Great Ocean Road (19-27 Apr) - Part 5: Mr Gambier

While we really enjoyed Warrnambool we had a terrible night sleep.  It was cloudy but calm when we went to bed, but at about midnight we lost power.  I worried that the power cable had shorted, so we went outside and replaced it with another cable - no luck.  We then tried a different power point - nope.

It was made more fun because we had a little friend in the power box, who wasnt happy with the noise and light:

After trying a few options and freezing (it was about 7 degrees and the grass was soaking from dew) we noticed that the street light and toilet block lights were off too - seems the site had a blackout.  So we headed back to bed.  We fell asleep, but an hour later were awoken when the power came back on and the fridges started whirring and the lights came on.  Soon we were back asleep, until we woke again at 3am to loud winds and the slamming of the fly over the tent being lifted by the wind and then crashing back down.  Since we had only been spending single nights in each place, I had taken to only putting in a couple of pegs and guy ropes - enough to hold the tent down, but few enough to speed up the packup in the morning.

That clearly was going to be a problem, as we heard a crash of poles outside.  The corner pole of the awning had come down. It was blowing a gale (30km/hr winds with gusts up to 60km/hr), pouring with rain, cold and dark.  Using our phones as flashlights, we hammered more pegs in, added all the guy ropes and put the annex poles back up.  We then spent most of the rest of the night listening to the wind howl and the tent flap and crash, expecting something to rip or break, but we survived just fine.  The next morning we found that several caravans had lost their fixed awnings and a few tents had been damaged.

The weather fined up for our drive to Mount Gambier and back into South Australia:

Welcome back

Interesting old farm building on the way back

We were staying in the Mount Gambier Showgrounds - it was much cheaper and they allowed 8 grounds to stay per night with power, showers and toilets.  We disconnect the trailer and again had trouble with the jockey wheel, so it took a little longer than we planned.  We decided to head out to see some of the sights and leave the tent folded up, worrying about a reoccurrence of the winds from the previous night.

Our first stop was the Blue Lake - they hosted tours of the pumping station until 3pm and it was close to 2pm, so we wanted to make sure we could do that first.

The Blue Lake is a dormant volcanic crater than is one of four crater lakes in Mount Gambier.  It is the largest and most impressive (two of the lakes have dried up).  It is believe the volcano last erupted about 28,000 years ago, but there are some theories it could have been as recent as 6,000 years ago.  The lake is filled with water and serves as the main reservoir for the Mount Gambier region.  It is believed the lake is 72m deep, with a possibility of caves running to about 204m.  The crater is 1200x824m and the lake is 1087x657m.

The lake is famous for its intense blue colour.  From December to March the lake is a vivid cobalt blue and it changes to gray from April to November. We caught the end of the blue phase.  The cause of the colour change is unknown, but it believed that it is caused by calcium carbonate crystals forming in the hotter months, scattering the blue wavelengths of light.

Blue Lake Details

First view of the Blue Lake

The vivid blue water

Panoramic

The crater

Pumping Station House (exterior unmodified since original use)

This shot shows the strata layers- the white limestone, the black basalt layer (from lava) and the dirt on top

Details of the Blue Lake pumping

Once we were down on the platform just below the pumping station, we were treated to a demonstration of the water pressure provided just by gravity alone, with a hose pumping water far out into the lake:

The water was so clear

Looking out over the lake

Heading back through the tunnel on the way back up

Just above where we took the tour is the Gordon monument, this commemorates an incident involving the famous Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon.  In 1853, he was riding back from town with some friends and they were daring each other to jump the fences on the side of the road.  One of them dared Gordon to jump his horse, Red Lancer, over the fence surrounding the Blue Lake.  He did, and disappeared from sight.  His friends assumed the worst, thinking he had fallen to his death.  Fortunately, he had landed on a hidden ledge only 1.8m below the fence, with a 60m drop just feet away.  This jump was known as 'Gordon's Jump' and the oblelisk was laid by one of Gordon's friends to commemorate the jump:

Gordon's Monument

Lookout tower

Of course, no trip to Mount Gambier would be complete without drinking their special softdrinks - Blue Lake Lemonade, Rocky Red, Forest Lime and Cave Cola:

Rocky Red

Next stop was the Cave Gardens, but we couldn't find a park, so we continued on to the Lady Nelson Tourist Center, named after the ship that discovered Mount Gambier.  The ship was the first to sail west through Bass Strait, discovered Churchill Island, Port Phillip and parts of Tasmania:

The Lady Nelson

The Tourist center had a discovery center with details about the Lady Nelsons voyages as well as the Mount Gambier area:

World map at the time of the Lady Nelson's voyages

First maps of Australia - then called New Holland

Lady Nelson's mapping of the south coast of Australia (New Holland)

The kids got a quiz each, with a reward at the end for completing it (a postcard), it kept them interested and got them looking up several facts:

Counting the footprints

Fossil walk

Cam and the volcano

Recording the answers to the quiz

Tom's selfie with Simo the Simosthenurus Occdentalis (extinct kangaroo species)

Next stop was the Cave Gardens, where we finally got a park. The gardens are a sinkhole in the centre of the town (right next to the townhall).  The sinkhole is a 90' deep cave that is a state heritage area.  It was originally used for water storage and then for picnics and is now a viewing area and garden:

Beehive

We then grabbed a quick (late) bite for lunch and headed back to the Showgrounds to set up the tent before it got dark.  Our final stop was one of my favourite places, the Umpherston Sinkhole.

The sinkhole was a cave through the limestone, that collapsed leaving a pit.  The area was transformed into a garden by James Umpherston in 1886.  It is great to visit at both day and night.  During the day it is an awesome garden and at night possums come out for feeding.  Unlike the American evil possums from hell, the Australian possums are pretty friendly and the cave possumes are almost tame.

American Possum (not what we saw)

Australian Possum

We packed our dinner (sausages for the BBQ) and some fruit for the possums and headed to the caves, hoping to get there before dark so we could do both the day and night view.  We failed.  It got dark early and by the time we reached the Sinkhole it was pretty much dark, we couldn't see the gardens, but the possums were out.  Cam was carrying the bread for sausages and had possums following him at the top of the stairs.  Bread can make possums sick, so we kept it away from them and gave them some of the fruit.  Eventually we got to the bottom of the sinkhole and into the cave area where the possums live:

Our first possum, up the top

Feeding possums down at the bottom

Cherry Tomatoes

Banana

Being stalked from above

Looking up at the top of the crater

Long exposure of top of the crater

When we'd finished up, we headed back up top and cooked up our BBQ and then headed back to camp.  For the first time, the fire restrictions were low enough and the showground allowed controlled and contained fires, so we set up our brazier and toasted some marshmallows:

The next morning we packed up and headed back to the Umpherston Sinkhole to see it by day:

From the top

Panoramic

Looking down

After finishing up at the Sinkhole, we started the drive home, with only one brief stop at Kingston to say hello to another Giant creature - the Big Lobster.  Known as Larry the Lobster, he is 17m tall and was built in 1979:

Run Away!