Les PK Ranger
4x4 Earth Contributer
Beachport – Robe 27th – 30th December 2011-12-30
(Looonnnng)
Left Happy Valley in the southern suburbs of Adelaide at 0830, and drove a scenic back route to the Southern Ports Hwy via Strathalbyn, Langhorne Creek, and the Wellington Ferry across the Murray River.
Just near Robe, we turned right to head straight down to Beachport about 1400, checked out the Beachport foreshore around to the boat yard ramp, then directly on to the scenic drive along the Southern Ocean frontage, and instead of going the normal bitumen in to Three Mile Bend campsite, we aired down to 19psi and drove the additional 4WD track to pick up the 4WD coastal track at Three Mile Rocks . . . were having so much fun just kept going to point 12, up near Euro Point.
Backtracked to take the Five Mile Drift track back along the edge of Lake George to our camp.
Great camp, $12 (car), thankful for no mossies or midges, and had a hamburger cook up for dinner.
Next morning we were off by 0830, after a feed of bacon & egg sandwiches.
(Yeah, the healthy food message just isn't getting through this trip!)
This time down the Three Mile Rocks track not done yesterday, retraced our steps to point 12, and continued to the beach (where we found the detour between points 12 and 13 was no longer in use / not needed).
We took the first turn off from the beach to go inland and into a bowl just before the Millicent Sand Buggy Club.
Then followed the new detour from points 15 to 21 around their property, an interesting track albeit narrow in places.
The beach into Nora Creina was long and well packed hard sand, had lunch at the little Nora Creina Bay just north of the settlement.
Here we met some of the Wattle Rangers 4WD Club, and as their notes suggested, we said hello and a big thanks for the maps / note they helped produce !
We did miss meeting up with Andrew (Touring4X4) coming the other way, we might have been on the beach having lunch as you passed on the main track behind.
Seven or so km along the Nora Creina Road we hit the edge of Little Dip CP, and went straight into our planned campsite at Old Man Lake (Little Dip Lake on Google maps).
Might as well have been called Lake Stinky, because it was pretty bad, but sort of got used to it fairly quick. (No mossies or midges this arvo with a good breeze, next morn the midges were about.)
We set up camp and headed off for a bit of an explore.
Decided to go down Little Dip Beach track, then we went south, did Errington Beach both ways, and headed over to Little Dip Beach.
Note – The trip notes indicate you need low range to get off Errington Beach steep sand and rocky section, but we found this is for when you come off Little Dip Beach north end.
Little Dip Beach was no problems, found staying high in existing track was fine.
As mentioned, the sandy climb up from this beach got pretty soft, then you hit rocks through the sand and find grip.
Up till now I had only used 4H, and stuck with this . . . I had 2 attempts up off Little Dip Beach, second one had more momentum, and kept going till my tyres got down to the rock near the top (different story next day).
We avoided the beach between 7 and 8 due to notes saying beach is VERY soft.
At point 9, we headed up the Long Gully track to go back to camp, passing the hand pump well (pumped this and found very nice water, not brackish at all) and campground (very open and exposed) a bit further along.
A nice spag bog dinner and we were ready for bed by 2100.
Breaky was bacon & egg sandies again, and we were ready to go by 0815, and took a stroll around the lake again. We were awaiting arrival of Mud lark & family ex Victoria to meet up with us at camp, and sure enough just after 0830 they arrived.
A brief intro and chat and we were off, heading back to take the Errington Beach track this time.
Aired down a bit more (17psi) and fitted sand flag enroute (my new home made fibreglass model, complete with seasons flag up top : )
Errington was like a different beach today !
Very mushy, I was up front having the flag on board, and went for a couple of freshly made 4WD tracks down the beach a bit (tide was outgoing until mid pm, so figured ok).
Mmmm, didn’t like it one bit, so cautiously angled for the top drier sand track.
Was still in 4H, and knew I was in trouble : /
Ok, come to stop, reverse, made it back to lower tracks with a fair bit of wheel spin.
Turned as little as possible and tried to go forward, no way was it going to move, nearly down to diffs.
After a little inspection, decide to try out the Maxtrax for the first time.
Needed to go a little to the left so used them to dig a little sand out in front and placed them in facing where I wanted to go.
Selected 4L turned the wheels that way and instantly felt them bite onto the MT before I even moved forward.
Was a breeze to drive out, made way forward a few metres, then stopped to retrieve these bloody marvellous recovery kit. So damn easy, and yes, 4L is definitely the go with the Maxtrax.
