South Australian Parks has this to say about Canunda National Park "Discover a spectacular coastline of cliffs and long stretches of surf beaches in Canunda National Park. Featuring a diversity of coastal habitats, Canunda offers great opportunities to enjoy bushwalking, observe local birdlife, surf the waves or snorkel among the fish."
And another website says this: "Stretching for 40km along South Australia’s wild Limestone Coast west of Mount Gambier, Canunda National Park protects a breathtaking sweep of cliffs, coves and giant shifting sand dunes carved by the sea. The park offers pioneering historical sites, lofty lookouts and six campgrounds providing secluded sites and good facilities."
I recommend doing some of the coastal walks. There is loads of information about them on websites such as this one: www.walkingsa.org.au. I highly recommend the 'seaview walk'.
I can certainly confirm the 'spectacular coastline' statement, this park is truly spectacular and is now one of my most favourite places.
I loved the wild rugged scenery, the huge beachscapes, and the fun 4wdr tracks.
I took so many pictures here it has been difficult to cull them. I will create a page for this national park and feature them in a gallery slideshow there, rather than post them here.
There are some scenic walking trails along the coastline, blowholes in the rocks and the snorkeling looks amazing.
The 4wdr tracks were either hard rock in sand or soft sand over a hard base, mostly... with a few long soft-sand dunes... so pretty much everything.
Some of the tracks felt like I was on a roller coaster, they were so much fun.
Once again, flying a dessert flag is advisable. I can imagine these trails get very busy with weekend 4wdr warriors hooning around.
On approaching the seaward end of one track (I think it was the access to Geltwood Beach) I met some two flash 4wdrive vehicles coming the other way who informed me they had gone down onto the beach, but turned around after only 20 meters as they considered it impassable, good to know. ... and the beach access sign (below) says as much.
Instead, I parked back from the final dune and enjoyed a beach swim and afternoon nap in the dunes instead.
I have a vivid recollection driving down one particularly long steep soft dune, wondering if I would be able to get back up it, and sure enough it took 3 attempts, with the last one being my "this-has-to-work-or-I-am-screwed" attempt !!
I didn't take a video of that, which is a shame as it would have made hilarious viewing. as I was too stressed about getting up the dune to even think of filming!
The last track I drove before leaving the park led to a short but very soft/steep dune (see pic to the left) that in turn was only the beginning of a seriously long (1km plus) soft sandy dunescape.
I was very glad I did not even attempt that one in particular.
I explored it by foot and have to say it felt like I had been transported to some Egyptian dessert.
It was sunny but very windy and I got sand blasted up on the dune ridges.
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