Mt Gambier 7th October

Rained during the night and was again quite cold. However armed with our trusty map and with all the places that we were told we had to see we set off for a day of sightseeing.

Mt Gambier is built on top of extinct volcanoes and is  the second largest city in South Australia and one of the richest. Here the major industries are pine plantations, dairy produce and seafood.

We did all the local tourist attractions visiting the blue lake which hadn’t turned too blue as it usually occurs in mid November when it then turns a brilliant blue which lasts until April when it then returns to a gray colour for the winter. This is also the water supply for Mt Gambier, it contains 36ooo million litres with an average depth of about 80 metres.

We also visited Brown, and leg of mutton lake the later having dried up over the years.

Despite the strong cold wind we walked up the steep pathway to the Centenary Tower which had been built in the 1930’s to mark Mt Gambier's 100  years of existence.

Drove back in to the centre of town to look at the Cave Gardens and the Engelbrecht Cave which go under the town across 6 streets and about 19 houses which is the extent that it has been explored by experienced cave divers,it  had for many years previously until the 1970’s  been used as a local tip and was finally cleared of all the rubbish by the local Lions club and revitalised as a tourist attraction.

Walked through the town doing the history tour of the old and important buildings which included the Robert Helpmann theatre who was a native son of the area.

Looking for another cave we headed for the Umpherston sink hole which had had quite a history as part of a family estate. They had exquisite gardens, a lake in the middle with a row boat and even a small island.

They said it was like  a fairy land. Saw mills were built next door to the family estate and then it eventually it fell into disrepair along with the family home home being demolished in the 1960’s. Eventually it was rescued and now has been transformed into a beautiful sunken garden full of arum lilies and many other colourful hydrangeas.

Making our way to visit the tourist information bay and to see a replica of the Lady Nelson I was greeted by a very friendly member of the South Australian Police who pulled me over for a random breath test at 4 in the afternoon. Coming up negative we then decided to call it a day and made our way back to the caravan park for afternoon tea, dinner and a drink.