Stockton Beach - 4wding and camping

We have just come back from there Ben and were there by ourselves, simply been to busy building a new car to write it up though.

Personnally , overall I found it a very easy place to live with and play on.

We stayed at Birbui beach which is at the top end. There is a lifesaving type club building which has a cappicino shop overlooking the area and its quite nice to sit there and take in the surroundings.
View from shop is rock fishing to north , sweeping round to surfers catching waves to NE , then looking east to special area for horses with trotting carts , then looking SE to the 25km of easy beach run down to wreck and Tin city.

RAV4's abound on the beach side which easy and picturestque.
The strip of play sand is roughly 1km wide from the shore and height of the dunes rises away from the shore.

There is no vegetation and sand is soft but hard to get stuck in.

Lovely small and bigger hills to power up and down, and if you go midweek on a $10 3 day pass out of hoiliday season as we did , then you can find yourself high up on a dune with great views and not another car in sight. This was best part for us.
No one around , just nosing into dunes playing with them and the car.

We had a brand new Patrol and did this trip as we didn't want to scratch it just yet.

The only real issue is that it can be hard to see a drop off (very hard actually) , so its best t0 kept the speed down.
We mostly were only doing about 20kmh.

We took up a suggestion from another member here on doing a half day tour up front so we got to know the area.

Never done this before , but with only 2 other cars in convoy , we got to experiment a lot and was money well spent (think $150 www.4wdtour.com.au).

This guy drove a manual petrol Prado , and I thought at first that this was going to be weak but before the end of day I was sweating on not trying to look like an idiot as he sure knew how to drive.


Image Could Not Be Found

Image Could Not Be Found

Tyre pressures are very important for sand.

Sometimes you can get away with highway pressures, but if the motor dies away! drop 10 psi then try it again.

Best bet for boggy is 18 PSI but you can go down to 15 if your bogged. But if your bogged then dropping the tyre pressure further will bottom your vehicle on the sand and then you ain't going anywhere.

So be aware of these traps, now if you bogging down and the vehicle stops back up over the tracks you just made and go forward again with more power than before, this can be done several times to eventually get out of a boggy situation (Do it fast with slick gear changes).

Never ever just spin the wheels when the vehicle is not moving forward your just going to sit the vehicle in the sand with the wheels in the air!

Also but probably most importantly is when at speed on hard sand don't do hard or sharp turns as the vehicle can and will!! in some parts bog in and roll your vehicle injuring or Killing every one inside! this has been done many times before.

Have fun but stay safe carry water for if your stuck for a while ETC with kids nothing worse than not being prepared for a long wait if your not prepared for any situation.

Cheers.

Mate theres two ways onto the beach, birubi, and Lavis lane, as you are new to area head out to birubi beach. easier to get onto that way. I have heard they have fixed lavis lane, but i haven't being up there recently. Will be heading up that way. soon, but not sure when.

I reconmend 16 psi in your tyres, because if the sand is dry then it will be PITA.

if you want a good area where you don't need permits, Blacksmiths beach, just down the road from my place. There is/ was someone camping down there the other week.

Blacksmiths you need no permit. Stockton you need a permit which you can buy in the area locally.

HI there , single vehicle - should be no issue - provided you have low range( for soft sand) - once through the soft stuff at anna bay entrance , beach sand is quiet firm

- beach permit from local petrol station
- tire pressure to 15 - 18 PSI
- snatch strap just in case
- enter from anna bay - that simple -

now - if in doubt - dont go out near the back of the beach , ie up in the dunes - the sand can get very soft up there especially if its been dry and windy. you can get pockets of pure dry sand a few feet deep

Camping is behind the fordunes - you just choose a spot - note of ADVISE - try to distance yourself from the anna bay entrance as much as possible - you will get lot of people coming onto the beach at all hours - they tend to just go in and out from anna bay ...

Take a portable toilet and dont dump the contents in the sand ANYWHERE. take it out with you

TAKE ALL YOUR RUBBISH OUT WITH YOU - they do provide industrial bins - use them , they dont have garbage collection on beach - dont bury your rubbish - the wind will expose it in less than a week - if you see rubbish - and you have spare space - pick it up - leave the camp site cleaner than you found it ...

You will love it ....

BB

The Lavis Lane entrance is a no brainer now. A wide firm straight road that dumps you out near where the recreational vehicles are. The sand is super soft where you come off the road and really cut up but at least you don't get stuck behind numptys any more :-)
Mike

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies- I've returned from my trip down to Stockton Beach/Anna Bay.

I ended up entering via Gan Gan Rd- apparently it was raining quite a bit before I arrived, so most of the sand was firm when driving. Driving around in 4H with tyre pressures @ 16psi worked well- only got stuck once... when trying to be adverturous on a big dune. No big problem however, a small push backwards and we continued our trip.

Saw the shipwreck and tin city, and did some beach fishing- there was a few flathead and the usual shovel nosed shark out there. Made for a nice and fresh meal.

Locals were friendly.