4L got me along the rest of the beach no probs, but found some interesting things with 4H / 4L from here on.
4L was great on that Errington day 2 sand and to get up that steep section of soft sand / rock at Little Dip Beach, much easier than the previous day in 4H.
But later, 4L on longer steep soft sand was useless, with too much wheel spin.
After a few tries on a couple of these in 4L, switched to 4H, got a bit of momentum going, and breezed these in 2nd gear.
I put it down to the low end peak torque (1800rpm) of the diesel, and figure you just don’t really know what to use until you give it a go . . . usually it works out ok either way, but if not you have to try another option.
Today we did the beach section between 7 & 8 (notes say beach is VERY soft) and it posed no problems at all. Having a back up vehicle is reassuring in any case.
Most of the notes are fairly accurate from here into Robe, although no beaches were soft from our experience today, of course this seems to be changeable from day to day.
We passed tracks off to Bishops Pate track, Domaschenz track, Hermitage track, Gums track, and finally Stoney Rise track.
We stopped for a good while at the last beach past point 23, threw a lure out for a while to amuse the fishes, but no hits.
The lowlight (if any) to this trip is driving out past the rubbish tip and sewerage treatment ponds.
When I do this again, I would drive out Stoney Rise to avoid this.
Aired up on the bitumen near the industrial park, then off to have a quick beer with Mud Lark & Co at their accommodation (Lakeside) and then to Long Beach for a sit around.
Long Beach is quite remarkable, great 2wd access beach and it was perhaps busier there than the main street of Robe !
After a spell there, we bade thanks and farewell to Mad lark, missus and kiddies, and we headed out to exit Long Beach further north.
Overnighted at Kingston motel, great to shower and beaut pub dinner at Kingstons’ Crown Inn. Sunset pic taken form Kingston Jetty.
Driving back on day 4, we checked out The Granites, also a great looking 2WD fishing beach, then followed the Old Coorong Road along to the Coorong Nat Park, past 28 Mile, 32 Mile, and Tea Tree Crossings, coming out near the Keith – Cantara Road.
We called in to Chinamans Well, definitely worth a visit to read up the info boards around a short walk. You pass by old cooking huts, and the well itself is a little further in, made over 160 years old (which is in remarkable condition for something Chinese made).
Further along we took the ‘scenic’ route from near Mike Lake to Salt Creek.
At first it was a little disappointing, but then near the end you sight the Coorong proper and understand why it’s called to scenic route.
Jacks Point Pelican Observation Point was a bit of a mixed bag.
Great to have masses of Pelicans overhead, even managed to get a few 30x zoom pics reasonably clear, but went to go round the corner to see if any were on the water and nearly stepped on a 4’ Eastern Brown ! Shorts and thongs and Brown snakes aren’t a good mix.
He wasn’t too upset and hung around for a few pics, and I think I took these at nearly 30x zoom as well !!
Nearly 50km towards Meningie, we turned off on Seven Mile Road, which takes you down to the Coorong, and a really beaut drive right along the frontage, great views, and lots of waterbirds including Pelicans.
This eventually turns inland and takes you to Narrung Road and the Narrung Ferry.
Amazing who you meet out there . . . a bloke and his missus are tied up in their motor cruiser (old rustic one) and they’ve just finished a leg form Mannum, doing the whole river, can’t recall where they started from, but they are making a doco they hope to get onto ABC or SBS once all tidied up.
They are off to Milang then Goolwa for NYE with friends, we shared some interesting travel stories while the ferry did a couple of crossings and until the missus beckoned me to get a move on.
We crossed the Lake Alexandrina / Lake Albert neck and eventually came out on the Princes hwy about 18km south of the Wellington turnoff, and short drive to once more cross the ferry there on the return drive.
We were around 1300 here, so thought to find a nice shady spot for lunch of bics and tuna, but there on the hill opposite the ferry, the Wellington Hotel beckoned us.
A few cold drinks, one whiting, one schnitzel, and one hour later, we headed off for the last leg, retracing our steps home to Happy Valley via Strathalbyn.
A great trip all round, will do this again for sure, with one or both of the kids (they are older but would still love this).
Canunda is coming up Australia Day long weekend (January 26 – 29), but I really need to go with at least one other vehicle.
This trip showed me that it can go to hell pretty easy on these beaches, and Canunda is certainly more isolated and possibly there are not as many other vehicles generally travelling on this section.
Well, hope you aren't bored to death by now : )
Hope I didn't res the pics down too much.
For infos sake, the pdf maps for this trip are attached also, with the buggy club detourt included.
