March 1 a short trip along the Limestone coast

 

Taking advantage of our location while centred in Kingston SE we took a drive SE along the Limestone Coast taking in Penola and Robe in one big day loop. Penola is in the Coonawarra wine growing area and is known as the central location in the life of Mary MacKillop. Educator and social reformer she was the first Australian beatified by the Roman Catholic. It was pretty much a drive through for us and on to Robe situated along the Limestone coast. This whole south east area was once covered by sea 15-40  million years ago.
I remember Robe from 30 odd years ago when it was deliciously quiet. Today it is a thriving tourist spot simply teeming with holiday-makers. We gasped at the rush and headed for the lighthouse. The life tends to centre around the township and quiet beaches – and the wineries etc.  

Robe lighthouse

Cape Dombey was once home to a small wooden lighthouse. What stands nearby today building 1972 in a futuristic looking star-shaped concrete lighthouse. It replaced the lighthouse at Cape Jaffa.
This stretch of coast is wild exposed to high winds and wave energy. This area of the cape is now a declared sanctuary zone which protects the coastal platform reef which is home to southern rock lobsters, abalone, red algae and other species.

Pretties clinging to the rocky cliffs

Driving past the Woakwine Range we came to what is called Woakwine Cutting, a huge channel cut to drain some of the water from Woakwine Swamp and channel it to Lake George. The idea was to improve the land which is basically peat based. The cutting was masterminded and undertaken by BM McCourt who, together with another man and some heavy duty equipment, completed ‘the drain’ in under 3 years. The cutting is an impressive 1km long, 28m deep at its deepest point and has a fall of 7m from Woakwine swamp to Lake George. It is a local phenomenon. 

Woakwine cutting

A little something to tickle your fancy