2018 – Part 16 – Was it Worth the 1,000km?
We drove out to this small town in South Australia as Amber had found something she really wanted to see. We certainly enjoyed our time in the town. Was it worth it?
One Week already!
Before getting into our description of Mt. Gambier, this day marked our first week on vacation. For me, it was cool to reflect for a moment. We had spent last Friday in Amsterdam, this would be a very different Friday, no Dim Sum, and no flights to catch.
Breakfast
We decided that we’d go to a local breakfast spot instead of having our breakfast at the hotel. After checking out of the hotel it was a short and easy drive to downtown Mt. Gambier where we found our breakfast spot. Both of us had a lovely cooked breakfast.
As it was Friday morning the place wasn’t busy and when we told our waitress that we were tourists she was surprised. It was almost as if she stopped and thought “Sights in Mt. Gambier?” After we finished breakfast it was a short drive through town to our first stop.
Blue Lake
This is yet another cool result of geography. In this situation, after a volcanic eruption the crater ended up being lower than the water table. According to the information board the average depth of the lake is around 70 metres. 
The town uses this as their water source, and there was no shortage of signs warning against spills into the lake. Even though the information board said the lake turns a grey colour based on the seasons, I don’t think the colour of the lake had changed.
Right by the main car park and lookout over the lake was this collection of Cacti.
Umpherston Sinkhole
To paraphrase Amber:
This is the item that she found online and wanted to visit. The sinkhole today is a public garden. For her, visiting gardens reminds her of her grandfather who was gardener. She did quip that if he were with us he would have filled all his pockets from clippings of all the plants in the sinkhole.
Now with it being a sinkhole, there were quite a few stairs required to get to the bottom. This was taken at the landing down to the bottom.
Once we got to the bottom it was comfortable, cool and humid! It’s not as humid like being in a tropical island, but after being in drier air of almost a week I noticed the difference. We didn’t see any possums, however we spotted a few birds like this one that let me get a picture.
We quite enjoyed visiting, and it was well worth the 1,000 km drive.
Even from the top, I was impressed with the view.
It was neat to visit!
Once back at the top there was a gift shop along with a small cafe where Amber got some tea.
We then left Mt. Gambier and headed east to begin our, relatively short, 500km drive to Melbourne.
Read more about our trip by clicking here.