You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed The Sunday TimesThe hordes of tourists taking selfies on the Spanish Steps in Rome last week did not seem perturbed by prosaic matters such as who owned the stone they stood on Neither did the carabinieri prowling with the threat of a €250 (£209) fine for anyone who Europe’s most famous staircase has become the subject of an international dispute between old rivals vaunted alongside the Colosseum and St Peter’s Basilica as one of the “souls” of Rome Crowds on the steps in 2012 before the ban on sitting came inALAMYA regulator in Paris earlier this month briefly mentioned the steps in a 107-page report into the management of France’s please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot Get the most important global markets news at your fingertips with a Bloomberg.com subscription Museums have no borders,they have a network Keywords: RE-ORG; ICCROM; Collection storages; Preventive conservation; Training This summer’s edition of Museum International – Museum Collection Storage – is a discussion of the state of museum storage worldwide Among the many professionals who contributed to the writing of this new edition had the privilege of interviewing Gaël de Guichen a French chemical engineer who has spent his professional career with ICCROM focusing on the preventive conservation of movable heritage he has carried out more than 700 missions in ICCROM’s Member States initiating flagship projects such as PREMA 1990-2000 He also coordinated the ICOM-CC working group that defined the terminology of conservation-restoration ‘a museum’s storage room is the place where unexhibited collections are brought together in optimal conditions entitled ‘Collection Storage: A Window Into the Richness of Cultural Heritage A Conversation with Gaël de Guichen‘ he tells how he came to this definition and what it implies which also raises new possibilities for the future of storage around the world Yaël Kreplak and François Mairesse: How do you explain the contrast in museums that but whose storage rooms are in an appalling state How is it possible that this situation persists Gaël de Guichen: ICCROM’s 2009 survey was the confirmation of 30 years of experience of visiting and studying storage rooms What I believe is that museum directors who inherit a deplorable situation are ashamed of the state of their storage rooms and are afraid of being judged if they show them to others and so on (see examples of storage spaces before RE-ORG is to understand why they do not reorganise them we hear the following excuses: lack of time The idea that people have of reorganising a collection storage explains they try to show what they are capable of doing: they organise exhibitions But the collection storage is not their priority And it’s true that when you show your renovated collection storage it doesn’t attract as much attention as a new exhibition it looks normal and people tend to ask you what the problem was [that prompted a need for reorganisation in the first place] the programme makes it possible to reorganise a collection storage room of up to 700 square metres in size in two weeks if I will be able to have everything done on time we go around to the storage rooms and divide into teams (one group for storage room A Then comes a phase that is usually a little scary and we make a list of possible material needs Sometimes people tell me that we work miracles but I see that it’s the system that really works when the head guard comes and gives me a letter in which he thanks me on behalf of his team for having saved the storage collection I have received such testimonials more than once The full article is free-to-access for a limited period for the general public ICOM members can continue to read the full issue and journal archive free of charge on their member space. We hope that this interview will inspire you to delve further into the discussion on museum collection storage – so often perceived as invisible, inactive spaces, yet fundamental to museums’ activities. The SE Voice is the Limestone Coast’s only fully digital publication. Locally owned & operated, we deliver all the latest news & sport direct to your fingertips. We're run by a creative team of local journalists all based in the region. News as we know has changed - we're delivering it first and free. Thank you for your support in keeping local news alive. There are hopes that the pontoon on the Robe Front Beach may yet return to the water this summer. The structure had been a favourite with beachgoers for over 50 years but has been kept indefinitely on land by the District Council of Robe. As with other seaside councils across South Australia with such water structures, Robe Council was required by its insurers to have daily inspections and meet other requirements. The requirements would have tested the human and financial resources of the council. However, some