Beachport Conservation Park

Beachport Scenic Drive

Beachport Conservation Park is on the outskirts of the town of Beachport and is very accessible via an unsealed road.

Beachport itself, is located around 40km from Robe and is a very pretty seaside town, and well worth a visit.    There is a much beauty to be seen on the Bowman Scenic Drive, which highlights the amazing beaches and rugged coastline of South Australia.

We came to this part of the world, immediately after visiting Little Dip Conservation Park, which is about 30 mins away.

Campground

Update: As of April 2017, bookings are required for many South Australian National Parks. You need to book your campsite and pay for it prior to departure. To check to see if you need to do so, you will need to check the following link and make all payments via this link.

https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/booking

Based on this new rule, some of the following information may have altered since we first visited and reviewed.

There is only one place to camp within the Conservation Park and that is Three Mile Bend Camping.   It has 6 sites, and the sites are very well spread out, and extremely private.

Most sites would be suitable for all sorts of campers, lots of room to park caravans especially in campsite 3.

As I have written on my blog, and I will reiterate it here, the state of the campground was a disgrace.   The campers who have camped there previously left 5 of the 6 campsites in a dreadful condition.   Lots of toilet paper in the bushes, broken bottles, rubbish, and more toilet paper.    One site, the previous campers just left a garbage bag full of rubbish and empty water containers in the campsite, next to the provided picnic tables.

It is a shame that there is an element of people out there who have so little respect for the environment and others, that they are either too lazy to take their rubbish out with them (and after all, the township is about 10mins away, and ample bins there plus there is a toilet there should they be that desperate, there is no need to go so close to a campsite and leave it unburied).

We were lucky, and found campsite 4 to be the only clean campsite available (and also the campsite next to the toilets).

All campsites face Lake George – and this is a huge lake, great for windsurfers and safe for swimming.   We saw it with hardly any water in it, and when the wind turned, it blew a funny smell towards campsites.

From February 2015, bookings for campsites can be made via National Parks SA Website.

Below is what all the campsites look like.    There is substantial space amongst the trees, so not that clear from the road.

Every campsite is very private, large and well spaced. The trees surrounding every campsite are thick and provide great coverage from any rain plus protection from the wind. We set up under the trees, and it was very good – we could have been anywhere it was so private and quiet.

Our children had a great time playing in the trees around the campsite . With the lake being dry, there was no chance of swimming or paddling.

We loved camping there (if we forgot about how poor the condition was at other campsites). We had the entire park to ourselves. But should each of the campsites have been full, you could get by without seeing another camper once you had set up, such was the degree of privacy.

Our campsite at Three Mile Bend

Amenities

As previously mentioned, there is a modern toilet and it was clean – though it was pretty smelly for a pit toilet.

Water tank (not suitable for drinking) is by the toilets but it was dry when we visited.

Bring all your own water.

Gasfires only allowed, though there was much evidence at all campsites of many campfires, so obviously not that well policed.

Should you be in campsites such as number 1, 2, 3 and 6 I would recommend a chemical toilet – especially if you have children who may not be able to make the walk to the toilets.     We stayed in Campsite 4 and that was the closest to the toilets, but even so, they are a few minutes walk away.

Activities

In the Conservation Park, there are 4WD options available.    Beachport has an Information Office which can provide greater detail/maps on this activity. (Note: this office is not open on weekends).

Near the campground was Woolly Lake, and that had a walk around it which takes about 45mins.    For a good proportion of that walk, you cannot see the Lake.    You sort of just assume it is there.   Now and again, we caught glimpses of it.       My children loved the walk for one reason - the chance to see a wombat!    There was a lot of wombat poo on the pathways, and that kept their interest in the walk for at least 30 minutes - the desperate hope that around the corner, there would be a wombat (or an echidna if we were desperate).     No luck there.

Five Mile Drift is in another section of the park and that is where a large sand dune has met Lake George.    Maybe it was the poor weather, or maybe our expectations were high, or we saw the wrong thing - but it was not impressive. In fact, the only reason we knew we were there was because they have toilets.

One activity that is worth doing is the scenic drive - you leave the park for that. It really does show beautiful coastline and beaches and shows off some of SA's lovely coastline.

The town of Beachport is small but friendly and has a lovely relaxed feel to it.

Recommendations

Worth a visit - but hope that by the time you get there, that the campgrounds are clean, and responsible campers have gone before you.     Apart from that negative, the scenery of the Southern Ocean is wonderful, and we loved our clean campsite and the protection and privacy it offered.

Beachport