Until I met Elysia Kelly, I would never have imagined a Palm Springs-style resort on the Murray. But it turns out that Elysia and her husband Rick Kelly are as enamoured of the Palm Springs aesthetic as I am, and they’re realizing their dream of a Palm Springs-inspired resort in a beautiful spot on the banks of Australia’s mightiest river.
Nor could I have imagined being greeted at check-in by someone with a talking bird on their shoulder. But that’s exactly what happened when we checked into Trentham Waters, the resort that the Kelly family are lovingly bringing to fruition on the New South Wales side of the Murray, close to the Victorian city of Mildura.
Guest experience manager, Pina, introduced us to the resort’s much-loved resident macaw, Tango, and to say that we were immediately charmed is an understatement. In fact, the video footage we put up on Instagram of Pina and Tango enjoying a tête-à-tête generated the most views of any Instagram post we’ve run to date.
Trading pit lanes for palm trees, the Kelly family, widely known in motor racing circles, have put their heart and soul into the resort. (Rick is a former V8 Supercar Champion and Bathurst 1000 winner.) As residents of the Mornington Peninsula but frequent visitors to Trentham and passionate about this stretch of the Murray, Elysia and Rick envisage a resort that will eventually accommodate up to 1,000 people in a range of accommodation styles, from self-contained villas right through to caravan sites.
The initial stage opened in December 2025 with 20 one-, two- and three-bedroom villas, a section of beautifully manicured van sites, a stunning 48-metre lagoon pool with splash park, tennis and basketball court, table tennis, kids’ room, private boat ramp and jetty, and poolside restaurant Kokomo.
Blending luxury, leisure and adventure, the resort functions beautifully as a multi-generation retreat, appealing to the young and beautiful as much as it does to families and older folk. The pool is fringed with palms, sun lounges and a spa for soaking in, while the splash park is heaven for kids. It’s such a versatile pool, too. Shallow entry zones make it accessible for families and people with mobility issues, while there are deeper areas for those who want to do laps.
Walking trails weave along two kilometres of river front, best enjoyed early in the morning or at golden hour. If you have a boat, you can launch it from the private ramp, or perhaps you’d like to listen to the birdsong, kick back on your own private deck, or do some late-night stargazing.
Our one-bedroom poolside villa is super comfortable and super cosy on an unseasonally cold and wet weekend. In anyone else’s hands, it would be just another prefab villa, but here it takes on a style that thrills me to bits — near the free-standing bathtub, a cactus-shaped clothes rack (I want one!); on the living room wall, prints of Palm Springs’ mid-century architecture (must have!); cool white shutters; on the kitchen wall, a mid-century-style starburst clock; on the table, a mint green basket with apricot coloured beach towels. Über cool, über chic.
The same apricot colour appears in the umbrellas around the lagoon pool, which without a doubt is the centrepiece of the resort — a place to see and be seen in. Nestling around the pool, Kokomo restaurant is a perfect spot for long lunches, sunset cocktails and dinners under the glow of festoon lights. It, too, has a Palm Springs soul — think tropical cocktails and shared dishes with bold flavours. (And let’s not forget the mocktails, like the quaintly named Sherbet Shirley mocktail I enjoyed, a delicious blend of orange, lime, mint, and raspberry.)
If visiting outside peak times as we were, be aware that the restaurant is open Wednesday to Sunday from 12 noon to 8pm, which means you’ll have to self-cater on Mondays and Tuesdays and for breakfast each day, unless you seek out other venues (Mildura is about 15 minutes’ drive). You can, however, pick up a barista coffee from Kokomo between 9am and 10am. At peak times, the restaurant is open from breakfast till late.
We greatly enjoyed the meals we had in Kokomo, including the seafood linguine and pan-fried barra, with an impressive selection of wine including some of the Murray-Darling region’s best labels. Other dishes on the menu include wood-fired pizzas, fresh seafood and pasta, burgers and schnitzels, salads, share plates and sweet treats.
On one of the nights, when we just wanted something light, we shared a perfectly cooked prawn pizza, followed by a banana sundae that had all the right retro vibes.
Things to do in Mildura
Trentham Waters has 80 acres of river frontage which, coupled with the endless Mallee sky, is a peaceful and idyllic setting for locals and visitors alike. The resort is a destination in itself, but there is much to do in the region if you feel like venturing out.
We enjoyed a delightful Sunday lunch on the balcony at Trentham Estate winery, a little further along the river and also very idyllic. On separate evenings, we visited two stunning light installations by internationally celebrated artist Bruce Munro: Trail of Lights in Mildura and Fibre Optic Symphonic Orchestra (FOSO) in nearby Wentworth.
We did some walks in the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens, swooning over beds of Sturt’s Desert Pea and marvelling at a 2,500-year-old eucalyptus tree appropriately dubbed the “Wow tree”. The Sunraysia agricultural district encompassing Mildura produces much of Australia’s food and wine, so there are several producers to visit, including Mildura Farms (dried fruit and nuts) and Desert Honey at Red Cliffs, Outback Almonds, the Monak Wine Co, and Orange World. (Citrus is one of the region’s biggest crops.)
In this part of the world, you don’t want to just be looking at the river, you want to spend some time on it too. Thus we did a two-hour Murray River cruise with Mildura Paddle Steamers on the 1881-built Rothbury, ironically no longer a paddle steamer but still a leisurely way to experience the river and one of its many locks. The heavens opened while we were on board but we were rewarded with a magnificent double rainbow that disappeared as quickly as it came.
Six hours’ drive from Melbourne, 8.5 hours from Canberra, and 10.5 hours from Sydney, Trentham Waters Resort is a glorious retreat unrivalled in regional Australia. The Kelly family are not resting on their laurels. Further development will see more luxury villas and recreational facilities, drive-through caravan sites, and eco-designed River Retreats with wood-fired hot tubs. The resort is already beautiful but we can’t wait to see it all take shape.
Trentham Waters Resort
6635 Sturt Highway,
Trentham Cliffs NSW 2738
Australia
Tel: 1300 356 635
www.trenthamwatersmildura.com.au
With thanks to Trentham Waters Resort for hosting us for three nights at this thoughtfully designed property. The resort also kindly arranged with Visit Mildura for us to experience the Bruce Munro light installations, and with Mildura Paddle Steamers for our two-hour cruise. We stayed in villa 206.
