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.

 

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.

Lincoln National Park {National Park}

It was a quick and beautiful drive.

We needed water before we headed into the National Park and thankfully for us the town of Port Lincoln have a dump point & drinking water available for travelers.  It was easy to find and easy to access, even better it is on the way to the Lincoln National Park.

A spot to ourselves again, right on the water at a spot called 'Engine Point'.

 

School and swimming before we headed off to explore & have lunch.  We saw different beaches, different coloured waters, a light house and dolphins.

 

  

It was a lovely day out, even if the weather wasn't playing the game.  We headed home and I studied while everyone else went fishing.  A little more school work before and early night.

xxx

Coles Point {Free Camp}

 

Well we eventually found Coles Point, it took a lot longer than planned {after all of our stops for exploring along the way}.  It was terribly sign posted, as in there wasn't any at all.  Thankfully when we got to the right spot, or what we assume was the right spot, we had a lovely spot on the cliffs.

After setting up our camper we headed down to the beach for some exploring.  Kyla and I walked the beach while Kaleb attempted to fish {it really was a little rough and the tide was wrong but he was desperate for some fishing}.

 

 

Only one night here and our next spot planned we headed for an early night.