Land of Lakes & Craters

The locals advised we should head into town and check out the free movie Volcano at Main Corner.  Volcano is a big screen cinematic experience which tells the incredible story of the eight major eruptions that created Mount Gambier.  A good place to start our exploration of the local area?.  Yup, it would have been, had today not been the one day of the year that the movie wasn't showing.  Bummer.  Oh, and the Art Gallery is only closed on Tuesdays, just to rub salt into the wound.  Not our day.

So instead we headed to the Lady Nelson Discovery & Visitor Centre, which involved a lovely walk through Mt Gambier's Heritage Precinct with its old world charm, and the re-developed modern City Hall. 

Spring has sprung!

On the way Fletch picked some flowers and I picked up some Happy Pants that Bruce said would look good on MC Hammer.  There's definitely a pattern forming with my latest clothes purchases - the sizes are getting bigger and the styles are getting baggier.  I think this extended holiday of continuous binge eating and drinking is having an effect...

Unfortunately the Lady Nelson Discovery & Visitor Centre also proved to be a disappointment when the kids worked out that they could only look at the Lady Nelson, not climb on her.

 

The Lady Nelson was a 60 ton survey brig, named after Lord Horatio Nelson's wife.  Lieutenant James Grant sighted and named Mt Schank and Mt Gambier from the deck of the brig in 1800.

As astute travellers we have developed a keen eye for what is (i) good value (ii) educational and (iii) fun, and this Visitor Centre with a stiff admission charge for a self guided tour just didn't cut the mustard.  So we split and went to McDonalds.  50c ice creams.  Good coffee.  Playground.  Free Wifi.   Gold.

Back in the car to find some tourist stuff that is not closed or ridiculously expensive! 

The Blue Lake.  Bingo.

 

The Blue Lake is awesome.  As the boys described in their diaries later in the day, "it's bluer than Daddy's eyes!"  Nestled on a gorgeous volcanic landscape, the Blue Lake inhabits one of the three extinct volcanic craters of Mount Gambier.

There are lots of blue lakes in the world, but no other lake changes colour so dramatically every year.  Each year in November the lake starts its colour change from winter steel grey to brilliant turquoise blue.  There are a number of theories behind the mysterious colour change of the water, but it is generally accepted that the change in colour has something to do with the water temperature of the lake.

The lake is 500 metres across and 70 metres deep.  It contains 36 000 million litres of water, supplying the town with approximately 3 500 million litres of drinking water per year.  Wow!

While we were gazing out at the lake, Jarrah, the picker in the family, was scavenging around in the long grass under the lookout.  He re-appeared with a great pair of sunnies that he donated to me as a replacement for the pair I lost in the surf at Lorne.

It was just a short drive to the Valley Crater Lake which boasts a wildlife park, adventure playground, picnic grounds and outdoor BBQs.  We ,made the most of the BBQs and the playground, enjoying a mid afternoon sausage sizzle and some fun on the swings.

We found some cricket nets and played a game of limited overs with Fletch winning with +24 runs and Bruce losing with -4 runs.

It must have been close to 5pm before I could drag the boys away from the cricket game to join me on a walk on the Mountain Trail.  There was a fair bit of grumbling to begin with.  Fletcher's moaning was minimised by putting him straight into the 'pak pak' but Jack and Jarrah just had to come to terms with the prickles in their socks, their tired legs and their grumpy attitudes!

Once we got going they all seemed to cheer up.  Mostly when they realised that Bruce had packed three packets of Tiny Teddies & Moos in the 'pak pak'.  Food of course being the ultimate incentive for the Johnston boys.

The first part of the track was quite adventurous, walking on a narrow track in a stiff wind with views down steep cliffs to the bottom of the crater.  We continued along the trail between the Valley and Leg of Mutton Lake Crater, where we could view both craters from The Saddle, and see fantastic views of the Valley Lake and the City.

Valley Lake with Centenary Tower on the far hill

We then continued along the exposed ridge called the Sugarloaf overlooking the city, passing many great vantage points to view the Crater Lakes far below.

Potters Point Lookout

At the fork in the trail, there was a unanimous decision to take the tougher Mountain Trail up to Centenary Tower, rather than the easier Blue Gum Trail, which bypassed the 370 stairs to the top!

Here we are about 80 steps up, only 290 to go!

 

We made it to Centenary Tower, which sits 190m above sea level, 170 above the Blue Lake, 85m above the car park and 150m above the town's main street.

 

Tiny Teddys & Moos well earned!

 

The walk back down to the car park, Lions Lookout and Devil's Punch Bowl (one of several blowholes in the area) was a cinch.  It was all down hill, of course.  It was past 6.30pm when we headed back to the showgrounds, well and truly ready for a hearty hot dinner!

 

About 8pm, just when we probably should have been putting the kids to bed, we headed out once more.  This time to watch the local sound and light show a the Cave Garden.  There were lots of changing coloured lights emanating from the cave, and the surrounding buildings had photos projected on them depicting the local history. 

 

The kids were more interested in feeding popcorn to the possums.

 

The boys were mesmerised, however, when the Aboriginal Dreaming of the Cave Garden began.  There were shadowlike images of ancient  Aboriginal Dreatime figures projected onto and moving across the rock face accompanied by a ghostly and mystical soundscape. 

 

All under a beautiful full moon!