Mount Gambier – South Australia

WOW! Who knew that Mount Gambier has so much to offer? They call this the Limestone Coast and for us Mount Gambier is the start of our adventure through this region in South Australia. It has so much natural beauty and stunning beaches not to mention many wineries and it appears plenty of great places to stop for a meal.

First things first. We pulled into Big 4 Mount Gambier but found that there were no sites available for us. Nope we did not book ahead. That’s OK because we have the app Wiki Camps and we had already seen that down the road was Pine Country Caravan Park. Again as it turned out as one door closes another door opens, and the Park turned out to be so much better than what we had seen before.

This beautiful Park just on the outskirts of town heading towards Port MacDonnell had large green sites and the amenities are very clean. I did have a chuckle with the ‘Ladies’. You will need to find out for yourselves………This is a Family Parks so if you are a member at this time of the year you will be looking at around $31.50 for a powered site.

Mount Gambier was pretty awesome and we started at The Lady Nelson Visitor and Discovery Centre. This gave us a chance to get our bearings as to where we wanted to go and what to see. Make sure you take the free self-guided tour inside the Centre. There’s a great hologram production which educates us about the Boadnik people in the area. One attraction is the glass floor corridor that you walk on and is illuminated with fossil rocks beneath you. Oh and make sure you check out the guy above you, he caught me by supprise! ha ha.

The centre gave us a great pamphlet on the top 10 sights and experiences to see while in Mount Gambier. So number 1 has been ticked. The Visitor Information Centre.

Ok so we did not go according to the list but next we visited the Umpherston Sinkhole garden. Pretty awesome to think that in 1886 James Umpherston made it into a garden. Today it still exists and is very beautiful.

Next we went into the city and found The Main Corner and Riddoch Art Gallery and absolutely loved it. We were then told about the free documentary movie about the volcanic history of the region which was about to show. Wow and wow, free and the air-conditioning was also welcomed. The video is all about Earth, Fire and Water and it starts with the Aboriginal Dreamtime story of the Craitbul and his giant ovens and then we come back to today taking you through the spectacular history of the many volcanic eruptions and steam generated explosions that shaped the Mount Gambier land form. The sound effects and visuals are absolutely awesome and captivating.

Well done Mount Gambier this made us appreciate the where we were going and checking out the views so much more appreciative.

The Blue Lake is pretty stunning and from what we have been told is only so Blue from November to March. How lucky are we that we managed to see it sooooo blue. Apparently the warming of the surface because of other particles such as calcium carbonate……….but I won’t bore you with that. It’s just stunning.

One of the publicly accessible Lakes known as Valley Lake is open for swimming and boating. The day we visited, Valley Lake it was busy with skiing and wake boarders and looks like another beautiful place to spend a day.

If you have the time make sure you spend a couple of nights in Mount Gambier.

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