insurer requirements have been relaxed with the Robe Surf Life Saving Club willing to undertake the now-weekly inspections. Before the pontoon returns to Guichen Bay, some maintenance work is required and some administrative requirements such as a Memorandum of Understanding must be signed. Your local real estate guide - every Thursday You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email The dates displayed for an article provide information on when various publication milestones were reached at the journal that has published the article activities on preceding journals at which the article was previously under consideration are not shown (for instance submission All content on this site: Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. Cosmos » History In early June 1857, Koning Willem de Tweede set sail from Hong Kong, bound for the small South Australian seaport of Robe. Onboard the 42-metre-long Dutch fregat were more than 400 Chinese migrants who, like thousands of their compatriots at that time, were leaving their homes to search for gold in a foreign land.  The ship arrived safely in Guichen Bay on June 15, and its passengers disembarked the following day to begin their arduous 400-kilometre-long overland trek to the Victorian gold fields. But for the next two weeks, the ship and its crew could not leave due to inclement weather. Then, on June 30, a severe south-westerly storm hit. Gale-force winds dragged the ship’s anchors, before tearing the windlass from the deck. In an attempt to save his ship and his crew, Captain Hindrik Remmelt Giezen decided to run the ship aground in the sandy shallows. But his plan failed. After the ship grounded, its hull started to break up in the heavy swell and surf, and sixteen crew members drowned when one of the ship’s boats capsized. Miraculously, Captain Giezen survived and a month after the disaster, sold the wreck for £225. The shipwreck has remained underwater ever since. In fact, it has never been located. But finding it – and uncovering its submerged stories – is now the focus of a project being led by Dr James Hunter, Curator of Naval Heritage and Archaeology at the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM). Hunter’s research background is “predominantly shipwreck-based”. He has worked on wrecks located in the intertidal zone and some nearly 40 metres below the surface, although the average depth of most he has studied is between three and six metres. Among the most famous shipwreck sites he has worked on are Captain Cook’s first boat, HMB Endeavour in the American town of Newport, Rhode Island and the Australian Navy submarine, HMAS AE1 in Papua New Guinea. Long before even entertaining the thought of beginning a search for a shipwreck site, Hunter and his team will conduct extensive archival research about a wrecked ship and start building relationships with people who live nearby in order to gain their trust and hear any local knowledge they might have that might be useful. The wrecking event was catastrophic and very sudden, so we’re very likely to find a lot of artefacts. Once they know the general area of a wrecked ship, they will then start searching the sea floor. Initially, this is done on a boat using high-tech tools like multibeam sonar which picks up any irregular features on the seabed, and a magnetometer which detects concentrations of iron objects buried beneath it. Since around 2010, 3D photogrammetry has also been part of Hunter’s investigative toolkit. It allows scientists to stitch together multiple digital images to create, according to Hunter, “really accurate, photorealistic three-dimensional models of shipwreck remains and artefacts”. Once they are confident they know where the wreck is, Hunter and his team will finally don their SCUBA gear and get in the water. “None of us can hold our breath long enough to work without it,” he jokes. Working together, they will conduct a systematic survey of the seabed and investigate the site in units. If the wreck isn’t buried under sediment, then studying it looks very similar to traditional land archaeology and is done using clipboards, pencils, tape measures, and perhaps a bit of gentle hand wafting to clear sediment – the one difference being that it is happening underwater. But if it is completely buried, Hunter says, “we’ve got to get the dredge out. It’s like an underwater vacuum cleaner that sucks the sand off the site.” If a wreck site is quite deep, like HMAS AE1, which was found at a depth of more than 300 metres, then maritime archaeologists will usually use autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for site investigation. These have been, Hunter says, “a huge game changer. They don’t get tired – they don’t have to be fed, they don’t have to sleep.” Although the wreck of Koning Willem de Tweede is not particularly famous, Hunter believes its potential is “mind-blowing”. “The wrecking event