Melbourne to Googs Track via the coast.

We undertook this trip in December 2003.

We have done a lot of travelling in South Australia and really like it. It has that Outback experience we are after and is still relatively close by. But we had done little of the coast except the beach run up from Carpenters Rocks to Robe a few times. So this was the trip to do all three peninsulas that make up the South Australian coast. We made our way to Mt. Arapiles for our first day and made the climb to the top by one of the easy climbs. People come from around the world to climb here as there is a huge range of mapped and rated climbs. They go from the first timer to the highest in the world at something like a 37! The camp at the base is not very level and there was quite a few climbers camped there so we stayed at the rest area just at the turn into the park.

   

Leaving home and our first camp at Mt Arapiles.

Next we dropped into Naracoorte Caves to have a look at the caves and the fossil finds they have there. Next was to head to the coast. For years I had looked at the long spit that runs just north of Robe all the way to the mouth of Australia's longest river the Murray. It is part of the Coorong National Park and is called the Young Husband Peninsula. It is over 150 kms of unspoilt beach that you can drive on.

   

Naracoorte Caves and the first of many 100's kms of sand tracks at Coorong NP.

We checked out a few places and found Wreck Crossing to be the best place to make a base camp. It is not very popular like others as it is a fair drive over steep dunes to get to the beach but that was fine as we prefer to have a place to ourselves. Camped in the shade of some nice trees with a salt pan behind us we were surprised to have some wild deer walk past us. The dunes are pretty big here but so long as you have let your tyres down to 15-18 psi you should be right.

   

Try and spot the Jeep above to get the scale.             Heading for the coast.

Once on the beach you have to make sure that it is low tide because as you can see below, there is no where else to drive and no tracks in the dunes behind either. Not that many drive this section as a bit further up it was quite soft which gave some problems on the way back.

    

Beautiful empty surf beaches. This one goes for nearly 200 kms!

 

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