Aus day weekend 26' Beachport, Gambier, Naracoorte
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:44 pm
That time of the year again, our 4WD club annual Beachport weekend. I extended it for a few days and checked out Mount Gambier and Naracoorte too, may possibly be moving/working there in the near future (big maybe) Since I quit my job before Christmas, I'm looking for a big change.
Didn't take enough photos of the sand driving parts, it's mostly video which I will edit and upload some time soon.
I got there on Friday around 2 PM and got a spot with nice green grass (unlike last year
)
Didn't do any driving that day. Saturday was stinking hot so we didn't do any serious 4wd'ing either and just lazed around on the beach, went to Robe for the mandatory ice cream run. This weekend many heat records were broken in SA, VIC and NSW. Many places in the mid to high 40's, Adelaide included. Mildura copped 49.6 on Tuesday!
Learned there is a family of 3 wombats that live in the park, they come out at night to eat the green grass and are completely un-fased by people taking close up photos. I nearly tripped over one on my way to the loo one night
Also that evening a very sick looking and heat-stressed Blue tongued lizard flopped out of the bushes on deaths door. We gave it water (it drank a lot!) and strawberries. I used the tweezers from my first aid kit to remove 2 ticks from under its arm. Another member kept it under obvs in his caravan all weekend, it regained its strength enough to be released on Tuesday.
Sunday was cooler and a bit more eventful, we aired down in the caravan park and headed south down Southend beach (saw a Brumby!) through the town and turned left into Canunda National park. Mostly inland trails, a few beautiful lookout points and chances for staged photo line ups. Note the fossilized tree roots in the earth below...
We came out onto a beach at the half way point, drove along and found the exit off the beach straight into a camp site. While airing up here I bumped into Chris from WORA 4x4 youtube channel, he has a lot of Subaru content and used to have a blue L series. He was really into my wagon and we agreed we need to meet up again and do some 4wding together in the future.
We then legged it to Carpenter rocks on the black top to go fishing by 1:30PM, a few nice KG whiting were bagged.
Monday is when I packed up camp after breakfast. I had planned to shoot down to Gambier in the AM but some other members decided to do an un-official drive towards Robe in the sand and I couldn't resist.
(typically at club events every group drive needs its own trip sheet, but this was technically after the club event had ended hence un-official)
Stopped for lunch somewhere between Beachport and Nora Creina.
Somebody filmed me tackling the beach exit just before Nora Creina. It's extremely rare for me to get footage from outside my car
Copy and paste this link into a new tab to see, it's only a few seconds long.
https://i.imgur.com/Bq60N6T.mp4
We stopped at Nora Creina and walked through to the beach for some fishing (you can't drive through any more, it's completely closed to outsiders due to bad apples) After this I legged it to Mount Gambier, got there by 10 minutes to 5 to check into a hotel (very last minute)
Tuesday I planned to drop some resumes off in person around the place. It was stinking hot this day too. The Blue lake was very blue
The sunken gardens were a lovely cool relief from the heat above. Many open air bee hives inside!
Saw the divisive blue blob statue
Around lunch time I escaped to Port Macdonnel, it was so cool and breezy there I almost needed a jumper! Such a difference from Mount Gambier.
On the way back stopped into Feasts motor museum, an amazing collection of cars, models and other memorabilia from bygone ages. He had an electric car form the 1800's! And a very large collection of Chrystler Valiants from the 60's among other vehicles. Well worth the time and $10 entry. The bloke is in his 80's so the museum might not be around much longer, see it while you can!
No photos allowed inside but I couldn't say no to having my photo taken on the big trike
Climbed Mount Shenk also, maybe not the best idea in jeans in 35 degrees but oh well
Booked a night at Naracoorte caves national park camp ground, got there around 5PM to 35+ degrees and a fierce hot wind. Had the entire place to myself of course being first week back for school kids. I reckon last week the place would have been heaving with people. The rainwater tanks were all completely empty. A cool change blew in around 7 and I set up camp after dinner.
Did tourist-y things on Wednesday, did some cave tours and saw some fossils
Went and saw Bool Lagoon, in a pretty sorry state (dry) would be pretty speccy when it has water, will have to come back some time.
After lunch in Naracoorte proper I headed home, the whole way non-stop because why not. Fuel gage went below empty as I got off the freeway, lucky it's mostly down hill from there to 26k's home so I could coast. Reckon the car was running on fumes when I pulled into the drive
Thanks for reading my blog if you got this far
Thoroughly enjoyed the 5 nights away. The annual Beachport weekend is always a great little holiday regardless of how much 4wd'ing we do. The little blue wagon once again took it all in stride and gave not a single hint of trouble, plus the A/C kept me nice and cool 
Had a very positive response on the employment front so who knows what this year will bring.