was catastrophic and very sudden, so we’re very likely to find a lot of artefacts. No one had time to grab anything. Pretty much everything was lost – and is all probably still in the wreck, which can tell us so much about the ship’s crew and its passengers.” He first learned about Koning Willem de Tweede more than a decade ago when his wife Emily Jateff, who is the ANMM’s Curator of Ocean Science and Technology and has a background in maritime archaeology, conducted her own search for it. Then, a few years ago the Dutch Embassy in Canberra got in touch to see if he knew of any sites that could be worth exploring as part of the Netherlands’ Shared Cultural Heritage Program. Although there were other suitable Dutch shipwreck sites in the Coral Sea, Hunter believed Koning Willem de Tweede was ideal given its accessibility and the story associated with it. The Dutch government agreed – “and we got the money. And then I thought, ‘Oh no, we’re locked into this now!’” Hunter first travelled to Robe in April 2022. The trip “was more a reconnaissance trip more than anything else”, an opportunity for him and his colleagues from the non-profit Silentworld Foundation to meet locals, examine artefacts held by the Robe Branch of the National Trust of South Australia, and familiarise themselves with the area. Hunter quickly realised it wasn’t going to be an easy place to work. “There’re reasons there are shipwrecks there – Guichen Bay is an open anchorage, is completely exposed to the west, and is battered by strong winds and high seas during inclement weather,” he says. They returned to Robe seven months later to conduct remote sensing of the area they believed, based on their prior research, the shipwreck was located. The magnetometer detected “a very complex and very large magnetic target”, Hunter says, indicative of anchors and other heavy iron hardware, like anchor chains, found on ships. The team planned to dive the target the next morning, but the weather turned overnight, making it unsafe to do so. The weather did not improve for the remaining days the maritime archaeologists were in town, so they spent their time assessing more artefacts and archives and conducting a metal detector survey of the beach. They didn’t find anything, except for two very small pieces of pottery. When they compared those fragments with ceramic Chinese ginger jars in the local National Trust collection, Hunter says “it was exactly the same kind of pottery.” In March 2023, Hunter and his team went back to Robe for a third time. They conducted another magnetometer survey over the site, which confirmed the initial contact, and finally managed to get in the water. The visibility on the first day of diving, however, was poor – “it was like you were in a sandstorm”, Hunter says – and on the second, the surge was so strong that it was “unworkable”. “The long and short of it is that we believe [the wreck] is there but it’s well and truly buried. The question becomes: how far down is it buried? Is it deep or just under the surface of the sand. That’s the next phase.” Hunter hopes to begin that phase of the project “towards the end of this year, early next year”, when the weather is more likely to be favourable. He believes it will be an important moment when the wreck’s identity is finally confirmed – both for the local seafaring community in Robe, whose ancestors helped save the lives and sheltered the surviving crew members and buried the bodies of those who drowned, and for the nation as a whole. “We know that there was a lot of Chinese migration to Australia in the 1850s,” he explains. “But we don’t know a lot of the details of how it happened. We don’t know much about the ships that brought these migrants to Australia. What kinds of ships transported them? What were conditions like for both the passengers and crew? This shipwreck gives us an opportunity to look at all of those things, to delve into that history a bit deeper.” Cruise ships again have again placed Robe on their ports of call after an absence of a few years.
 Tourism Miniter Zoe Bettison said Guichen Bay would again welcome such vessels in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
 She was speaking in the House of Assembly last week in reply to a query from Member for MacKillop Nick McBride.
 A small cruise ship which was circumnavigating Australia had visited Robe in 2022.
 The “Coral Adventurer” cast anchor in Guichen Bay and around 100 of passengers were ferried in the ship’s long boat to shore via the Lake Butler Marina.
 It is understood the visit of the “Coral Adventurer” was the first time in living memory that a cruise ship was able to land passengers at Robe.
 Back in 2016, weather and sea conditions conspired to prevent cruise ship passengers from coming ashore at Robe.
 Hundreds of tourists aboard the P&O vessel the “Pacific Jewel” were expected to tour the region as far as Beachport and Coonawarra.
