15—19 Sep—Mt Gambier, SA
We were on our way again and travelled on the The Great Ocean Rd heading toward Allensford and turned onto the A1/Princes Highway to Warrnambool. Just out of Tyrendarra we turned onto Mount Clay Rd and travelled on a beautiful, scenic, well maintained country road. We re-joined the A1/Princes Highway at Heywood which took us all the way across the border into Mt Gambier. We arrived at the showground at 1335 hr according to us but had forgotten that we had lost 30 minutes, so had to change some clocks. It had been a hard day’s driving with the strong winds blowing across the roads and pushing against us.
Once we were all set up in the high winds; we went looking for lunch, fuel, Ad Blu and a gas bottle refill (don’t want cold showers). With all this done we settled down for the evening.
It was overcast and still windy as we woke to attempt some sight seeing. We drove up to the Blue Lake—it is supposedly the youngest volcano in Australia—it was was quite pretty and then around to Centenary Tower (closed, no flag out) and then off to a tour of Engelbrecht Cave. This includes lots of steps down to a platform where you go to the East and West caves, continuing down to about 29 metres. It was all quite fascinating and had lots of history.
On Thursday we drove down the road to check out Umpherston Sinkhole, it is situated in a park on the main highway. It is beautiful and green and has been transformed into a tiered garden and picnic area for people to enjoy, including lots of steps.
See also 2025 “Morisset to Tumby Bay, SA to Granville” trip.
