We really liked Robe – a perfect blend of beaches and headlands, walking tracks, history and things to do. We enjoyed the feel of the town – the way the modern sits in with the old, and the coastal lakes. Our day at Little Dip and Nora Creina was brilliant. Unfortunately foul weather took away our last day there. So we have unfinished business.
We were at Robe on 27, 28, 29 March 2019
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting There
Mount Gambier > Beachport > Robe ~ 135kms
History
The First People of this coastal environment were the Bunganditj (Bo-an-dick). They were the custodians and their country included the coast from Robe to the mouth of the Glenelg River at Nelson, Victoria. The name Bunganditj is derived from Bung-an-ditj “people of the reeds”, reflecting the once lush environment, covered in winter flooding surface lakes, intermittent swamps and coastal freshwater soaks providing a rich economic and cultural resource for people. The Bunganditj lived in the region for at least 30,000 years.
To read more about the history and culture of the Bunganditj First Nations people, click here.
Sealers visited Guichen Bay long before the colony of South Australia was founded in 1836, and famous overlander Charles Bonney passed through with a mob of cattle in 1839. However, it was not until 1846 that a town was established to meet the needs of pastoralists settling in the area.
The town was named after the South Australian Governor, who chose the site for a new port and settlement in 1846 to serve the colony’s south-east. By 1859, Robe had become one of southern Australia’s busiest ports, and the second largest export port for wool in South Australia to Europe and sailing direct to London.
Starting in 1856, thousands of Chinese migrants travelled through Robe on their way to the Victorian goldfields. In 1857 alone, some 15,000 or so Chinese landed in Robe direct from China, to avoid a poll tax imposed by the Victorian government.
Surprisingly, Robe fell into decline and by the 1890s, Robe’s life as a commercial trading port was over. Then in the 1900s, Robe reinvented itself as a holiday destination and a major commercial fishing port, exporting Southern Rock Lobster to the world.
To read more on the history of Robe, click here.
Now home to about 1,500 people, Robe remains a very popular holiday destinations, because of its unspoilt scenery, old-world charm, laidback lifestyle, and popular eateries serving fresh local produce and premium local wines. The town still boasts more than 80 historic buildings.
Day 1 – Wed 27 Mar – To and at Robe
It was an overcast day, pretty cool and windy. Driving into the wind was no fun, combined with a bumpy road in parts. The landscape was a mix of rolling farmlands and forests, a couple of nice farmhouses and an old pub.
At Millicent we had intended to stop to look at a beautiful nature reserve known as Lake McIntyre. We saw the Lake listed as the town attraction but we did not see any signpost for this until we were about 5km past the town. We slowed down to check out the entrance but we had no way of knowing if there was a turning area. We actually saw a sign at the last minute, pulled into the side road, but then looked at the entry point and decided NO.
We took the coastal road from Millicent to Beachport – no views though as there was high bush on both sided of the road. Beachport is a lovely town with a great beach. Looks like a very shallow bay. There is a long jetty out into the bay which was originally 1.2km long but is currently 772m. There is also a lovely old pub and another historic building next door. All in all a very inviting place, with lots of lovely little bays. Some very big modern homes there as well. We passed another pub on the way out.
I love these old jetties. They are all so reminiscent of a bygone era… sadly, quite a few are in disrepair. The drive on to Robe runs alongside farmlands on one side and to the left are a series of lakes. But mostly we can’t see these because fo the roadside vegetation.
Our van park is at the start of the town, the Discovery Holiday Park, Robe. This is very large park and we are at the far end on a grassed site atop a hill and looking to the bush at the rear. There is plenty of room so we can easily get Mobi in and parked. There are lots of facilities at the park – indoor pool, good camp kitchen, children’s play area with a zip line and the usual ablutions and other facilities. The ablutions are ok, that’s all, and there are not so many of them. The cost is $35.87 with our Top discount. We got both Optus (our 4G modem plus my phone) and Telstra (Kerry’s phone).