 However, the shore excursions and day-trips were cancelled as the conditions in Guichen Bay were unsuitable for landing passengers. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Home Travel A complete guide to Robe Robe is one of Australia’s most charming and unspoilt holiday destinations Located on Guichen Bay on South Australia’s southern coast windswept coastline with several attractive and secluded beaches including the beautiful 11km-long stretch suitably called Long Beach Robe is notable for its sophisticated town centre which not only has a remarkable richness of historic buildings but also offers sophisticated dining opportunities The real charm and character of Robe can best be experienced by walking the original streets which have been little altered since they were built in the 1860s It is a special town with a unique character that has been well protected from overdevelopment The town of Robe is 336km south of Adelaide via the Princes Highway through Murray Bridge and along The Coorong Robe was named after SA governor Frederick Holt Robe who sailed into Guichen Bay in 1846 aboard the government cutter Lapwing Robe Visitor Information CentreMundy Terrace robe.com.au southaustralia.com Image: Our Lady Star (Credit: John White Photos/Alamy Stock Photo) a roundabout encircling a sand hill that was a focal point for the original town Erected in 1863 as the office of the Harbour Master and Receiver of Wrecks the customs house was built of limestone with brick quoins on a five-sided block with a panoramic view of Guichen Bay it is Robe’s Nautical Museum and contains much information and many artefacts about the Port of Robe On the Guichen Bay shore below the Royal Circus is a simple monument to the Chinese: “During the years 1856–1858 16,500 Chinese landed near this spot and walked 200 miles to the Victorian Goldfields in search of gold.” In the centre of the Royal Circus is a plinth supporting busts of Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin It celebrates the 1802 survey of the SA coast by one of the great English navigators of the 18th and 19th centuries 1774–1814; Sub Lieutenant Nicolas Baudin 1754–1803 Flinders & Baudin both engaged in scientific and survey work had an unexpected meeting at Encounter Bay in 1802 The islands visible to the north are named Baudin Rocks Guichen Bay was also named after the French Admiral De Guichen.” Our Lady Star of the Sea is famous for its connection with Saint Mary MacKillop Between 1867 and 1888 the Sisters of St Joseph ran a school for parish children in two rooms attached to the church Mary MacKillop visited the school regularly Some observers have noted that the simplicity of the church reflects the poverty of local Catholic worshippers at the time it was built many of whom were Irish servants and labourers Standing 12.1m tall and 30.4m above sea level is currently fenced off because erosion has made the limestone cliffs here dangerous The old sign explains the Obelisk was “built in 1855 by local builder George Shivas at a cost of £230 the limestone was carted to the site by a 32-bullock wagon team… In 1862 the Obelisk was painted in alternate red and white horizontal bands and it can now be seen from a distance of 20 kilometres on a clear day.” the area around Robe was home to the Boandik Aboriginal people In 1802 Guichen Bay was named after Admiral De Guichen (left) by French explorer Nicolas Baudin Governor Robe chose the site for the townand later in 1846 it was surveyed by Thomas Burr By the 1850s Robe was the second-busiest SA port.  In 1855 large numbers of Irish and Scottish immigrants reached the port.  In 1856 the town became a landing point for Chinese goldminers trying to avoid taxes imposed at Victorian ports Between 1856 and 1866 more than £1 million of wool was shipped from the port The barque Koenig Wilhelm II was shipwrecked in Guichen Bay during a gale in 1857; a cannon located at the Royal Circus is thought to have come from it In the 1920s and 1930s the town became a popular holiday destination By the late 1930s Robe had developed into an important lobster-fishing port In 1968 the first Robe Easter Classic surf carnival was held Our much loved calendars and diaries are now available for 2024 Adorn your walls with beautiful artworks year round From cuddly companions to realistic native Australian wildlife the range also includes puppets that move and feel like real animals By subscribing you become an AG Society member helping us to raise funds for conservation and adventure projects A new study has given key insights into South Australia’s coastal management by examining how Cape Dombey’s rocky headland in Robe on the state’s Limestone Coast influences waves By collecting real-world data over summer and winter the Flinders University researchers have identified key patterns in how sand moves past the headland in a process known as ‘headland bypassing’ The study’s findings provide a detailed framework for understanding how headlands influence sand movement providing explanations for why Robe’s popular tourist beaches are either building or eroding at various times By refining how we measure and analyse headland bypassing this research paves the way for better coastal management strategies ensuring beaches remain stable and resilient in the face of changing wave and weather conditions from the Beach and Dune Systems (BEADS) Lab at Flinders University “This research provides a deeper understanding of the forces at play along the