Southport Lagoon - 4WD Track

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Southport Lagoon - 4WD Track

The once infamous Southport Lagoon track is no longer the aggressive beast that it used to be. The track starts about 2km after Ida Bay with a blue sign noting its entrance 300m prior when travelling from the northernly direction. If coming from the Cockle Creek end of the road, there's no notification to let you know you're coming up to the entrance to the Southport Lagoon track. 


200m into the track you will find a visitor centre hut and also an area to pull over to air down. Currently in the hut there is a check in point for the government app at this location. I recommend at this point to set your tyre pressures to about 25 PSI or what you like to set your tyres to when it's rough gravel road conditions as you need the tyres to mould around sharp rocks. 

Clearance is the big issue on this track in summer, that's all you'll have to deal with. Small rock step-ups and boulders in inconvenient locations that can grab your diff at opportune moments. In winter the track is a bit more hairy as there are sections that can be flooded or washed out. Where you're dealing with medium ruts in summer these then fill up with water after a good rain and can hide hidden dangers underneath. It's still a track that you can comfortably four-wheel drive solo on and although a winch is nice, it's not a requirement for this track. A good set of tyres and high clearance is all you need to successfully conquer the task. 

Once you leave the visitor centre hut the track is single lane all the way however it is wide and there is plenty of space to pull over if you happen to come across an oncoming vehicle. There are also very few tight corners, allowing for the use of trailers and camper trailers to be brought into the camping locations. The track is a total of 6 km from start to finish one way and is a surface combination of gravel and bedrock.

While travelling the track you get a good view of the surrounding mountains as well as pocket glimpses of Southport Lagoon as you travel into it. The vegetation is a mixture of gum trees and grasses along with small shrubbery. At the end of the track you're confronted with campsites, multiple male and female toilets, hand washing facilities and access to the Southport Lagoon via a (hand only) boat ramp. There's plenty of parking for boat trailers near the boat ramp.









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