Beach Driving in South Australia
Armed with a new 4WD and an appetite for adventure we headed to the sandy beaches of South Australia’s Limestone Coast.
Man (and woman) vs machine and the environment, would we still have what it takes?
The answer was a resounding yes, so much so we were back again in 2022.
As a side note, we’ve really enjoyed the transition from camper to hybrid van. Comfort goes a long way towards enjoyment and the internal ensuite has been a key value add. Ageing bodies impart a few compromises and not having to squat down for a low porta potti is a big win — and so is getting back up! Praise the standard height toilet.
Setup, too, is less taxing, with an electric pop-top, windout awning and a couple of stabilisers. It doesn’t get much easier. We’ve stayed with the offroad chassis to facilitate more remote wanderings when the need arises. We like keeping our options open.
This ease of use is reflected in our odometer. In just a few months we’ve racked up three times as many kilometres as we travelled in a whole year. That’s comfort for you!
Back to our adventure. This year we camped in the Long Gully campground, a bush camp in the Little Dip Conservation Park closer to Robe. Being self-sufficient has its advantages as you can pick the more isolated locations to soak up the serenity.
While last year we took on some of the more adventurous trails along the coast, this year we wanted to travel at a more relaxed gait and explore the Beachport Conservation Park.
Lake George is a key attraction of the park, popular for nature lovers who come to spy the wader birds in a key refuge.
While the unsealed Lake George Road intersects the park, the best vantage points are viewed from the lesser travelled tracks.
Beyond the Information Billboards at the park entry, take the dirt track to the east through the tea tree to begin your adventure at the first lagoon. The area is a hypersaline environment so it’s best to avoid driving on it. It’s shallow and fed by the ocean at high tide and from freshwater from the drains across the pastoral districts.
It’s a slow meander around the lake, with the track punctuated by potholes. Sections are shrouded by scrub, but every so often you score a glimpse of the water to spy the birdlife including black swans.
Fosters Point is a key place of interest, a narrow peninsula that juts out into the lake, where pelicans congregate, contemplating their next feed.
Beyond Fosters Point, the track narrows as it moves away from the water and towards the dunes. Here, the dunes are encroaching on a stand of tea tree, threatening to swallow them up.
A short, steep climb up the dunes takes you to a vantage point to admire the view. From there you can simply drive down the valley of dunes adjoining the inland network of sandy tracks. These eventually draw you back into the Conservation Park or you can traverse the foredune to scoot along the beach to the next rocky outcrop.
Crayfish and other delicious seafood are key scores of the area, particularly when washed down with local Chardonnay. A visit to Aunt Alice wines in Robe is highly recommended if you enjoy low yield fine wines in a small family run winery. We certainly did! It’s a tough job but someone must do it.
There’s so much to enjoy in this area from the beautiful beaches, lakes, entertaining drives, food and wine.