After lunch we crossed the road to the beach. It is rocky beach, in fact there many rock outcrops in the area. Around the northern headland is the start of Long Beach.
We then went into the town – a long main street with lots of shops and eateries. We went to the tourist information office and came away with the usual bunch of maps and brochures. It had turned into a nice afternoon so we decided to walk around to look at the historical buildings. It is pretty amazing that these are still in use – Davidsons shop (1855) and the Forge (1856), Campbells Cottages (1857), the Bank House (1859) and the Robe Hotel (1849).
Our favourite is the old Customs House (1863) – such a cute little building on the hillside. Overlooking the small harbour.
In the port is the grand Karatta House – built by a wealthy grazier c1860, and used by Governor James Ferguson as his summer residence 1869-73. From the mid 1870s it was occupied by a succession of distinguished pastoralists, before being converted into a guest house in the late 1920s. It was sold for $435,000 in 2014, presumably in disrepair, and is now restored as a BnB.
A few others also caught the eye – we loved the last one, “Granny Banks”.
We then drove out to the fresh seafood shop and got some prawns and snapper fillets. The lobsters were so, so expensive – the largest was over $440. The prawns were good but could not compare to the Queensland banana prawns.
We then went to see “Transmutation” – the plastic reuse shop and workshop. This incredible plastic recycling workshop and retail outlet turns anything plastic into useful products. The large commercial recyclers tend to only take PET, HDPE and some LDPE as they are easier to process and are commercially viable. This means that the other types of plastics are simply going into landfill. The workshop can recycle all 7 types of thermoplastics that are currently in the marketplace. The advantage with the small craft size workshop is that it can take virtually all plastic types and do something with it. What a fantastic thing to do. They sold products from all sorts of things – handbags from tyres, boots from tyre treads as a sole and tyre tarpaulins stitched together for the top part. Bowls from water bottle lids – all very unusual. I bought a very expensive pair of yoga leggings made from “fishing nets” for $109. They are so comfortable and much better on ne than trapping a dolphin. Don’t know why the govt. can’t invest in this technology on a grand scale.The photo shows the different sorts of plastics that can be recycled.
Day 2 – Thu 28 Mar – Little Dip, Nora Creina
It was a lovely day for a change, and we intended to make the most of it by visiting Little Dip NP and Nora Creina, having no idea what we would find there. Firstly, we went across to Long Beach to check it out – Kerry in her new fishing net leggings.
About 5km out of town the bitumen changed to a dirt track, which was in OK condition. We come to Little Dip NP first. This park aims to conserve a large number of small lakes, each with its own characteristics, ranging from marshy, open and shallow, to very salty, to very deep. The beautiful coastline consists mostly of large sand dunes. A large number of shellfish remains can be seen in the park, which are believed to have been left by First Nations people who settled here thousands of years ago. The advice is that a four wheel drive vehicle is recommended to fully explore the dune system and coastal strip, although major locations of the park are accessible to conventional vehicles.
We turned down to the Long Gully camping area, which was deserted. Just past there the track turns both ways and there are warnings that the track is 4WD only, that there is soft sand, and to let tyres down now! We were not keen to deflated tyres and do the sand dune stuff, then reflate tyres. So I walked up the right hand track – both looked quite ok but the minefield of soft sand could be just around the corner. I went about 100m up the track and came to a little diversion to the beach. I went back to get Kerry – driving on the track was no problem.
It is a stunning beach and especially the rock outcrops – just amazing.
We walked around the rocks to a beach. This is all so beautiful and we are the only people anywhere is sight. We could have spent hours looking at the rock pools and beaches. These little rock pools were fascinating – some tiny, tiny anemones, little fish, and just so many different shapes formed with the waves washing in.
We went back to the main dirt road south before turning off to the right again to get to Little Dip beach. There are some wonderful rock outcrops here, all in typical rugged limestone rock shelves and headlands – lots of holes through the cliffs.
