate track, we find a gravesite. The solitary stone grave is that of Dost Mahomet, one of the sepoy cameleers that travelled with Burke and Wills.

Returning downstream, we soar over Lakes Tandure and Pamamaroo. Tyler tilts a wing as we circle above the Darling River Main Weir that regulates the water between them. The chain continues with Menindee, Cawndilla and Travellers Lakes. Call it the cardiovascular system of Australia's freshwater veins and arteries, pumping to sustain this usually sunburnt, but sometimes submerged country.

If booking your flight as a group, River Hamptons is a new sanctuary in Berri that will sleep up to 13.

The writer was a guest of Country Aviation and River Hamptons.