Day 7: Sun 19 Feb 23 - Mount Gambier

February 19, 2023

Sun 19 Feb - Mount Gambier

It's Sunday, so a bit of a sleep in. 10 Deg reaching 25 Deg with light winds increasing to 20km in the late afternoon. Another glorious day in Mount Gambier with the sky as pretty blue as the Blue Lake. The internet is almost non-existent here, probably because we have hills with two large crater lakes between the caravan park and town, so I drove into town to post the photos for yesterday's blog. Breakfast was had on return, then back into town we went to plan our next couple of weeks of travel and some accomodation booking over a morning coffee in a lovely cafe/ restaurant. It's so nice we booked a table for dinner tonight. From here we ventured across the road for a walk through the Cave Garden, then on to the Visitor Information and Discovery Centre. Here we learned a bit more about the Lady Nelson sailing vessel, walked across a glass floor with illuminated fossils beneath, and learned about the many sinkholes and caves in the Mount Gambier area. From here we went to the spectacular Umpherston Sinkhole (Sunken Garden) a short drive up the street. The sinkhole was once a limestone cave that formed by the corrosion of limestone rocks and the sinkhole was naturally created when the chamber's roof collapsed. A little dry from the recent heat and lack of rain, it was still very impressive. From here we drove in the opposite direction to the Engelbrecht Cave, one of only two caves in the area that has an admission fee - everything else is free. We paid $14.50 each to join a 45 minute guided underground tour which covered a lot of interesting facts about the cave, it's history, diving and the many underwater caverns and tunnels that extend beneath Mount Gambier's centre including homes, streets and main roads - it's quite incredible. More incredible, is that this cave was privately owned and once used as a rubbish dump, until 1979 when it was cleaned out and turned into a tourist attraction. The Engelbrecht Cave is also a popular diving site for cave divers. It was time to head back to the van for a late lunch and a rest, before I climbed on my bike and rode back over the hill past the Blue Lake into town, along a fantastic rail trail cycle path, then back up and around the Blue Lake again. A refreshing ale on return then it was time to get cleaned up and head back into town again for dinner (which unfortunately turned out to be very ordinary).

Morning stop at the Blue Lake which was looking very grey, but just as magic

The Cave Garden in town

Cave Garden

About the Lady Nelson at the Discovery Centre

The Discovery Centre

Umpherston Sinkhole

Inside Umpherston Sinkhole

Beehives on the wall inside Umpherston Sinkhole

Inside Umpherston Sinkhole

Umpherston Sinkhole

A beautiful park accessing Umpherston Sinkhole

Entrance to Engelbrecht Cave

Inside Engelbrecht Cave - The Water appearing green

Inside Engelbrecht Cave - The Water looks less than one metre deep, but is actually eight metres deep

Inside Engelbrecht Cave

Inside Engelbrecht Cave - another cavern

Some of the rubbish that accumulated when used as a rubbish dump until 1979. Interestingly, most of what was not removed has now broken down to become soil. They didn't have as much plastic then.