MONDAY 25 JULY     BEACHPORT

Today was mostly fine, but with predominantly grey skies, and it was cold.

The dog’s morning walk was along the path, over the canal and around some of the bush tracks in the canal and lake area. Once she was off the lead it was impossible to stop her from cavorting in the large puddles formed in wheel ruts on the tracks.

We drove to Robe, almost 50kms away. The road went inland, to skirt the eastern sides of several large lakes formed behind the coastal dunes. The retreating coastlines and resulting parallel dune systems have meant there is no normal drainage systems across such of the South East of SA. Instead, lots of man made drains were dug, over time, to drain the swamps and improve the country for grazing and farming. One of these was Drain L – no fancy names here – that we crossed a couple of times on the outskirts of Robe.

Like Beachport, Robe is an historic settlement, dating from the 1840’s. Lots of old stone buildings to see, as we cruised around the streets. On a warmer day, it would have been pleasant to walk around, looking more closely at some of these.

We parked near the Obelisk and did venture out of Truck to wander around this area.

The Obelisk was a stone tower, built on Cape Dombey, to help ships navigate in Guichen Bay, where Robe is, in 1855. It was eventually painted with red stripes, to help it stand out from the land background.

Given the extent of coastal erosion we could see, it looked like the Obelisk would not last another hundred plus years, without being totally undermined.

Back in the town, we parked and went walking, with dog, and found a bakery, where John was able to indulge in a pie, and me in a very nice salad roll. Dog got nothing except a drink of water; only two meals a day for her and very strictly no “people food”. Except for when she manages to scavenge something like a dropped scrap of pie crust!

We made a point of driving past the main caravan parks and checking them out. Still hadn’t decided on our next move. Decided that. although Robe was a larger centre than Beachport, we were happy there, and saw no reason to make Robe our next destination. Unless the weather improved radically, the day trip was sufficient.

My map showed a dirt track from Robe along the coast to the hamlet of Nora Creina, which I had never been to, and a loop back to the sealed road. From the time, in 1968 when I lived in the South East, I had wondered who Nora was, but eventually discovered that the Nora Creina was a ship wrecked in the area. I found the name rather romantic and would have liked to see the place, but John was not feeling adventurous and just wanted to go back the known way.

We did, however, make a short detour to look at the Woakwine Cutting – essentially a very large ditch. Another drainage line, this cutting was carved, using a large tractor, for a km through a big sand dune range. Part of it is over 28 metres deep. A very big ditch!

I made a lemongrass pork stir fry for tea, with rice.