Princess Margaret Rose Cave & Blue Lake

Got the next three days off, so I thought I would put my new car to the test and have a drive around. Quiet a few people have suggested visiting Mt. Gambier just over the border in South Australia. They have a large blue lake which is worth seeing. So I set of after a while and started driving towards what I though was Mt. Gambier. After some hill billy ride around the area with who knows where I passed through I saw a signpost pointing towards the Princess Margaret Rose Caves, a cave which Stocky highly recommended me to visit. I arrived just in time for a guided tour through the cave system. Unfortunately it is currently school holidays and a lot of the group consisted of family's with younger children. With the fairly large group we walked down 68 steeps to the cave and the guide explained all about stalagmites, stalactites and different formations down there. Some of them not even been explained by science yet. After getting out of the cave I had a short walk down to the Glenelg River, which was the river that caused the caves to form. Had a break on a yeti with no other sound around except natures. No cars in the distant, no families, no loud people, just the birds and two swearing fishermen upstream. Don't know if they lost a fish, but I could hear them.

After that back towards my original goal of Mt. Gambier and after a few U-turns and a few extra k's of driving I arrived in the town. First thing was to get some info on what to do and accommodation. As I couldn't find any tourist info on any maps I asked in a kiosk at the roadside and got tons of information. She did advice me to go to the “proper” one for the accommodation question but before that I visited the Umpherston sink hole just outside the back of the kiosk. A sink hole that a guy back in 18somewhat turned into his own private English garden. A group of volunteers cleaned it up a bit a few years ago and the public has been granted access since then. It is deep. After that it was time to get lost in Mt. Gambier. After driving around in circles and wrong turns for a while (my navigation is pretty crap in that way, sun has got me completely screwed up) I ended up parking in a Coles supermarket and having a salad for lunch after which I had a haircut and a chat with the girls working in it. Australians are always surprised to hear that I am German.

After that I went up to the Blue Lake, the lake that Mt. Gambier is known for. It is freaking massive. I was expecting something but not volcanic crater rising a few hundred metres out of the ground with a lake that has a road running 3,6km around it. Stopped and had a walk around the lake which made it seem smaller. Met a load of joggers and arrived back at the car after about half and hour. Looked for accommodation after that, but most where camper sites and others to far from the bars and pups in the centre. In the end I opted for just parking in a supermarket car park and sleeping in the back of the car. Haven't got a mattress or pillow installed yet, but will do.

Had some dinner in an Irish pup just a bit away and a small chat with the pup owners and some locals about wildlife loving cars so much. Meet up with a two guys my age after they left and they turned in to a group of about ten people my age. Had a chat, a few drinks and went to one of theirs new home. Hasn't been furnished yet, thought. After a while the two I meet at first took me back to my car and hopefully for a nights rest. See where things go tomorrow.
Made a short vlog, which can be found at YouTube.