Discover What Robe On The Limestone Coast Of Australia Has To Offer

Discover What Robe On The Limestone Coast Of Australia Has To Offer

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One of the great things about traveling in Australia is exploring the historic towns that dot the landscape. Robe, South Australia is an ideal case of this. Robe is a small coastal town on South Australia's Limestone Coast. Located 217 miles (350 kilometers) from Adelaide on Guichen Bay, it had been a booming port town during its early years after which it was suddenly forgotten for almost a century. Nowadays, Rob has been rediscovered and is a vibrant and popular tourist destination.

Nicolas Baudin, the French explorer discovered Robe in 1802. By 1847, it had develop into a significant Australian port city, primarily catering to South Australia's thriving wool producers. There was so much work available in Robe at the time that more than 17,000 Chinese workers moved from Victoria to Robe in order to work and avoid having to pay the heavy poll tax imposed by the Victorian government. There were more workers than even the busy port could employ, though, so many of them made their way back into Victoria to work in the gold fields.

In the 1870s, Robe began to shrink as quickly as it had initially grown. Declining wool prices as well as the uncertainty over the renewal of pastoral leases led to a decline in port activity. For almost three-quarters of a century, from the late 1870s until the 1940s, when the roads in South Australia were upgraded, Robe lay dormant, a strange relic of the 19th century.

Nowadays, Robe is anything but a relic of the past. It is a popular tourist destination, filled with trendy boutiques, intriguing gift shops and wonderful restaurants, where diners wash down a sumptuous meal of local barramundi or Robe's legendary crayfish with prize winning South Australian wines.

Robe is also an outdoor lover's paradise. Water sports lovers go water skiing on nearby Lake Fellmongery or surfing off Long Beach and nature lovers explore the countless magnificent walking tracks in the region. A variety of 4 wheel drive tracks through nearby Little Dip Conservation Park draw off-road enthusiasts from all over Australia, while hikers and bird lovers take to the trails that crisscross the coast, absorbing the peace and isolated tranquility just minutes from the center of town.

Robe is on the picturesque Adelaide to Melbourne road and is a popular stopover for travelers between these two main Australian cities. Just an hour and a half's drive south of Robe on the Princes Highway is the amazing Mt. Gambier. Known as a city of craters, caves and lakes, Mt. Gambier is found at the bottom of a long extinct volcano. Just south of Mt. Gambier is the Victorian border and the countless beautiful wonders of the Great Ocean Road.

North of Robe, there are hundreds of miles more of wonderful, rocky coast to explore. In fact, one of Robe's big attractions is that it provides long distance drivers welcome respite from their journey. A couple of days in a comfortable Robe accommodation is all it requires to refresh your batteries and head north to Adelaide or south to Melbourne. For that matter, Robe is a worthy destination in its own right, offering visitors both the best of the rugged South Australian coastline and the best of a relaxing retreat in a town that knows how to look after a visitor's every need.

About the Author:
Take the family away for a few day, find robe accommodation, activities and other travel related information about the area on bookitnow.com.au. Or visit our travel blog for more Australian holiday ideas.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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