coastline of Robe,” says Ms Uphues whose research is supported by an Enterprise Industry PhD Scholarship jointly funded by the District Council of Robe and Flinders University “By studying how Cape Dombey’s headland shapes the movement of sand we can better predict changes to the local beaches and develop more effective management strategies.” Local government and the public are actively working on future management strategies including discussions about the possible replication of the historic obelisk on Cape Dombey due to extensive erosion in recent years The research is now underpinning the council’s draft Coastal Adaptation Strategy which is set to be adopted at the Council’s meeting this month (12 February 2025) The strategy aims to protect Robe’s coastline and adapt to the challenges of climate change and coastal erosion The Robe obelisk erected in 1855 as a ‘day guide’ for ships entering Guichen Bay stands on the headland but faces eventual collapse due to the erosion of the soft sandstone cliffs District Council of Robe Mayor Lisa Ruffell says the Flinders University research will play an important role in shaping the coastal challenges “The findings from this study provide valuable insights into the dynamic processes that shape our coastline,” says Mayor Ruffell  “Understanding how the Cape Dombey headland affects the movement of sand is crucial as we work on our Coastal Adaptation Strategy This will help us better manage our beaches and ensure a resilient coastal environment for the future.” As well as the prominent Cape Dombey headland the area contains smaller headlands and sheltered beaches on its lee side with its varying wave climate and submerged reefs outlined in a new article in Marine Geology found that the shape of the headland and underwater features significantly impact how waves behave as they move from offshore to inshore When waves bend around the headland or break over submerged reefs particularly when coming from the south or southwest during low water levels This loss of energy changes how much sediment is transported towards beaches on the sheltered/downdrift site of the headland The research identifies three distinct ways in which sand is transported around Cape Dombey: SLOW movement in mild conditions – When waves are small and water levels are low This slow process can help build up sand on the sheltered side of the headland STRONG transport across the bay – When waves grow larger and water levels rise currents start moving sand across the bay at rates up to 30 times higher than in the mild conditions POWERFUL offshore transport – During storms especially when waves come from the northwest strong currents can pull sand away from the coast at rates up to 40 times higher than under mild conditions These storm surges can significantly reduce sand on beaches The article, ‘Sediment bypassing around a headland in a high-energy coastal environment’ (2025) by Charlotte FK Uphues Arnold van Rooijen (University of Western Australia) and Patrick A Hesp has been published in the journal Marine Geology Acknowledgements: The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Robe District Council and Flinders University A.Rooijen was supported by a Forrest Prospect Fellowship from the Forrest Research Foundation Thanks also to Paul Regnier (Robe Professional Fishermen’s Association) and Adrien Flament for their field assistance Receive emails when a new article is published The SE Voice is the Limestone Coast’s only fully digital publication we deliver all the latest news & sport direct to your fingertips We're run by a creative team of local journalists all based in the region News as we know has changed - we're delivering it first and free Thank you for your support in keeping local news alive Robe’s Long Beach has been listed in eighth place in a recently published list of Australia’s Top 10 beaches The online listing is published each year by Brad Farmer AM who describes himself as “an ambassador and beach expert” the Robe District Council has endorsed his ranking and shared an aerial photo on its social media page developers signalled their intentions to develop dozens of residential blocks at Long Beach Mr Farmer has written several hundred words about each of his 2024 nominations including the following remarks about Long Beach this South Australian delight on the fabulous Limestone Coast allows you to drive your 2WD car right up to the calm waters edge with its tightly packed fine sand and tidal characteristics,” Mr Farmer wrote “Long Beach on Guichen Bay is a gently curved wide beach with rock reefs fringing the bay to keep waves low along the shoreline Long Beach is ideal to reach the beach without car parking hassles the beach is a designated road with a speed of 25-40kph so please do respect locally enforced beach safety rules “There is a car free section if you prefer “Other Robe beaches I’d recommend are Hoopers and Town Beach.” As many as 500 recreational runners are again expected to descend on Robe next month Given the huge success of the inaugural 2023 Robe Run event the Adelaide Trail Runners have decided to host the annual Robe Run again on February 10 Early registrations have been lodged in large numbers giving organisers hope the 500+ figure of a year ago may be exceeded the runners will skirt Guichen Bay and head as far as Long Beach All races will start and finish near the foreshore and opposite the Robe Institute and war memorial Participants in the aptly-named Robe Fun Run