Beach driving in South Australia

The area has plenty to offer visitors, with a number of first rate wineries available for tastings, excellent seafood, coastal fishing, and best of all, kilometres of beaches where four-wheel driving is permitted. Stretching from Carpenters Rocks, south of Millicent, adventuresome four wheelers can drive the beach through Canunda National Park to Southend. This area is renowned for challenging beaches and should never be undertaken without the company of other 4WDs. Depending on conditions the trip can take between a few hours to a full day. Camping is permitted inland behind the dunes in several places.
Most of the camping areas have self-registration stations located within the park where you can obtain a permit to camp.

Other camping and accommodation options are available in main towns at Beachport and Robe. The drive from Beachport to Robe offers plenty of challenges, with stretches of hard packed sand, as well as beaches that are extremely soft and can soon pull up the best equipped 4WD. South of Robe is the Little Dip Conservation Park, which provides a multitude of beach driving experiences. Tracks wind along short sections of beach, then turn inland and return further along the coast to the beach. There is a secondary "chicken" track that provides an inland run behind the dunes, which allows drivers to skip the more difficult sections of beach. All along the coast there is spectacular scenery.

Sections of track located between beaches are marked with orange-topped posts. The track takes in the best of the scenery and offers plenty of challenging driving.

From Robe the beach slowly becomes extremely narrow, with those that have travelled around Guichen Bay forced inland before reaching Cape Jaffa. It is possible to drive parts of the beach into Kingston.

From Kingston to the Murray River mouth (Coorong) there are numerous opportunities for fishing, canoeing, bird watching and camping. Most beaches between Kingston and the Murray mouth are passable in the summer months. However, high tides and wild weather can leave the beaches unsuitable to drive in winter months. Some sections of beach between 42-Mile Crossing and Tea Tree Crossing are unsafe to drive even in summer. This section of beach is closed from Oct 24 to December 24 each year to protect the nesting Hooded Plover.

Key information

Little Dip Conservation Park
Camping: permitted at the Gums, Stony Rise, Long Gully and Old Man Lake. Camping permits are required. Gas fires only.
Access: 2WD access to Long gully, Little Dip Beach, Cape Lannes and almost to Stony Rise. Sand dune areas 4WD only.

Beachport to Nora Creina
Camping: available at Beachport & Southend.
Access: 4WD only. Never travel without at least one other vehicle. Distance approx. 27kms.

Southend to Carpenter Rocks
Camping: Southend, Cape Banks, Number. Two Rocks, Geltwood Beach, Kotgee & Nat-a-wort.
Access: 4WD only. Beaches can be hazardous. Distance approx. 60kms.

Kingston to Murray mouth
Camping: various camping areas.
Access: generally good in summer months.

Further information
Southend NPS (08) 87356053
Beachport Visitor Centre (08) 87358029
Robe Visitor Centre (08) 87682465
Robe NPS (08) 87682543
Coorong NPS (08) 85751200