Gem of the South East

Months ago when I spied the Queen’s Birthday long weekend on our calendar I knew we would be putting it aside to have visitors here at ‘Carlton’. We are a 6 hour drive from Melbourne, making just a standard weekend trip quite the effort for our family and friends, a long weekend is called for to cross the border.

So this long weekend we welcomed our friends Mika and Tracey from Melbourne-town to check out our new home and surrounds. We ate our weight in local cheese and Maggie Beer quince paste, drank champagne in front of the fire and took a drive down to Robe – about an hour from us, a lovely little seaside village with limestone buildings galore, a little cafe scene, great boutique shops in a historic village atmosphere. We explored the rugged coast line, huddled in a cafe to have hot chocolates, commented on the huge amount of pretty dogs being walked in town – seriously everybody had a great looking dog, making us realise how much we miss having a ‘big dog’. We admired a gorgeous industrial table in a shop window (along with it’s hefty price tag) and ate a lunch of fresh calamari in the old limestone mid-19th century pub – super low ceilings, exposed beams, open fire, I almost had a Guiness. Almost.

It was a bit of a quick trip on a wintery June morning, but I’m hoping to do a more detailed post on Robe and all it’s charms. Any excuse to go back down the coast, right? The little village definitely lives up to its ‘gem of the south-east’ moniker –  local coffee roaster, providore, farmer’s market, good shopping, art scene, history. I’ll be back, Robe…and maybe I’ll bring my pretty (little) dog too!