Natural beauty in Mount Gambia

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Friday 5th

Mount Gambier has turned on a really great warm day for us today - back into summer clothes once the day warmed up from 8C this morning.

We decided to revisit the Caves Garden this morning to see the gardens in their natural daylight. Very different from the artificial effects of the coloured night lights.

Then, after a quick shopping stop Marg and I did a drive around the crater lakes. Most famous is Blue Lake which from November to March/April is better than sky blue in colour. Today that is what we saw. No doubt it will return to its winter colours of dull grey in the next week or two. No one knows why the change. It is not algae, nor a sunny day phenomena, nor is their a great difference in the mineral content of the water between summer and winter. Whatever the reason, we saw it at its yummy best today.

Mt Gambier has two interesting geological features. Firstly, it is built on the side of a volcano that has been extinct for a long while, and the city also has lime stone caves and aquifers under the city. The volcano has left a couple of lakes, one part time blue, the other a green tone. Secondly, there are a number of sink holes where the roof of the limestone cave has collapsed, creating a sink hole with its own micro-climate which supports beautiful gardens.

We chuckled when we read a sign at Umpherston Sink Hole which warned of the danger of bees. It is quite a romantic garden, peaceful, beautiful, sheltered, and birds and bees syndrome just might be stimulated, but the actual issue is the wild bees and the honey in the rock. They are very busy doing what bees do best in the rock wall of the sink hole.

Also hidden in these rock holes are native possums. They are nocturnal, so the park has low lighting at night, and with the aid of a torch and enticement of some fruit or even bread, these little furry friends will come and eat from your hand.

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Photos

Roses In the City Centre
Right beside The Cave where we took the night shots of the cave sunken gardens.

Caves Gardens
Revisiting the Caves garden

Historical Pub
One of several. This one was commissioned in 1981 and operational the following year.

Comments

[Mum & Dad]

Great shots
We like your effort Rob interesting spot by the look of it. Weather treating you much better now and warmed up too.

[Peggy]

Where abouts are you?
Need the nearest town for quick location in atlas!