2/6/2022 – Thursday – 350km

Around 8 degrees as we departed Hahndorf, a beautiful little town. We took the scenic Angas River drive & it was very scenic, though slow as we climbed up & down hills through very picturesque countryside with lots of beautiful trees & small valleys. The small towns we drove through of Echunga, Flaxley & Macclesfield along the way are also very nice & are unspoilt secret places with lots of beautiful old stone buildings. Strathalbyn is a very nice larger town & after this we drove past lots of grape vines with vines stretching on either side of the road as far as the eye can see in places, there are lots of wine companies with cellar door premises either side of the road. We then drove through the Langhorne Creek area, one of Australia’s prime wine producing regions, even more grape vines.

The plan was to cross the Murray River at Wellington, however, the ferry was getting repaired so we had to travel a further 20km & cross the Murray River on the ferry at Tailem Bend. The ferry driver had the gates closed & was ready to leave when we pulled up, but he stopped & opened the gates again to squeeze us on, there are nice people still in this world. The Murray River is swollen with all the recent rain & is running a bit faster than normal & is a bit muddy.

After Tailem Bend the road improves & the traffic decreases as we travel on the Princes Highway down towards the Coorong. The Coorong is a narrow body of water between the road & the sandhills of the Southern Ocean & stretches for a very long way along the coast of South Australia. There are sheep & cattle grazing farms on one side & the Coorong on the other. There is not much in the way of settlements nor even houses the full length of the Coorong, apart from the very small hamlet of Salt Ash.

Kingston is the first town after the Coorong & we call in to have a look & a late lunch (2.30pm) at the Thistle & Bee Café. We had a drive along the foreshore & stopped for a look at the re-located Cape Jaffa Lighthouse that was decommissioned after more than 100 years of service, then rebuilt at Kingston. We keep driving & another 50 km on we come to Robe & decide to stay the night after driving around the town & having a look at the foreshores & harbour. We pull into a van park in between Lakes Charra & Dunn, set our Karavan up.  We head back into town for a good look & walk around as it is dusk by now.

The new lighthouse, which is built in a high rectangular shape, a more modern style than the usual ones at Robe, is on top of a limestone hill, it is overlooking a treacherous stretch of water. In the distance we see a red & white striped obelisk that was previously a warning to mariners. The coast here looks rugged & pretty dangerous, apparently in 1835 alone there were a total of 30 shipwrecks occurring here at Guichen Bay. We walk up a very good track to the obelisk which is not as far as it first seemed, however it is fenced off due the high risk of the cliff edges collapsing on the narrow ismuth that the obelisk is located on, we agree with that assessment. It is very cold in the wind, we are so rugged up to try & keep the chill out. Nearby is the ruins of an old goal that was abandoned & we explore that before heading back to camp. Another great day.