The Limestone Coast with Ross England: In the South East region of South Australia
From the serenity of the Cape Jaffa jetty it's hard to imagine that a few short miles along a sandy beach three families were once doing it tough. Back in the 1870s, in the days of the horse and dray, the area was considered the ‘back of beyond.’
Even now getting to the remains of the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse cottages requires real horsepower and thankfully, there's plenty under the bonnet of Ross England's four wheel drive Suburban.
Nothing seems to disturb the routine of the musk ducks who come here each year to delouse in the salt water of the southeast. Over a hundred and thirty years ago the lighthouse keepers and their families would have watched the annual ritual from the front porch of their newly completed Cape Jaffa lighthouse cottages. From here, they also kept watch on the distant lighthouse six nautical miles out to sea. Ross England:
“Apparently the fellows on the lighthouse in the early days often saw huge storms swathe through and they'd be stuck out there - six nautical miles off-shore.”
From land it looks likes a distant oil rig. The original platform for the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse is slowly disintegrating in the swirling chaos that surrounds the Margaret Brock Reef. The lighthouse itself was dismantled in 1976 and relocated as a museum on the shores of Lacepede Bay at Kingston. The photos inside give you some insight into how life must have been. But it's not until you visit the ruins of the old cottages that you get a true sense of the isolation for those who'd venture out here in a cutter for their stint on the light.
“At one stage there were three families on the light with eleven children. That's a huge responsibility - six miles out to sea on a reef on the South Australian coast. That's a fair effort.”
As you wander around the ruins in the nearby scrub you might come across a little sprinkling of colour - a few daisies planted by one of the lighthouse families. This part of the coast was first charted by the French Navigator Nicholas Baudin and was named Cape Jaffa after a Mediterranean port near Jerusalem.
Today the French place names take pride of place along the strip of the Bernouillii Conservation Park. Had the French stayed, the nearby stretch of the Limestone Coast Road may have looked very much the same with it's array of pines and vines.
“Now the limestone coast road that we're on tells a bit of a yarn itself about the soil. You can see a reddish sort of tinge - that’s red sandy loam and it's equally as good as the Terra Rossa soil for growing vines.”
Spoken like a true supporter of the expanding Mount Benson wine district that extends from Kingston though Cape Jaffa and onto Robe. From the top of the Mount you can take in all the new plantings. In the distance we could see our next destination on Ross England's tour - something a little more demanding - the sand dunes of Little Dip Conservation Park.
It may be a Conservation Park but it feels more like a plunge into the unknown as we stop and Ross shows us a beautiful bay and beach.
“It’s rough today but it's like a millpond at times and people drop craypots in off the edge of the reef edges. You can also catch snapper at times. It's usually blue and nice and sandy but not today.”
It’s one of the ever-changing scenes at Little Dip - part of what Ross calls his Great Ocean Road. To book one of Ross's All Luxury Tours of the Limestone Coast contact 8767 2277. Ross also provides accommodation at his beach side apartments at the Wyomi Beach General Store. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards.sa.com.au
