Saturday, 11th of June:
It's long weekend, hence we took the opportunity to take a break. As usual, Justin's swimming lesson at 10:30 a.m... washed the laundry til 12 noon while making a jello for the party at Grace's house later, then packed the clothes and toiletries for a night getaway. We're supposed to pick up Jac and Lorenz at 11:00-11:30 am but arrived at their place at 1:00 p.m. "Malamang dilat na ang mga mata non!", we thought.
We went to Grace and Dennis Mansion at Pakenham for the celebration of Hennie, LJ, Gwen and Beia's birthday and left there at 3:30 p.m... (Apologies to Egay/Kat, hindi na namin kayo naantay. Sayang, na-miss namin ang masarap na luto ni Egay!)
Set the GPS to Federal Hotel, Mt Gambier. It was roughly 6-hr drive from Pakenham. We stopped at McDonalds around 8p.m. at Warrnambool... dinner solved. Then drove again... Along the way, we almost ran over a small fox crossing the road or could be possum.. not quite sure.
From Lorenz's 'school' and 'chikababes' adventures ... to Justin's 'name that tune' and 'guess the movie'... the 6-hour drive went so fast. We didn't realize the time. For the first time, Mon was awake throughout the journey. I didn't have to slap and pinch him to stay awake :-)
South Australia is 30 minutes behind Victoria. We arrived at Federal Hotel around 9:15 p.m.
Sunday, 12th of June:
We checked out at quarter to 8 in the morning and started touring.
Mount Gambier, the Limestone Coast of South Australia
Old Town Hall and Gardiner Fountain.
The old town hall was constructed out of the local dolomite and limestone and was completed in 1882. Beside the building was the Gardiner Fountain, donated to the city by Captain Robert Gardiner in 1884. It is claimed to be the first marble fountain made in South Australia.
Cave Gardens
Located at the heart of the city centre, next to the Old Town Hall. It features a sinkhole. Visitors can walk down onto the suspended viewing platform for the view of the cave.
The Extinct Volcano Crater Lakes within Kanawinka Geopark:
Browne's Lake - We kept on driving around the park where it is located and ended up concluding that the lake was now dry as we couldn't find any sign of water from where the map was pointing us.
Leg of Mutton Lake - It's a dry lake bed in a volcanic crater, now bushy with grass and trees.
Valley Lake - a scenic lake surrounded by hills with playgrounds, bbq and picnic grounds and shelters.
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| Adam Lindsay Gordon Obelisk near the Blue Lake |
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| The Blue Lake in winter. |
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| The Rook Wall and Lookout facing the Blue Lake |
We ate lunch at KFC then went to Engelbrecht Cave. We had to wait for 45 minutes for the next tour and the man at the counter told us that there was really no stalactites/stalagmites there. It's a dry cave, so was not really eager to wait. We left and decided to go the next destination---
Umpherston Sinkhole (The Sunken Garden) - similar but bigger and better than the Cave Gardens. It was once a cave with sinkhole created when the top of the chamber collapsed downwards. The soil on the ground of the cave had been landscaped with terraced gardens and is floodlit at night. It is an impressive garden with plants hanging over the edges of the sinkhole. It was originally beautified by James Umpherston where the garden got its name. 
Seeing the 2 honeycombs on the wall of the cave and a possum that scared Lorenz away were considered a bonus during our visit. Had fun photo taking on the log truck on display at the park before going back to the car.Leaving Mount Gambier...
Princess Margaret Rose Cave - the Underground Wonderland. It is located at the Lower Glenelg National Park via Nelson Victoria. It features stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, columns and pillars with formation of a wedding cake, bacon and egg, shawls, blankets etc. Been to a number of caves before but our first time to hear the term helictites. Unlike the stalactites and stalagmites, helictites formed in different directions.. not simply upward or downward. The jewels underground were amazing as expected.After the cave tour, we went southeast, heading to Cape Bridgewater, southwest of Portland Victoria. It was truly a place for paragliders/hang gliders. 'Wish we could take a ride (maybe not for Mon though.)
Cape Bridgewater Wind Farm - It's part of the Portland Wind Enegry project. Stopped the car at the side of the road to take a photo... with Jac, making up faces everytime a car came from both directions... only to realize later that there's a dedicated bay ahead for cars wanting to give way or stop.
Cape Bridgewater Blowholes - the force of the ocean was not as spectacular as I had expected. It was a calm day. The sunrays over the ocean were beautiful ... it's like stairway to heaven... 
Cape Bridgewater Petrified Forest - It's a short trail from near the blowholes with view of rock formation that resembles a number of broken pipes/tubes. I found from surfing the net that petrified forest was formed when the forest of Moonah trees was smothered by a large sand dune. Water seeping through the sand formed a crust of sandstone on the outside of the trunks, decaying the organic matter, leaving behind petrified trunks.Time to go home. It was already half past 4. The time flew on the road without us knowing while me, Jac, Lorenz and Mon exchanged stories of our childhood, teenage years, marriage proposals, about our ex-es, siblings, our differences and similarities, embarassing experiences and many more. Felt hungry and so we decided to stop at a Chinese Resto at Colac and had our dinner there... It's a continuation of the past until we got movin and back to the road...
Had a cup of hot choco at Jac & Lorenz' house while they're chatting with Peter before ending the night.
I don't know if there would be more things to talk about after this trip... It was a good trip... all in one fine day.
More Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2013916580469.115787.1020438581
thanks for tagging us along this trip. we both enjoyed it SO much. and don't worry, we still have lots of stories to tell next time. :)
ReplyDeleteCheers!