3/6/2022 – Friday – 166km

Only a few spots of rain this morning as we packed up camp & drove into Robe again for another look. We stopped at the old Customs House overlooking the small harbour, it is a museum, however, not open today. The Woakwine Cutting was our first stop today, a channel of 28 metre depth & around one kilometre long to drain the Woakwine Swamp that took 3 years to complete. This drains into the very large Lake George that borders Beachport.

Beachport is a pretty spot, we drove the signposted Bowman scenic drive around town & along the ocean front, it certainly is scenic, absolutely beautiful. We drove up & down hills & pulled over many times to enjoy the rugged coastal views, though the wind was blowing & it was very cold. We stopped at the Beachport jetty for a walk, it is the 2^nd longest jetty in South Australia at 772 metres. It was cold & got colder as we walked out & back, strangely enough, we were the only people on the jetty that whole time. Thankfully there is a seafood café at the start of the jetty & we got out of the cold for a warm drink & hot seafood. I tried a crayfish pie & Tereza had the ever reliable salt & pepper squid, yum. On the way out we admired some of the old stone buildings, very nicely preserved.

On the way to Mount Gambier we pass the Kimberley Clark paper mill, a very large factory in the middle of nowhere. Shortly after we started passing the pine plantations that provide the timber for the paper, the plantations stretch endlessly on either side of the road. We drive into town & find the Blue Lake with the van park next to it on the crater rim. The Blue Lake is a volcanic lake that sits in the crater of a dormant volcano & is a very pretty blue colour. We set up camp. We wanted to go for a walk around the lake but was so cold that we decided to drive around the cluster of volcanic lakes, it is very pretty & very well maintained. It is difficult to imagine that as little as 4,500 years ago this area was bubbling with molten lava.

Into town for a little bit of food shopping & then it started to rain, back to camp & settle in for the night. Another great day.