Day 032 - Mt Gambier and all it's holes

Hi All, well a busy day has been had, unlike the few days before hand. From the moment I got up, I was pretty much flat out, until about 9:00pm tonite. The reason is that there's plenty of things in Mt Gambier that I wanted to go see, even though I'd been here before.

Probably the most important tourist site is the Blue Lake, and old volcano that is filled with water, that is a magical blue colour. It's about an hour walk around it, but well worth it.

From there I went to Valley Lake, another valcano lake, which is right beside Blue Lake. On the top of that is the centenary tower, a small tower at the very top of the volcano.

That made it to about lunch time, so I went to an Indian restaurant that I'd spotted the night before. It was very funny being the only customer, but the food was great, a welcome change to Quarter Pounders and Chicken Parmas for lunch.

From there I went to the Umpherston Sinkhole, a large hole/save created by the slow removal of limestone. I also went to the Engelbrecht Cave, another limestone cave, this one that allows people to go scuba divings for hundreds of metres under ground. Unfortunately, for me, it was just a walk through the cave system.

I then went to the Lady Nelson Park, a small informational centre advising people of what's happened in the region over the last few thousand years. This is right next door to the tourist information centre, but was probably the least interesting thing of the day, as it was pretty old and worn down.

Finally, on the tourist front, I went to another cave, called the Cave Gardens, a hole right in the middle of town.

After coming back to the hotel for an hours rest, I then went out to see the movie "Clash of the Titans". Unfortunately not in 3D, and it wasn't actually the greatest movie anyway. The 1981 version was much better I think.

Anyway, it's time for me to go to bed, to watch a bit of Saving Private Ryan. Tomorrow I head off to Coonawarra, so my breathalyser will be coming out to play me thinks.

Until next time, happy days!!!

Blue Lake

Centenary Tower

Engelbrecht Cave

Days 27 to 31 - Port Fairy to Mount Gambier

Hi all,

Well, it's been a few days, firstly I was busy with friends, and then the last 2 days I've been out of range. So what have I been up to? Lots. Here's a summary.

• Friday I went from Port Fairy to Portland, to catch up with some work mates. While waiting for them, I went to Cape Bridgewater, were I did a nice walk along a cliff face, to see a big colony of seals. It's a pity that there were so far below me, about 150 metres, as I couldn't get a nice photo.
• Saturday, I went on a fishing charter with Cade, Kevin and Danny from work, along with a couple of other people. We were aiming to go out wide, and go for Tuna fishing, unfortunately the weather wasn't great, so we could only go out in the shallow water, were we caught snapper and other assorted fish. We did have fun for a little while, as a hammerhead shark swam around our boat, but we couldn't get him to take our bait. Doh!
• Saturday night we went out to dinner, and Marcus Warrington, and his son, Nicholas caught up with us, so we had a nice little group.
• Sunday, Marcus, Nicholas and I continued on, and went camping at the Lower Glenelg national park, were we put up tents right next to the Glenelg river. We spent the next couple of days fishing, and swimming in the river. We caught about 100 bream between the 3 of us, the largest being about 24cms, so not large.
• We also went to the Princess Margaret Rose caves, to check out the caves there.

I'm now in Mt Gambier, where I'll spend a couple of nights. As I had bad weather, I used the time to clean my clothes. Tomorrow I'll have a big run-around, doing old volcanoes and caves.

Catch you next time.

PS. No photos today. Too many to go through.

Day 026 - The Great Ocean Road and beyond

Well, today was a good day. Having spent a nice in the fantastic Hostel in Port Campbell (btw: you really should spend a night in PC), I was ready for the big day ahead. On my way to Port Fairy, I did all the GOR sites, which are:

• Gibson Steps - and the first time I found myself in touch with a snake. Pity it was only about 30 cms long, but still, just as deadly. See below.
• 12 Apostles - OK, my 3rd time there in 24 hours, still couldn't get that "perfect" photo.
• Loch Ard Gorge - much better than 12 Apostles. Lots of different things to see there.
• The Arch, London Bridge, Grotto, Bay of Martyrs and Bay of Islands - Lots of lovely sites, all worthy of going to and taking lots of photos of.
• Peterborough - Sorry Nicole, it's not a very big town, but lovely area regardless.
• Warnambool - so where can I get a good sandwich.
• Tower Hill - getting inside of an old Volcano.
• Port Fairy - a lovely little town, which I plan to see more of tomorrow.

I went fishing, and didn't catch anything this time in Port Fairy, for me that's a sign it's time to move on.

Note: I'm in a lovely Holiday Park, Pelican Waters (sorry no Pelicans), well worth staying at.

Tomorrow I catch up with some work people, off to spend a few days in Portland. I probably won't be in touch until after Easter, as I'll be too busy, and then off camping in the Lower Glenelg National Park.

Giant Snake

Up close and personal Koala