Tuesday was cold and miserable so we just chilled out mostly and did a self-guided drive around the town's historic places. The buildings are immaculately maintained and appear to be privately owned.   People still live in these late 19th century stone houses in the main street.

Most buildings are circa 1840’s – 1860’s.   The hotels and jail being the earliest it appears, together with the churches a year or so after.   Nothing changes!

Robe started out with pastoralist legalising land claims.   A pioneer agent set himself up as a shipping agent and in 1847 Robe was established as a port with wool being a major shipment.   The town became very prosperous and attracted many settlers.   Then a ship sailed into harbour with 264 Chinese passengers and in time the numbers in Robe swelled to 17,000.   They only stayed for a short time so as to avoid Victoria poll tax.   They preferred to pay guides to take them 150km to the unguarded SA/Victorian border and then another 400km to the Victorian goldfields.   Pretty amazing as mostly they walked.

The port declined due to falling wool prices, bad seasons and a closeby railway under construction.   It is now a great tourist destination and has a big Rock Lobster industry.   It’s only a small place with around 1500 population.   No wonder when their average temperatures range from minimum 10 degrees to max of 19.

Wednesday we saw the sun. There was still a cold wind, but lovely in the sun.   I walked into town and strolled around for an hour then met Bill at the Robe Marina Lake Butler, where he was spending a leisurely afternoon fishing off the jetty.    Just lovely in the sun.   I was walking along the jetty when a very wet border collie ran past me, straight to the edge of the jetty by Bill, and stood looking out into the water.   Still don't know if he had been left behind by someone going out in their boat or what.   He was such a friendly fella.

Thursday was cold again and overcast so we did a trip to Kingston, on the Coast, and to Cape Jaffa. All rather uneventful except for a new, incredibly large marina seemingly in the middle of nowhere at Cape Jaffa.

On the way back the weather improved and the sun was warm and urging us to get outdoors.   So we stopped at the far end of Long Beach and found a road to a great beach.   Line in the water and me fossicking, we spent a lovely hour or more enjoying this scenic part of the coast.