Where to go and what to see in Australia!
Destinations | Uluru / Ayers Rock | Alice Springs | Adelaide | Kangaroo Island | Robe | The Grampians | Port Fairy | Great Ocean Road | Melbourne | Phillip Island | Port Douglas | Hamilton Island | Brisbane | Noosa | Hervey Bay | Fraser Island | Sydney



Robe

Robe Map

Introduction

Robe is a sleepy little fishing port on the Limestone Coast of South Australia, still famous for its seafood and 340 km south east of Adelaide. By little, I mean that it has a population of just 700!

While it is a pretty little holiday resort for Aussies, I don't think we're doing it a massive injustice by saying that most Brits will see it purely as a stopover when getting from Adelaide or Kangaroo Island down to the Great Ocean Road.

As a bit of history, in 1857 the town became infamous when 20,000 odd Chinese gold miners trying to avoid the taxes imposed at Victorian ports by landing at Robe and walking to the Victorian goldfields to avoid a £10 per person fee for entry. Hardly surprising, given that this was more than they were paying for their trip to Australia!

Getting there

Robe is around a 4:30 drive from Cape Jervis having got off the Kangaroo Island ferry - or probably five hours if you stop for longer than ten minutes!

On the way, there is a cute little free ferry at Wellington on the B45 - apparently at the widest crossing on the Murray River - though if you're coming from Adelaide, you'll avoid that by going through Murray Bridge.

Petrol and the Big Lobster are available at Kingston, just north of Robe.

Where to stay

We stayed at Lakeview Motel on Lake Fellimongery, but would recommend staying more centrally. Somewhere near the eateries on Victoria Street would be perfect.

What to do

Not a lot! It's nice to have a quick drive around the place, but chances are that you're going to arrive here quite late.

Get up to the Obelisk on Cape Dombey - it's a pretty photo op, was built in 1853 and can be seen up to 20 km at sea. The Old Gaol is up near it and is worth a quick glance as you drive back to the fish and chippy!

The harbour area is quite pretty too.

Where to next?

The Grampians and Port Fairy


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