Mount Gambier

Today we will be in South Australia.  We woke early and arrived in Mount Gambier by 9am just as the tourist information office opened.  We made one stop at Nelson to see the Glenelg River.  For some reason I (Karen) could not warm up this morning so it was a very quick visit.

The lady in the tourist office was really helpful with information on what was best to see.  Two of the caves we wanted to see, one was out of town and best seen tomorrow as we drive to Robe and the other has been closed since COVID.  She also gave us some good information on travelling through Adelaide when we pick Nat and Maddie up from the airport on Saturday, so really useful visit.

For those who don't know Mount Gambier is the second largest city in South Australia and sits exactly halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne but its unique geological features which make it so special and why we really wanted to come here. One thing I love about Victoria and South Australia is I can name a lot of the plants as they are typically English.  Today we saw so many roses - it was lovely- very English.

Umpherston Sinkhole

Often called the sunken garden was the first on our list to see.  It looked magical in the pictures we had seen and it did not disappoint.  

Our first WOW of the day.  It was spectacular and the birds were lovely too.

Mount Schank

We went to Mount Schank as it is Australia's youngest volcano (it last erupted 4,500 years ago) but it gives a 360 view to the coast which we thought would be rather cool but when we got there we found the 800m walk all uphill with very steep steps.  In the field next to the turning, men were rounding up sheep which went for as far as we could see.  

As we drove to our next location down the road we found they were actually moving the sheep out of their current pasture to another location.  It was so cool to watch them herding them together with small trucks and dogs.  Never seen it before in person.

Little Blue Lake

This was quite surprising.  It is right next to the road.  You can actually swim in it and there is a pathway and pontoon into the lake to allow you to get in and out.  Not the weather to try it out sadly.  Some hawks had made a nest in the holes in the rocks above the lake and we sat for at least 15-20 minutes just watching them - so cool, we are really turning into quite keen "twitchers".  We took so many videos it was tough to not bore you and only put up one but we went for the ahh factor and chose the baby.

We pulled ourselves away to go back to town to see the real "Blue Lake" after watching all the pink and grey parrots in the car park.  No sooner had we started driving down the road than we realised the truck in front was actually crawling, because of the sheep we saw leave earlier, so we joined in too. It was fun watching the dogs in the back of the truck run from one side to the other looking at the sheep as though they were saying "let me have a go!"

The Blue Lake

We were very lucky - the lake is only blue for a week or so in November and we were there at the right time.  It was so clear and oh so blue.  We took photographs from many different places.  The best one actually wasn't from the lookout or the tower but rather from up above Valley Lake Conservation Park.

Valley Lake and Centenary Tower

We didn't actually visit Centenary Tower but you could see it in the distance on the hill from both Valley Lake and Blue Lake.  It is the square tower.

Cave Garden

Our final destination for the day which is behind the Arts and Civic Centre where they show a video all about Mount Gambier.  To be honest we were too tired to walk down all the steps so we just took photo from the top and sat in the gardens and admired the roses.

Finally before we leave the actual town.  They have large vehicles all over the town.  Unfortunately I missed getting s photo of the huge truck made out of hay bales.