Robe & Beachport

On Easter Tuesday we left Naracoorte on the relatively short drive to Robe where we were fortunate to be located on a beachfront site which had beautiful views over Guichen Bay on the Southern Ocean within a short stroll to town. Robe is a very historic harbour and beachside town with many well maintained older buildings and appears to have lots of rental accommodation – obviously a very popular place in summer. We enjoyed browsing through the excellent and informative town history display in the Information Centre.


The following day we drove out past Robe Harbour and the old gaol ruins to the Obelisk which was erected to provide guidance to shipping in much the same way as a lighthouse. Being painted in red and white stripes the Obelisk is easily identifiable but the limestone cliffs on which it stands are extremely eroded so it’s expected the Obelisk will eventually fall into the sea. With that in mind a new modern lighthouse has been erected further inland. We could also see the Gateway Rock just offshore with its two arches reminiscent of London Bridge off the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. We continued driving south towards Beachport stopping to check out the Wookawine Cutting on the way. This deep cutting through a rocky hill was dug by a local farmer to drain the boggy farmland to the west and took him over 3 years to complete. Reaching Beachport we found another fishing village smaller than Robe but with a long jetty very popular with recreational fishers. It has a good surfing beach and a scenic drive along the coast to the north provides lovely views of the often wild seas of the Southern Ocean. This evening we enjoyed a seafood dinner at Robe Hotel overlooking the Bay.