Didn't take enough photos of the sand driving parts, it's mostly video which I will edit and upload some time soon.
I got there on Friday around 2 PM and got a spot with nice green grass (unlike last year
)Didn't do any driving that day. Saturday was stinking hot so we didn't do any serious 4wd'ing either and just lazed around on the beach, went to Robe for the mandatory ice cream run. This weekend many heat records were broken in SA, VIC and NSW. Many places in the mid to high 40's, Adelaide included. Mildura copped 49.6 on Tuesday!
Learned there is a family of 3 wombats that live in the park, they come out at night to eat the green grass and are completely un-fased by people taking close up photos. I nearly tripped over one on my way to the loo one night
Also that evening a very sick looking and heat-stressed Blue tongued lizard flopped out of the bushes on deaths door. We gave it water (it drank a lot!) and strawberries. I used the tweezers from my first aid kit to remove 2 ticks from under its arm. Another member kept it under obvs in his caravan all weekend, it regained its strength enough to be released on Tuesday.
Sunday was cooler and a bit more eventful, we aired down in the caravan park and headed south down Southend beach (saw a Brumby!) through the town and turned left into Canunda National park. Mostly inland trails, a few beautiful lookout points and chances for staged photo line ups. Note the fossilized tree roots in the earth below...
We came out onto a beach at the half way point, drove along and found the exit off the beach straight into a camp site. While airing up here I bumped into Chris from WORA 4x4 youtube channel, he has a lot of Subaru content and used to have a blue L series. He was really into my wagon and we agreed we need to meet up again and do some 4wding together in the future.
We then legged it to Carpenter rocks on the black top to go fishing by 1:30PM, a few nice KG whiting were bagged.
Monday is when I packed up camp after breakfast. I had planned to shoot down to Gambier in the AM but some other members decided to do an un-official drive towards Robe in the sand and I couldn't resist.
(typically at club events every group drive needs its own trip sheet, but this was technically after the club event had ended hence un-official)
Stopped for lunch somewhere between Beachport and Nora Creina.
Somebody filmed me tackling the beach exit just before Nora Creina. It's extremely rare for me to get footage from outside my car
Copy and paste this link into a new tab to see, it's only a few seconds long.
https://i.imgur.com/Bq60N6T.mp4
We stopped at Nora Creina and walked through to the beach for some fishing (you can't drive through any more, it's completely closed to outsiders due to bad apples) After this I legged it to Mount Gambier, got there by 10 minutes to 5 to check into a hotel (very last minute)
Tuesday I planned to drop some resumes off in person around the place. It was stinking hot this day too. The Blue lake was very blue
The sunken gardens were a lovely cool relief from the heat above. Many open air bee hives inside!
Saw the divisive blue blob statue
Around lunch time I escaped to Port Macdonnel, it was so cool and breezy there I almost needed a jumper! Such a difference from Mount Gambier.
On the way back stopped into Feasts motor museum, an amazing collection of cars, models and other memorabilia from bygone ages. He had an electric car form the 1800's! And a very large collection of Chrystler Valiants from the 60's among other vehicles. Well worth the time and $10 entry. The bloke is in his 80's so the museum might not be around much longer, see it while you can!
No photos allowed inside but I couldn't say no to having my photo taken on the big trike
Climbed Mount Shenk also, maybe not the best idea in jeans in 35 degrees but oh well
Booked a night at Naracoorte caves national park camp ground, got there around 5PM to 35+ degrees and a fierce hot wind. Had the entire place to myself of course being first week back for school kids. I reckon last week the place would have been heaving with people. The rainwater tanks were all completely empty. A cool change blew in around 7 and I set up camp after dinner.
Did tourist-y things on Wednesday, did some cave tours and saw some fossils
Went and saw Bool Lagoon, in a pretty sorry state (dry) would be pretty speccy when it has water, will have to come back some time.
After lunch in Naracoorte proper I headed home, the whole way non-stop because why not. Fuel gage went below empty as I got off the freeway, lucky it's mostly down hill from there to 26k's home so I could coast. Reckon the car was running on fumes when I pulled into the drive
Thanks for reading my blog if you got this far
Thoroughly enjoyed the 5 nights away. The annual Beachport weekend is always a great little holiday regardless of how much 4wd'ing we do. The little blue wagon once again took it all in stride and gave not a single hint of trouble, plus the A/C kept me nice and cool Had a very positive response on the employment front so who knows what this year will bring.