on February 9 will be obliged to wear a bath robe for the run/walk to the Cape Dombey Obelisk and return “We would like to see as many runners as possible wearing their best ‘robe’ for a very casual run/jog/walk to The Obelisk and back,” a spokesperson said “This is not a timed event and runners are welcome to cut it short if they wish Entry fees range up to $159 for the marathon The 2023 Robe Run event saw 453 standard entries and 45 local football entries into the different course options This was well beyond the initial goal of about 200 entries According to a staff report to Robe District Council 25% of the 453 entrants were visiting Robe for the first time The report noted most entrants were travelling with 1-2 other people and so approximately 1000 people came to Robe Spendmapp data showed there was a 14% increase in spending on the day of this event The council accepted a staff recommendation to waive certain hire fees and provide for road closures to assist the 2024 Robe Run Log in to leave a comment The former South East holiday house of a South Australian Governor has sold for $2.6m Karatta House is a two storey mansion at Robe It was sold by a local real estate firm via the expression of interest process and the new owners are understood to be members of a prominent Millicent farming family Karatta House is situated on the shores of the Lake Butler Marina and close to the beach of Guichen Bay Sir James Fergusson and his vice-regal entourage would spend their summer vacation at the seaside location Sir James is credited with the naming of the township of Millicent after Millicent Glen (nee Short) who was one of his hosts during his stays at Mayura Station The house is included on the Register of State Heritage and past owners include major landowners Henry Dutton and George Riddoch The spacious rooms include the entry foyer and six other bedrooms and three other bathrooms another nearby and modern house at Robe has sold last summer for a reported $2.8m Robe real estate remains in demand with a local family developing a 32-block housing subdivision near the golf course once past the rubbish dump and where we had dumped air from our tyres wound for a short distance through the dunes to a sandy track junction From past experience I knew going right would drop me quickly onto a short, soft – very soft – beach where on numerous escapades I had always got bogged. Knowledge and discretion being the better part of valour, we turned left and wound our way south behind the first line of dunes that border this impressive coast and crossed the unmarked boundary into the Little Dip Conservation Park A few hundred metres and another track took us to the beach where we cruised along the sand – still soft – to a string of low The track swings inland here to skirt these bluffs but there is plenty of opportunity to stop and wander down to the small beaches that are somewhat protected from the full force of the sea by the offshore reefs that are such a part of this wild the Stony Rises access track leads away from the beach to a carpark and camping area and then another kilometre or so to the main access track that leads back into the coastal village of Robe ROBE where our morning adventure had started from is fast becoming a bit of a trendy tourist destination with some 50 historic buildings and classy cafes along with a couple of good pubs divers and four-wheelers wanting to explore the nearby coast while its protected marina shelters a small but important crayfishing fleet We first went there back in the 1960s chasing abalone (before licences) and crays not that we were very successful in either as the untamed seas often laid waste to the best-laid plans has long been inhabited by Aboriginal people and you’ll see signs of their feasts in the many shell middens that are scattered For the most part the Bungandidj clan took in the country from around Robe south to the Victorian border while the Meintangk group took in the country north to around Cape Jaffa was named by the French Baudin expedition after a French Admiral were named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 after Nicolas Baudin who he had met at Encounter Bay some time previously For the next 30 odd years the bay was frequently visited by sealers and whalers and their relationship with the original inhabitants of the area In 1846 the town was officially settled and within 10 years was the second busiest port in South Australia with the town’s famous obelisk on Cape Dombey used to help guide ships into the port being built in 1852 trying to dodge the taxes imposed at Victorian ports landed here and walked to the Victorian goldfields around 15,000 Chinese disembarked while some 32 foreign ships from the USA In the 1930s the town had become an important crayfishing base which it remains today and along with tourism its prosperity is ensured and with its couple of picturesque and ideally located caravan parks makes for a fabulous base to explore the coast and hinterland OUR journey south of the Stony Rises continued sometimes on the beaches and sometimes just behind the first line of dunes as we skirted around and over a rocky headland the limestone bluffs and reefs becoming ever more common as we got closer to the Bishops Pate where another track heads east and out of the park skirts around the edge of the relatively large Lake Robe and is a popular access point for many While the lake is officially a game reserve its shallow saline waters attracts a