Limestone Coast Attractions

Coorong National Park (300 sq.km) was established mainly to protect its rich bird life and fascinating coastal scenery. A long, narrow lagoon, never wider than 3 km, and shallow saltpans are sheltered from the surf by the high sand dunes on the long Younghusband Peninsula. The area is frequented by cormorants, pelicans and ibises.

The attractive little town of Robe (pop. 740) has many well-preserved old buildings. In earlier days it was an important wool-exporting port, and in 1857 over 10,000 Chinese disembarked here on their way to the goldfields in Victoria. Robe is an increasingly popular holiday destination.Some two dozen buildings in the town are under statutory protection. Karatta House was the summer residence of the governor of South Australia in the 1860s. The former Customs House contains an interesting museum of local history. Other notable old buildings are the Lakeside and Caledonian inns.The coast round the town is particularly beautiful. There are safe beaches in Guichen Bay and also stretches of rugged cliffs carved into bizarre shapes by the fierce surf from the Southern Ocean. On the numerous lagoons and coastal lakes large numbers of birds can be observed.

Bordertown (pop. 2300) lies on the Dukes Highway 300km southeast of Adelaide, near the borders of Victoria. In the mid-19th C it was an important supply center for the goldfields of western Victoria. It is now the center of an agricultural area (wool, wheat, milk).From nearby Mount Monster there are fine views.

Pinnaroo (pop. 750) has a museum of agricultural machinery and a research institute concerned among other things with developing resistant and productive cereal strains.

Naracoorte (pop. 4800), founded in the 1840s, is one of the oldest inland settlements in South Australia. The local economy is based on cattle, sheep and wheat.