4/6/2022 – Saturday – ?km

The Umpherston Sinkhole in Mount Gambier is a large limestone sinkhole that has been made into a garden, initially in 1886. The sinkhole has a lot of steps down into it & is terraced at the bottom. Thankfully the sun is out & the rain has stopped when we get there so it is a more pleasant experience. It is winter so there are no flowers & the plants have recently been pruned, we can only imagine what it would look like in flower in summer. There are masses of ivy hanging down from the sinkhole edges providing a green curtain for the sinkhole walls. We spend a good hour looking over the Umpherston sinkhole before moving on.

The Cave garden right next to the main street is another limestone sinkhole & again has stairs & a garden, though this one has a decent waterfall from all the rain recently. The sun is still out so we get to enjoy this in a bit of warmth then move into the Riddoch Art & Cultural Centre next door. There is a documentary film showing of the volcanic formation of Mount Gambier & the surrounding district as little as 4,500 years ago, it is very interesting. We have a look at the art display afterwards, though that is fairly lame.

We find somewhere to refuel the car then need to find some Adblue for the pollution control on the exhaust of the car. After this little bit of running around we settle for lunch across the road from the Cave garden at the Sorrento Café. I had Angas steak with prawns, the sauce was a little salty & I washed it down with a craft beer, it was all delicious. Tereza enjoyed her prawn pizza as well (we didn’t stray too far from our usual seafood meals)

It starts to rain again as we drive south to Port Macdonnell & we stop at Mount Schank for a look, this is another volcanic crater mountain that was formed around the same timeframe as Mount Gambier. It just sticks up out of the surrounding plain. Port Macdonnell is a small fishing town hugging the coastline with a focus on crayfish during the season. We drive north along the coast on the Coastal Scenic Drive & it is very scenic. We are reluctant to get out of the car as it is cold, windy & raining, however, we still manage to soak in a fair amount of the scenery. At Cape Northumberland, the southernmost tip of South Australia I do get out as the rain stops & go up to the lookout. Big mistake, it then started to sleet so I was getting hit in the face by cold & hard sleet that hurt. I ended up wet & cold by the time I managed to get back into the car. As we drive back to Port Macdonnell the sun comes out & we are treated to a rainbow.

Back in town we get out & have a look at the jetty & read some of the town history up on billboards under the picnic shelter, the tide is in as the water is right up to the boards on the jetty. We decide not to walk out on it, we are cold enough as it is. There is a good sculpture of a cray fisherman at the start of the jetty. The main street of the town is small, though the combined old police station, courthouse, post office, gaol & customs house built in 1863 is very impressive.

Mount Gambier really stands out from the surrounding plains as we drive back to camp in the rain. Cheese, bickies & wine end another great day.