A trip to the Limestone Coast

Finally a blog!  My friend, Kathy, stayed with us for three weeks, during which time we were very busy, sightseeing and talking.   No time for writing a blog.    We had such a lovely time, and it was with great sadness that we said goodbye on Sunday evening.  Piper also loved having Kathy here. and she was quite lost on Monday without her playmate.

So now it is back to a normal routine, after three weeks of being tourists and in holiday mode.   It was great fun, and we saw and did so much.   

In the middle of the three weeks we travelled to Mt Gambier, and it is this trip that I aim to start the blogs.

The weather was mostly pretty terrible, cold and windy with plenty of rain.   I do not think the temperature went above 16 degrees during the four days we were away.   Our hearts went out to the people battling the forest fires in Queensland and New South Wales, but it was hard to believe it was happening.   The south east of the country was covered in green grass, filled creeks and water holes and cold.

We rented a cottage in Mt Gambier for the three nights which was very comfortable and warm.  Walter and Kathy sitting in a sun filled room on the first afternoon.   I think it was the only time the sun shone through that window.

We travelled via the hills to Hahndorf, then onto the expressway to Murray Bridge, continued on the Dukes Highway to Keith where we turned off onto the Riddoch Highway, destination Mt Gambier.   An easy drive really.

The road was named after John Riddoch, the first white settler landholder, and who started grape growing in the Coonawarra region.

The road was very scenic,  as it passed through farming country, plantations of pine, plus the wine growing areas of Padthaway, Wrattonbully and Coonawarra.   The road was also lined with trees, and the width from fence line to fence line indicated it was once a stock route.

The first stop was at the Naracoorte Caves, which was a World Heritage Area, with so much to see there.   However we only had time to go on a tour of the Victoria Cave which was filled with stalactites, stalagmites, helictites and columns.   The section at the back of the cave showed the numerous skeletons of fossilised animals which fell through the holes at some point in the past.

The caves are one of the world's most important fossil sites.    The preserved bones are of megafauna that became extinct 40,000 years ago and is Australia's most complete marsupial fossil record for the past 500,000 years.   The talk from the guide was fascinating.

A very early model of a snub nosed kangaroo, which ate leaves rather than grass.   Hence the snub nosed.

Another view of a same type of kangaroo.   Altogether a fascinating visit, and I am sure we will be back there to see more.

One one of the days we visited Penola, which was the starting point on a journey for Australia's first saint, St Mary MacKillop (St Mary of the Cross).   Mary MacKillop left her family in Melbourne to work as a governess to the children of her uncle.   It was here that she met Father Woods who supported her work with educating children.   Together they set up a school in Penola, and later founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, which established schools throughout Australia,  However it was not an easy journey for either of them, as they found themselves at loggerheads with the Catholic establishment in Adelaide.   Mary MacKillop was even excommunicated from the Catholic Church for a while.

The photograph on the left side shows the school built for Mary MacKillop in Penola, and the photograph on the right hand side is of the sculptures in Father Wood's Park, situated about 21 kms north of Penola.

While in Penola we visited two very old cottages, with very small rooms.   Both belonged to the same family;  one cottage contained three bedrooms and the 'best' lounge, while the other one contained the kitchen/dining/sitting room plus a pantry and storeroom.

The inside walls were covered in hessian and layer upon layer of wall paper was glued on.  It all looked very unsafe and very draughty.

The limestone coast has old volcanoes, underground streams and plenty of caves.   The area was under the sea 2 million years ago and before that 15 to 24 million years ago.  Consequently the soil is  made up of limestone created by coral and other sea life. The soil in the wine growing parts is perfect for grape growing.    We bought a dozen bottles of cleanskins (unlabelled wine) from a small winery called The Blok.   Great price and delicious.

We  went for a morning walk around the Blue Lake in Mt Gambier.   The lake changes from grey to a bright cobalt blue colour sometime during November.   We seemed to be there during the changeover time, as we could see the bright blue showing around the edges.   It has to do with the warming of the surface layers of the lake, plus the calcium deposits, and perhaps the angle of the sun.

The Blue Lake is one of four craters in Mt Gambier although a couple of them dried up during the past 30 or 40 years due to a drop in the water table.   The depth of the lake is between 72 m and 75 m so very deep.    We watched a documentary while in Mt Gambier about the formation of the lakes, due to the volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago.   Fascinating.

A visit to Mt Gambier is not complete without a visit to the Umpherston Sinkhole.   The garden at the bottom was created by James Umpherston in 1886.   The sinkhole, once a limestone cave, was part of Umpherston's house and garden.

At night, the possums come out to eat.    We only saw one during the day, and it was happily asleep against the roof.

There was once enough water in the corner of the garden to hold a small rowing boat. 

The ivy hangs down like nets from the land above the garden.

Another sinkhole, this time behind the main street, which has a waterfall in it.

We travelled to Millicent where we ate a very cheap lunch at the local pub, fish and chips or a schnitzel for $10 per meal.   Good value, and very popular with the local people.   A large crowd there.

The weather turned from a sort of sunny day to a day with a high wind, rain and a fall in temperature.   Consequently we only visited the Millicent National Trust Museum, which had been recommended in the brochure.

A fascinating place, full of farm vehicles and assorted tools.

There were displays of clothes, and various wagons.   The black clothes on the model below were actually a wedding outfit, and did not belong to the ornate black hearse.

There was the largest array of horse drawn vehicles I have ever seen in one museum.

And outside a display relating to knitting coverings for gumboots.

After we left Millicent we drove to Port MacDonnell, a little detour but we were determined to see some of the coast near Mt Gambier.    Not that we got out of the car.   It was really wild.   Must be lovely on a sunny day.   Do they ever get any such days down there?

On the final day we drove home via Robe, Kingston, and the Coorong.    A lovely trip back, with the weather becoming sunnier as we travelled north.    We noticed that Salt Creek had not changed since we lived here in the 1980s.   Still a bleak place.    The shop was closed as were the toilets.   Very inconvenient.

The Big Crayfish at Kingston has had a facelift, and there was a thriving cafe next to it.   Good to see.

I forgot to add, that I do not think I will ever wander around in the bush on the limestone coast on my own, for fear of falling down a hole and landing in a cave, never to be seen again for a few thousand years. 

A very enjoyable, interesting and informative trip.