Our story
Cruising the Glenelg since 1974.
From the Close family's first cruise, through three decades of McBain stewardship, to a new chapter under the Russell family — and a river that hasn't changed its mind in fifty years.
Three families, one river
A river business built one cruise at a time.
The Close family began it in 1974 with the launch of Nelson Endeavour River Cruises. In 1997 the McBain family took over the business and the river it ran on, and held it for nearly three decades.
In 2000 the McBain family added MV Mini Munya to the fleet — a retired passenger ferry that had later spent years as a floating restaurant on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. They launched her on the Glenelg that October as the Nelson Explorer. A quarter of a century on, she still carries our guests today — under her original name. After more than two decades of McBain stewardship, the Russell family stepped aboard in 2026 as the next custodians.
We're custodians, not reinventors. The boat, the route, the unhurried pace — none of that needed fixing. Our job is to take what the Close and McBain families built and keep it cruising for another generation.
Fifty years on the water
A short timeline.
1974
Nelson Endeavour River Cruises launches
The Close family casts off from Nelson for the first time, founding Nelson Endeavour River Cruises and writing the first chapter of commercial cruising on the Glenelg.
1997
The McBain family takes the helm
The McBain family buys Nelson Endeavour River Cruises and brings it under their stewardship — the start of nearly three decades of family ownership.
2000
MV Mini Munya joins the fleet
The McBain family purchases MV Mini Munya — originally a passenger ferry, latterly a floating restaurant on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra — and launches her on the Glenelg on 26 October 2000 as the Nelson Explorer. She's been the workhorse of the river ever since, and has now returned to her original name.
2026
The Russell family take the helm
The Russell family purchases Glenelg River Cruises from the McBain family, with a commitment to honouring everything the previous generations built while quietly bringing the business into its next era.
On Gunditjmara Country
We cruise on Country.
The Lower Glenelg has been Gunditjmara Country for tens of thousands of years before any of our boats took to the water. We acknowledge the Gunditjmara people as the Traditional Owners of the land and waters on which we operate, and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Sovereignty was never ceded. The river is theirs first, and we are guests on it.