To the south is a lovely arc of beach and we went over to walk that. But soon we started to see lots of plastic and we just had to start to collect this assiduous waste. We got heaps – how does this happen in such a remote place – from large strands of plastic rope, to tiny little segments, hardly visible. At one point a 4WD had obviously driven onto the beach and the occupants had done a bit of fishing, They had left behind, just chucked on the sand, 3 beer bottles, empty cardboard cartons, plastic bait containers and sundry bits of rubbish. How can people do that, especially as we reckon this must be people who know the area – locals. It’s their beach but they pollute it without a care. As well, there was a lot of other plastic – we got more here than in most beaches out west when we were at last year. 3 glass beer bottles, rope, several big items, as well as the usual little suspects. The trouble I have with this, is once I start to pick up rubbish, I don’t want to stop…. so every beach walk takes forever, but all for a good cause and it still only added about 15 minutes to our beach walk.
From there we went back up to the main road south again and turned off to Nora Creina about 25km from Robe. This place is unique. It is a private settlement. A kind of cultural experiment we read, where the landholder has offered long term leases to parts of his property for people to build beach houses. It is said to have a “1950’s shanty shack by the shore” feeling, but that is its charm. Guests are welcome, but they do need to be respectful of the fact that they are visiting private land. We drove up to a fence and gate across the road and signs saying “No Access”. But at the car park is a track to the beach for the non “in crowd”.
The beach is gobsmackingly lovely – a semi-circular beach bounded by prominent 20 m high calcarenite headlands and reefs. The headlands are remnant of the Robe Range, that elsewhere has been eroded down to reefs. The reefs and the fine white sand maintain a low gradient beach and shallow bar. The beach has car access and is used as a launching ramp, though vehicles are not permitted south of the access track. A few fishing boats are usually at anchor in the southern corner of the bay.The bay is named after the brigantine Nora Creina that struck a reef off the bay in 1858.
This place reminds us of all of the magnificent beaches we had seen in WA. The track takes us out to the middle of the beach, on a massive rock outcrop, and we are torn over which way to go.
We saw a snorkeler on the right hand side and went down to look at that side of the beach and have a chat to him. Stunning beach, and a classic peep hole through the rocks.
Then we went to the left hand side beach, walking to the headland and loving the rugged islands close to the bay. Absolutely glorious – we walked to the headland and back. But we did get an awful lot of plastic.
To see a short video of this beautiful beach, click here
On the return drive to Robe we stopped at the Robe dairy farm. There is only a small sign on the gate and we drove right past it on the way down. I had been on the lookout for this place… supposed to be really good cheeses from here. Had a chat to the lovely lady in charge and bought several cheeses. They keep 10 Jersey Cows but had run out of milk unfortunately (I’ve taken a real liking to Jersey milk and buy it whenever I see it)…. Des’s iced-coffee was lovely though… you can really taste the difference with “proper” milk, and it’s also local coffee.
Day 3 – Fri 29 Mar – Robe
The rain had started through the night and the wind was very strong as we woke. We probably should have taken the awning down. It was a throughly miserable day – wet, cold and blowing up to 50kms. We were getting sick of that.
We walked to the The Outlet on Foxs Beach – where the creek from Foxs Lake reach the sea. A very pretty spot. There were 4 boys fishing but they seemed to be feeding the fish rather than catching them. But they were really enjoying themselves.
We drove up to Cape Dombey, past Lake Fellmongery and another lovely old building, hoping for a respite in the weather to walk around the headland. We did get to the lookout near Doorway Rock, down to The Blowholes and across to the Obelisk. It would have been lovely on a good day. We drove around to the Old Goal Ruins, at which point the road is closed. We saw a few hardy souls returning from the walk to The Obelisk, but it started to rain again and the wind was fierce.
The ruins are pretty good and covers the base of the buildings. It is easy to see what was what. For those of us that actually read the signs, it said what was what too.
Unfortunately we spent the rest of the day back at Mobi sheltering from the relentless weather.
To see photos related to this post, click here
To see a video of Nora Creina, click here