Mt Gambier

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12-14 June 2002
I was in the same Kindergarten all week. On a couple of days I had to work into the afternoon, when I did, only a few children turned up; it hardly seemed worth the effort. When there was time to become a tourist the weather was so bad it wasn't worth venturing out of my motel room.
Late on my last day, the weather was better. It was an hour before sunset when I make an effort to travel the few kilometres south of town to visit an extinct volcano. The light was failing fast when I started the walking track to the top of Mt Schank.
I was breathing heavily when I reach the rim and looked down into the crater, which is the perfect cone shape of a volcano. I managed to get about six minutes of video before it became too dark to film. The fifteen-minute trip back down to the car park was taken carefully, trying to avoid tripping over something on the darkened trail.

15 June 2002
I got an early start for a return visit to Mt Schank. The sun had not shown itself by time I arrived at the road that leads to the mountain. It was very cold as I set the camera up on the tripod and waited to film the break of dawn. Unfortunately it wasn't a radiant sunrise but I took some video anyway.
As I took the now familiar track to the summit, clouds loomed over the mountain. When I arrived at the top, the clouds had also settled in the crater. It was very errie because it looked as if the volcano was still active. I decided to walk the track that circumnavigates the rim hoping the rising sun would burn off the mist below. Half way around the track I couldn't resist the temptation to phone my girlfriend and tell her what I was doing. The floor of the crater was still obscure when I left two hours later. My journey back to Melbourne took another five hours.

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