Beachport – Easter 2018

Beachport – Easter 2018

Friday

The trip started in Beachport and members made their own way down on Thursday, arriving at different times, some in the early hours of Friday morning.

Friday morning we ran a half-day trip out on the beaches, heading towards Nora Creina. The first beach we hit Steve and Donna became bogged, quickly followed by Jimmy, then Cam, who were right behind him. It didn’t take long to get the vehicles moving again and we travelled along beaches and through dunes until we reached 8 mile. At 8 mile we had the opportunity to have a play on the big sand dune, everyone eventually making it up except Paul and Heather. We then headed back to camp along the beaches again, Richard noticing that there was a noise coming from his suspension, which turned out to be a broken part of his sway bar. We took an inland track past Lake George, which was full of water.

After lunch, we headed out again, this time driving the beach from Beachport to Southend. Once we left the beach, we headed into Canunda National Park and drove some inland tracks, which were endless waves of large corrugations. We drove out to a large sand dune that Matthew and I knew, unfortunately however, vehicles were no longer allowed to drive up it. Instead, members climbed the dune and sat to enjoy the view, while the kids slid down on the sand boards. The convey split briefly, while some members went into Millicent for fuel, before we all joined up again and drove the beach home to Beachport.

members climbed the dune and sat to enjoy the view, while the kids slid down on the sand boards. - Juanita

Saturday

On Saturday, we headed off towards Robe. At 8 mile we stopped for another play on the big sand dune. This time Paul and Heather made it, but I did not. While playing, we witnessed an accident between a vehicle and a motorbike, highlighting the importance of having a sand flag and not parking your car on the crest of a dune. Luckily, it was not as bad as it could have been.

We ran the beach to Nora Creina without anyone getting bogged, although there were a few exits that people had to have a couple of attempts at due to soft sand. We ate lunch at a campsite out of Nora Creina, before hitting the beaches again and heading towards Robe. The beaches were reasonably firm and we drove without incident until the final dune that exited the beach. When we arrived, there were two vehicles stuck on the dune. Our members went to help and after about 30 minutes we managed to dig both cars out and get them moving again. All our members made it up the dune without incident and we drove into Robe.

At Robe the convey broke into two, with three vehicles heading back to Beachport along the beaches again and the other four looking around Robe and making their way back to camp at their own leisure on the bitumen. That night spirits were high and most members gathered in the mess tent where we enjoyed many laughs.

Sunday

On Sunday, we headed off again, this time towards Carpenters Rocks. We drove the beach from Beachport to Southend, and then headed into Canunda National Park. We drove out to the cliff face, where the view was incredible. We initially drove some inland tracks before entering onto the beach. The sand was quite soft and we had to keep momentum up as we drove. At times, we had to exit the beach as it became quite narrow and the tide was coming in, but we continued to find entry points back on.

We drove without incident until we came across a group of drivers bogged at an exit point. Once again, our members helped then out and when the track was clear, we decided to continue along the beach. We did not get far however, before the beach suddenly dropped away, and as the tide was so high, we were forced to come to a complete stop, causing Matthew to get bogged in the soft sand.

This meant we had to go back to the exit that we had just helped clear. The sand was very soft, Matthew was coming in from the wrong direction, and again he got bogged. The group that had been travelling in front of us helped snatch Matthew forward. The rest of our group managed to get through the exit, some taking a couple of attempts.

We had lunch on top of a large dune, overlooking the wind turbines. With a little help from members who shall remain anonymous, Jimmy managed to get bogged on top of the dune and needed to be snatched out before we could leave our lunch site. We drove some inland tracks, heading for a dune we could have a play on. After our play session, Cam realised he had blown his heater hose. While the bush mechanics got right onto it, the convoy divided, with four cars completing the journey to Carpenters Rocks. The remaining three vehicles got Cams car running again and ran the beaches back to camp.

Thank you to everyone who came along and helped make the trip such a success. I look forward to seeing you all on the beaches again next Easter.

Juanita