lot of waders and waterbirds while the surrounding melaleuca scrub the dense border of rushes and samphire flats is a haven for other smaller bush birds It’s a top spot for birdwatching and there is always a few ’roos around along with the occasional emu to add variety to the nature viewing The route south continues much the same as before with a few steep pinches and some puckering side slopes amongst some of the dunes where it’s easy to misjudge a gear change or the required momentum to get you through easily once stopped it’s difficult to get going again the wheels digging down through the soft sand Then you are in for a heartrending reverse back down the dune to start all over again About 20km from Robe you come to Errington Beach where you need to swing east along the southernmost access track and head out to the main dirt road which takes you a few kilometres to the small protected bay of Nora Creina This bay has a small settlement of fishing and holiday shacks close by and once you’ve enjoyed the protected waters of this bay the route south leads onto Stinky Beach for the long challenging drive south to the seaside town of Beachport with luck the sun will not have set and you can enjoy a beer and/or a meal at the pub before returning to Robe via the main road Of course, there’s more beach and sand driving south of here, with one of the most challenging sections being south of the small community of Southend though the Canunda National Park to the even smaller hamlet of Carpenter Rocks The beaches through this section remain very soft all year and we’d recommend you not chance your luck unless you are very experienced have all the right gear and travel in the company of others For something a little different we headed back to Robe and next day on to the town’s favourite stretch of sand This beach is popular with many people as its firm sand stretches away to the north for quite some distance and its relatively protected waters makes it ideal for swimmers and kite boarders As you close in on the northern end of the beach you’ll find the sand is softer and you’ve left the crowds far behind Just south of the small beach hamlet of Boatswain Point a low bluff marks an exit point from the beach We later found out you can cross the headland just inland from the sea and continue along a short beach to the small township We headed inland and on dirt roads found our way north to Wright Bay where a small farmer-owned camping ground is popular with those in the know FROM Wright Bay a farm road heads north just inland from the beach which after a few kilometres degenerates into a sandy bush-lined track as it heads into the Bernouilli Conservation Reserve This narrow strip of bushland leads to Cape Jaffa and amongst the scrub and low dunes near the tip of the headland you will find the remains of the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse cottages These cottages were built in 1872 for families of the lightkeepers who actually lived on the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse platform eight kilometres offshore on the Margaret Brock Reef a wild and unprotected reef and the seas that swept in and around the manmade platform just above the reach of the tide would have been a little intimidating the posting here for the men and their families was considered pretty easy and acted as a trial for new staff to see how they coped with the isolated life and the duties of a lightkeeper while the light remained in active service till an automatic light was installed on this treacherous reef in the early 1970s the original light and its structure was dismantled and taken to the mainland where it was erected and now acts as the centrepiece for the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse Museum in Kingston SE Its striking steel structure is well-worth a visit From the remains of the cottages you can drive along the beach northwards – or at least just behind the beach – but the deep seaweed along this stretch put us off and we headed inland on better tracks then dirt road before meeting the bitumen just south of the small town of Cape Jaffa The short wooden jetty here has been superseded by a big new marina which has kind of proved to be a bit of a white elephant with few boats using it and the surrounding blocks of land unsold and unattended We headed on to Kingston SE quickly finding the bakery in this pleasant seaside town where we enjoyed a coffee and reminisced about our latest adventure one we hadn’t done before in all the many times we have been to Robe That’s one of the great attractions of the beaches around Robe – there is always something new to discover and places to explore For info on Robe and its accommodation and facilities go to www.robe.com.au The Little Dip Conservation Park covers 2150ha and offers four very separate camping areas all of which demand you book a camping spot online To check out what the small town of Beachport has to offer see: www.beachportsa.com.au The Canunda NP protects 9625ha of coastal dunes south of Southend The Cape Jaffa Lighthouse is maintained and operated by the National Trust of SA. For more info see: www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/cape-jaffa-lighthouse This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Not jaynestar’s fault that the Chinese schedule is ever so unpredictable The only thing that jaynestar needs to do is not bother with about to be release title because of how unpredictable it isComments are closed.