Day 2 breakfast, this is what I had every day
This day we just spent relaxing on Southend beach, where I did get bogged because the car in front of me did. One spot was extremely soft and the wheel ruts were so very deep. Got myself out though just by digging and using the mini-max tracks. They really work very well indeed. First time I've needed to seriously use them. Tyres were at 8psi front and rear.
I did some fishing from here and surprisingly caught 2 very nice mullet.
Day 3 was the real highlight for me, we went to Canunda national park which I'd never seen before. We went via Southend beach. Stunningly beautiful coastline with dozens of little inlets and beaches perfect for fishing, snorkelling, exploring. And remote since most of it you can only reach by 4WD. There are some beach camp spots and also designated camp grounds with only a long-drop dunny. The driving got pretty technical and challenging actually. More rocky than sandy. With some big fun sand dune climbs and descents thrown in. The little blue car took it all in its stride, I was seriously impressed. Can feel my experience level growing too and recieved comments from others about my driving lines up challenging climbs

Didn't scrape anything underneath either which I was quite surprised about.
Will be coming back to this beach to fish that hole one day
There's gotta be some crayfish down there
We saw fish swimming around down there, in the deeper spots
We drove on that beach in the background
I actually had an easier time than some of the "real" 4WDs. There was a new Jimny of which the driver was complaining it would completely cut the throttle halfway up a sand dune climb because the traction control threw a hissy fit even in low range. He did figure out how to turn this off eventually. I was surprised to learn most cars, even the new D-maxx they had to come to a complete stop to engage/disengage 4WD also between Hi and Lo. I was flicking between 2WD, Hi and Lo constantly while on the move, super handy to have this ability! There was a Hilux with a rear diff locker that wouldn't engage reliably which needed the driver to rock the car back and forwards slightly until it would pop in. My diff lock comes in automatically when it's needed! It helped too beyond measure. Don't think I would have had such a fun time with open diffs front and rear.
Anyway we only saw about 1/3rd of Canunda. This means I definitely need to come back for a dedicated trip for a proper explore. We had lunch at a place called Coola station(?) an old colonial cottage from the 1800's that was ruined. I dug up some of the abundant garlic growing wild from their veggie patch, to grow at home, a real "heirloom" variety
We drove down and had a look at Lake Bonney S.E too, a dry mud pan of an inland lake where the lake bed was springy, like walking on a mattress. Hard to believe large numbers of people used to come here from Adelaide in the 20's and 30's as a popular boating and sailing destination, they even had competitions. It must have rained a lot more back then!
One of our party had their fuel light come which ruled out going back the way we came through Canunda. So we aired up and went back via highway for beer-o-clock. It was actually a welcome thing to not be coming back into camp at dusk on the last day.
On Tuesday I got up at sunrise, got everything packed up and was rolling out of the caravan park at 8:03 AM. Got back home at 12:15PM, not bad! Only stopped once for fuel and toilet stop. Traffic was sparse.
Poor little car needed a clean inside and out!
I removed the scuttle panel and used compressed air to blow out as much sand as I could, from the engine bay and chassis rails as well. Also copious amounts of fresh water to flush out as much as I could. Then went to use the DIY car-wash station with the pressure wand. Actually this works very well, got the outside clean in <10 minutes. At home in the driveway it takes me 2 hours and I would have been in full sun.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend away. January ticked off the list I'm now looking to February. There was word of another Coorong fishing weekend but if that's a no-go I'm wondering if I should move my week long KI adventure forward a month. We will see!