Robe

An  hour and a half drive from Port Fairy and brings us to the Blue Lake of Mt Gambier. And at his time of the year, it is at its bluest. Just the spot to break our journey for a picnic lunch. And with the crossing of the border into South Australia, in an instant we have gained half an hour. Technology takes over. The car clock automatically resets, as does the time on our phones. A further two and a half hours drive and we are in Robe.

The Sea-Vu caravan park in Robe is completely booked out of sea view sites. Even at this time of the year, it appears you need to book months in advance. We do however secure a sheltered site, which was fortunate, as the first night brought squalls, which forced us to wind up our awning. Those on the open sea side would have caught the full force of the winds. Still, it is still only a short walk to the beach, to the main street, to the Caledonian Hotel, and to the fish and chip shop. The hotel serves garfish, chips and salad for $15 – delicious!

Robe is an eclectic mix of the historic and the commercial, and seems to be caught between a fishing village environment, and a tourism attraction, without really achieving either.

A day trip up the coast and an exploration to Wrights Bay and Cape Jaffa in search of fishing spots. Wrights Bay has a camping ground where you can park your van or pitch your tent for a small fee per night for those who are self sufficient. That’s all there is, so we drive down to the beach as have a crack with the surf rods to no avail. Cape Jaffa, further north is a fishing village smaller the Robe, where millions of dollars have been invested in creating a residential marina complex and sub-division designed for millionaires. However, it appears that the buy-in rate has been minimal. We have a picnic lunch in a local shelter, and are greeted shortly by members of the Naracoorte Angling Club, who have made this the meeting place at the end of a two day fishing competition. The crux of their completion was not the number of fish caught, but the number of different species. One bloke turned up with snook, flathead, gar, trevally and King George whiting. So we ventured down to the marina and managed to pull in a trevally and a whiting that were eating size, and plenty of undersized trevally that we returned to the water.

Monday the weekend tourists have disappeared from the main street, and we take a leisurely walk around Robe, looking at the historic buildings (dating back to 1835) mixed between newly built houses that stretch upward to gain a view Guichen Bay.

That’s it. Time for a bourbon.