Mt Gambier

Mt Gambier is the second largest town in South Australia but it is not what you'd expect of a largish city. The whole area is built on limestone caves and even in the middle of town are sinkholes and sunken gardens and limestone caves.

Only about a kilometre from the city centre are crater lakes. The smaller one shown gives an idea of the size of the whole crater as the photo is taken from a lookout at the top. It probably filled the crater at some time. The larger is the Blue Lake which is a brilliant blue from about November to March then reverts to normal wintery looking grey as the weather changes. It is supposed to be past its best now but the photos I took are fairly impressive.  Half an hour from town is the Small Blue Lake which is actually polluted with blue-green algae and is almost green in colour. It is about a tenth the size of the Blue Lake but is perfectly round and gives an idea of the geological history of the area. It may be a sinkhole rather than a crater lake.

Back in town, I visited the Umpherston Sinkhole garden. About a century ago, the original owner built walkways and terraces and gardens to provide an oasis on his property. At the time, the water table was higher and half of the base was a lake with a boat. Not any more, but it is still a very attractive area, set in a large shady park and administered by the city. At night they are floodlit.



The view from the end of the jetty
 may be unchanged
from Mary MacKillop's time

I took a drive to Port MacDonnell, checking out the jetty where Mary MacKillop set off for Adelaide to set up schools there. If you are looking for a MM relic, this may be the place to go. I am sure the jetty hasn't been replaced or repaired in all that time. The boards are worn and unevenly spaced and railway tracks run down the middle. Photos of women on the jetty about 150 years ago, show not much has changed. This is the centre of the lobster fishing area of SA and I had hoped to shout myself to a lobster tail or a lobster entree at a hotel or cafe. At $65 a serve, I discovered that I have as much Scottish heritage as Irish and contented myself with garlic prawns for lunch.


I almost detoured on the way back to town to see Adam Lindsay Gordon's cottage but changed my mind. Those heritage cottages are like the Spanish identical twins - seen Juan, seen Imal!