Cheers,
Les
(Looonnnng)
Left Happy Valley in the southern suburbs of Adelaide at 0830, and drove a scenic back route to the Southern Ports Hwy via Strathalbyn, Langhorne Creek, and the Wellington Ferry across the Murray River.
Just near Robe, we turned right to head straight down to Beachport about 1400, checked out the Beachport foreshore around to the boat yard ramp, then directly on to the scenic drive along the Southern Ocean frontage, and instead of going the normal bitumen in to Three Mile Bend campsite, we aired down to 19psi and drove the additional 4WD track to pick up the 4WD coastal track at Three Mile Rocks . . . were having so much fun just kept going to point 12, up near Euro Point.
Backtracked to take the Five Mile Drift track back along the edge of Lake George to our camp.
Great camp, $12 (car), thankful for no mossies or midges, and had a hamburger cook up for dinner.
Next morning we were off by 0830, after a feed of bacon & egg sandwiches.
(Yeah, the healthy food message just isn't getting through this trip!)
This time down the Three Mile Rocks track not done yesterday, retraced our steps to point 12, and continued to the beach (where we found the detour between points 12 and 13 was no longer in use / not needed).
We took the first turn off from the beach to go inland and into a bowl just before the Millicent Sand Buggy Club.
Then followed the new detour from points 15 to 21 around their property, an interesting track albeit narrow in places.
The beach into Nora Creina was long and well packed hard sand, had lunch at the little Nora Creina Bay just north of the settlement.
Here we met some of the Wattle Rangers 4WD Club, and as their notes suggested, we said hello and a big thanks for the maps / note they helped produce !
We did miss meeting up with Andrew (Touring4X4) coming the other way, we might have been on the beach having lunch as you passed on the main track behind.
Seven or so km along the Nora Creina Road we hit the edge of Little Dip CP, and went straight into our planned campsite at Old Man Lake (Little Dip Lake on Google maps).
Might as well have been called Lake Stinky, because it was pretty bad, but sort of got used to it fairly quick. (No mossies or midges this arvo with a good breeze, next morn the midges were about.)
We set up camp and headed off for a bit of an explore.
Decided to go down Little Dip Beach track, then we went south, did Errington Beach both ways, and headed over to Little Dip Beach.
Note – The trip notes indicate you need low range to get off Errington Beach steep sand and rocky section, but we found this is for when you come off Little Dip Beach north end.
Little Dip Beach was no problems, found staying high in existing track was fine.
As mentioned, the sandy climb up from this beach got pretty soft, then you hit rocks through the sand and find grip.
Up till now I had only used 4H, and stuck with this . . . I had 2 attempts up off Little Dip Beach, second one had more momentum, and kept going till my tyres got down to the rock near the top (different story next day).
We avoided the beach between 7 and 8 due to notes saying beach is VERY soft.
At point 9, we headed up the Long Gully track to go back to camp, passing the hand pump well (pumped this and found very nice water, not brackish at all) and campground (very open and exposed) a bit further along.
A nice spag bog dinner and we were ready for bed by 2100.
Breaky was bacon & egg sandies again, and we were ready to go by 0815, and took a stroll around the lake again. We were awaiting arrival of Mud lark & family ex Victoria to meet up with us at camp, and sure enough just after 0830 they arrived.
A brief intro and chat and we were off, heading back to take the Errington Beach track this time.
Aired down a bit more (17psi) and fitted sand flag enroute (my new home made fibreglass model, complete with seasons flag up top : )
Errington was like a different beach today !
Very mushy, I was up front having the flag on board, and went for a couple of freshly made 4WD tracks down the beach a bit (tide was outgoing until mid pm, so figured ok).
Mmmm, didn’t like it one bit, so cautiously angled for the top drier sand track.
Was still in 4H, and knew I was in trouble : /
Ok, come to stop, reverse, made it back to lower tracks with a fair bit of wheel spin.
Turned as little as possible and tried to go forward, no way was it going to move, nearly down to diffs.
After a little inspection, decide to try out the Maxtrax for the first time.
Needed to go a little to the left so used them to dig a little sand out in front and placed them in facing where I wanted to go.
Selected 4L turned the wheels that way and instantly felt them bite onto the MT before I even moved forward.
Was a breeze to drive out, made way forward a few metres, then stopped to retrieve these bloody marvellous recovery kit. So damn easy, and yes, 4L is definitely the go with the Maxtrax.
4L got me along the rest of the beach no probs, but found some interesting things with 4H / 4L from here on.
