Mount Gambier, South Australia {Caravan Park}

I know I have said this before, and I am sure on this trip I will be sure it again but I am surprised at the size of Mount Gambier.  What I am not surprised about however is the number of amazing old buildings that it had.

We headed right to the caravan park when we arrived, setting up and doing a little school work before heading off the the visitors centre to see what we could explore around the town.

I had never heard of Blue Lake, ever but this beautiful volcanic crater is the towns water supply and is an ever changing colour.  We got to experience it in all it's blue glory.

 

Our next stop was to drive up and around to Valley Lake.  A beautiful picnic spot, with large play ground and loads of beautiful looking water.

 

Heading back towards town we decided to actually drive around Blue Lake to see it from the other side.  It is so crystal clear and inviting looking you just wish you could swim or float in it.

We decided to end our afternoon adventure with a trip to the Umpherston Sinkhole.  A beautiful garden that has been created around what was once an under ground cave. Surprisingly it was filled with bees, who had used the limestone walls to create amazing looking honeycomb and made hives within the holes in the wall. I can just picture what it would look like with water running in it after some rain.

 

 

Saturday we started the day with pancakes before heading into town to do the 'Historical Walk'.  This is a self guided walk that takes in the towns historical buildings, each having a plaque with information on its parts use.  During our walk we also stumbled across two markets within town and also got to explore Cave Gardens.

 

 

 

 

    

We jumped into the car now to go and explore some of the antique shops.  I found a lovely set of kitchen canisters but refrained because how many sets does one woman really need {given they are going to the sea container haha}. There was also a beautiful dresser and kitchenette and bookcase and clock and and and, alright I have a problem.  It was lucky we are in a camper because I am sure I would've easily brought at least two of them because not only did they look lovely, they were an amazing price.

Next stop was a lovely ploughmans lunch at Valley Lake.  Where we sat under the trees, watch the water skiing and the kids played on the play ground.  We then headed into the car and went to look Devils Sinkhole {which is used by cave divers and kind of scared me a little}, Little Blue Lake {which is actually green and used for swimming by locals, some crazy kids even jumping of a cliff into the deep water} and tried to find some other places, with no luck.

 

Kingston SE & Robe SA {Travelling}

Leaving our over night spot relatively early for this trip, our planned spot for the night was Mount Gambier.

We drove through some lovely little towns on our way, some with only a handful of houses and some, surprisingly larger than I expected them to be.  We headed into Kingston SE to have a look around, of course at the giant lobster but also for a walk out on the jetty {what is a sea side town without a jetty}.  It was a pretty impressive 'BIG LOBSTER' and was surrounded by people taking pictures.  That said I have heard of people who travel the country specifically to look at all of the 'BIG' things.

 

 

Our next bigger location to checkout was Robe, which was much larger than I expected it was going to be.  What a beautiful place filled with lovely old buildings, I'm glad we decided to detour to check it out.

We explored the coastline, had a quick look in town and looked at the ruins of the old goal.

 

 

Adelaide {Caravan Park}

The city of churches.

 

I've been to Adelaide before, to visit a friend.  That was a flying visit and really so was this but it was lovely to be able to explore it with my family.  We stayed at the Discovery Beachfront Caravan Park for two nights.  Monday afternoon was spent finding some shops so that we could get the kids new shoes, darn they just keep growing!

We explored some of the streets around the caravan park, which is near Port Adelaide {which is an amazing place}.  Tuesday morning was spend doing school work while we waiting for Dan & Ant to arrive.

Once our friends arrived we decided to head into the city to explore the fresh food markets.  A lunch at the hotel across the road first before we filled our senses with an array of fresh produce from around South Australia.

We still had plenty of time left on our parking so we popped the goods into the car and heading for a walk into the city.  Ant and I honestly spent the entire time looking up, I'm surprised we didn't want into anything {or anyone}.  We saw some street performers on Rundle Mall {as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival}, saw loads of old buildings and discovered a little lolly shop down a back street.  Our Victorian friends even went for a swim {CRAZY}!

 

To keep the kids happy & entertained we headed to the Adelaide Zoo, which is a great zoo for kids.  We saw heaps of things that they don't have at Perth Zoo and it was definitely easier to see things for the small people.

 

  

 

.We rounded off the day with a stop at the markets again for some amazing local cheese, fresh fruit and of course ice-cream for the kids {alright and me too}

Clare Valley {Caravan Park}

Our drive from Whylla took us along the coast for a short while, meaning we could stop in and take a quick look around Port Augusta, Port Pirie and a lovely town called Crystal Brook {Justin found 'the house' in this lovely little place}.

We eventually arrived in Clare at the Discovery Caravan Park just before 2pm.  It was great to be able to surprise our friends Dan & Ant by coming a few days early {actually Ant didn't even recognize us}.  Our original plan was to stay for two nights, giving us a full day to explore but after our first day out we decided we would need one more, so extended our stay to three nights.

Saturday morning we did a little school work, the kids had a play with some other children and we headed into Clare to have a look around at all of the historical buildings.  What a building main street they've got but disappointingly so the visitors centre didn't really share that much information {or provide that much more}.  Thankfully, through our research we got to take the kids the the history museum that was set up in the old goal.  Kaleb was pretty happy to explore around in there and also the grounds too!

 

   

  

After that we headed out to a little town called Mintaro.  It is what they refer to as a historical town and after our look around I can see why.  The history that they have and have maintained is amazing.  We had lunch at Riley's Winery which was in a quaint little building that was made in the early 1800 {as were many others within the town ship}.  Given how hot is was, we only walked a little before hopping the car to finish off the rest.
 

 

 

 

We all needed the swim when we headed back to the caravan park and we meet a lovely family from Gwaler who we spent the rest of the afternoon with.  The kids even hired one of those driving carts to share with their new friends. A love;y dinner with Dan & Ant before we went back to prepare for our exploring tomorrow.

Sunday we had a slow start to the day and after a little school we packed up and headed out to Burra. Yet another town in this region filled with history and thankfully for us the people are working hard to maintain it, they are proud of where they live.  We started at the visitors centre, where they gave us the map and key to take off on our Historical tour of Burra.

 

  

            

            

 

My most favourite part, well the stand out parts would be the cellars in the cider house and the 'homes' in the creek beds.  Hundreds of people lived in the creek beds, in make shift houses due to the shortage in housing in the area.  Sadly many died due to the poor living conditions they faced.