4L was great on that Errington day 2 sand and to get up that steep section of soft sand / rock at Little Dip Beach, much easier than the previous day in 4H.
But later, 4L on longer steep soft sand was useless, with too much wheel spin.
After a few tries on a couple of these in 4L, switched to 4H, got a bit of momentum going, and breezed these in 2nd gear.
I put it down to the low end peak torque (1800rpm) of the diesel, and figure you just don’t really know what to use until you give it a go . . . usually it works out ok either way, but if not you have to try another option.
Today we did the beach section between 7 & 8 (notes say beach is VERY soft) and it posed no problems at all. Having a back up vehicle is reassuring in any case.
Most of the notes are fairly accurate from here into Robe, although no beaches were soft from our experience today, of course this seems to be changeable from day to day.
We passed tracks off to Bishops Pate track, Domaschenz track, Hermitage track, Gums track, and finally Stoney Rise track.
We stopped for a good while at the last beach past point 23, threw a lure out for a while to amuse the fishes, but no hits.
The lowlight (if any) to this trip is driving out past the rubbish tip and sewerage treatment ponds.
When I do this again, I would drive out Stoney Rise to avoid this.
Aired up on the bitumen near the industrial park, then off to have a quick beer with Mud Lark & Co at their accommodation (Lakeside) and then to Long Beach for a sit around.
Long Beach is quite remarkable, great 2wd access beach and it was perhaps busier there than the main street of Robe !
After a spell there, we bade thanks and farewell to Mad lark, missus and kiddies, and we headed out to exit Long Beach further north.
Overnighted at Kingston motel, great to shower and beaut pub dinner at Kingstons’ Crown Inn. Sunset pic taken form Kingston Jetty.
Driving back on day 4, we checked out The Granites, also a great looking 2WD fishing beach, then followed the Old Coorong Road along to the Coorong Nat Park, past 28 Mile, 32 Mile, and Tea Tree Crossings, coming out near the Keith – Cantara Road.
We called in to Chinamans Well, definitely worth a visit to read up the info boards around a short walk. You pass by old cooking huts, and the well itself is a little further in, made over 160 years old (which is in remarkable condition for something Chinese made).
Further along we took the ‘scenic’ route from near Mike Lake to Salt Creek.
At first it was a little disappointing, but then near the end you sight the Coorong proper and understand why it’s called to scenic route.
Jacks Point Pelican Observation Point was a bit of a mixed bag.
Great to have masses of Pelicans overhead, even managed to get a few 30x zoom pics reasonably clear, but went to go round the corner to see if any were on the water and nearly stepped on a 4’ Eastern Brown ! Shorts and thongs and Brown snakes aren’t a good mix.
He wasn’t too upset and hung around for a few pics, and I think I took these at nearly 30x zoom as well !!
Nearly 50km towards Meningie, we turned off on Seven Mile Road, which takes you down to the Coorong, and a really beaut drive right along the frontage, great views, and lots of waterbirds including Pelicans.
This eventually turns inland and takes you to Narrung Road and the Narrung Ferry.
Amazing who you meet out there . . . a bloke and his missus are tied up in their motor cruiser (old rustic one) and they’ve just finished a leg form Mannum, doing the whole river, can’t recall where they started from, but they are making a doco they hope to get onto ABC or SBS once all tidied up.
They are off to Milang then Goolwa for NYE with friends, we shared some interesting travel stories while the ferry did a couple of crossings and until the missus beckoned me to get a move on.
We crossed the Lake Alexandrina / Lake Albert neck and eventually came out on the Princes hwy about 18km south of the Wellington turnoff, and short drive to once more cross the ferry there on the return drive.
We were around 1300 here, so thought to find a nice shady spot for lunch of bics and tuna, but there on the hill opposite the ferry, the Wellington Hotel beckoned us.
A few cold drinks, one whiting, one schnitzel, and one hour later, we headed off for the last leg, retracing our steps home to Happy Valley via Strathalbyn.
A great trip all round, will do this again for sure, with one or both of the kids (they are older but would still love this).
Canunda is coming up Australia Day long weekend (January 26 – 29), but I really need to go with at least one other vehicle.
This trip showed me that it can go to hell pretty easy on these beaches, and Canunda is certainly more isolated and possibly there are not as many other vehicles generally travelling on this section.
Well, hope you aren't bored to death by now : )
Hope I didn't res the pics down too much.
For infos sake, the pdf maps for this trip are attached also, with the buggy club detourt included.
Cheers,
Les
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1_Beachport_map_ new_bypass.pdf
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2_Little_Dip _Map.pdf
