Beautiful places/Friends/Eye Problems

Thursday 22/10/09

So we now leave Hamilton heading towards Mt Gambier. Our first stop to stretch the legs was about 60kms up the road at Casterton. Casterton is nationally recognised as the “Birthplace of the Kelpie”. There are a number of statues around the town dedicated to the Kelpie.

From here we continued our journey another 70kms to Mt Gambier.

We had been recommended to stay at the Blue Lake Caravan Park but as this is a Big 4 Park we cannot use them as they have a “no dog” policy and also they are on the higher fees scale. We found a nice caravan park called “Pine Country” which was another 2 kms further on from the Blue Lake.

Of course, before we found the caravan park we had to stop at a lookout to observe the wonderful view of the Blue Lake – magnificent.

Mt Gambier is the regional centre of the Limestone Coast in the South East of South Australia. One of Mt Gambier’s most famous attractions is the “Blue Lake” which is the only lake in the world to change colour so dramatically each year with the seasons. The carefully managed Blue Lake supplies the City and surrounds with clear fresh water and is just one of the lakes within the three craters of the volcano.

We went to the RSL Club for dinner tonight to celebrate Pat’s birthday. I thought the meal was average but I guess at least neither of us had to cook!!

Friday 23/10/09

Today we have had a drive around the town seeing what is to be seen. We visited the very interesting “Umpherston Sinkhole”. This “Sinkhole” was once a cave, formed through the dissolution of the limestone, this sinkhole was created when the top of the chamber fell to the floor of the cave, creating the perfect environment for its ‘sunken’ garden. This site is suppose to be fantastic to view in the evening as it is floodlit and entices possums, etc to its gardens. We did a visit in the evening and were quite disappointed with it – the day’s viewing is far more spectacular.

Saturday 24/10/09

We have decided to try to have a roll up of bowls every Saturday morning if possible. Our first roll up was at Mildura so now we were going to check out the RSL Bowling Club at Mt Gambier. This club has not long had new sand filled synthetic greens. We had a roll up for over an hour – greens a little heavy. We were asked to come & play in their social game in the afternoon but once again declined.

After our roll up we decided to take a drive out to Port MacDonnell. This place is proclaimed as the “Southern Rock Lobster Capital of Australia”. A nice seaside area to have a wander around. On the way back we stopped at Mt Shancks. We decided to climb to the top of this Mountain. The climb, besides the flat walking, had 337 steps each way!! The view from the top was well worth the climb.

Back to the van & to ask about where we could hire a kayak from. We are interested in purchasing a 2 man kayak but thought we should try before we buy. A drive out to Nelson found us able to hire one for a couple of hours. Nelson is just a small community on the Glenelg River.

Pat & I hired a kayak and spent just over an hour paddling around. It was great fun – although we (more like me) had a few problems getting it to go straight – especially with the wind. A few instructions from Pat had us going quite well. We have seen a kayak that we would like to buy but so far haven’t found a place that has it in stock!!

Once back in Mt. Gambier, Pat decided it was time for a rest, so I went off for a 1-1/4 hour walk up to the Blue Lake & around it before heading back home.

Boy what a strenuous day we have had.

Sunday 25/10/09

Joyce wanted to go to the markets this morning. Should have stayed in bed – they were dreadful. Nothing but junk. So, home we went to do the tidying up of the van in readiness to continue our journey tomorrow.

Monday 26/10/09

Not going too far today, only about 30 kms up the road to Donovans (near Nelson). Wayne & Carol, who we had met in Broome, are going to be camping in a fishing shack there for 6 days so we hope to catch up with them today. As luck had it, they were just unloading their car when we drove past the boat ramp. After a bit of a chat we went off to see if we could find a camp site to park the caravan & we arranged to meet up with them late afternoon. Pat spoke to a local & he directed us to a free camp site at Dry Creek – about 5 minutes up the road. We had a great evening catching up with Wayne & Carol & will catch them again next Monday when they return home to Allansford (near Warrnambool).

Tuesday 27/10/09

After a half hour walk, breakfast & packing up, we continued 108kms up the road to Portland.

First stop was the Visitors Information Centre, which took us a while to find as someone had pinched 5 of the direction signs!! Anyway we eventually found it and were told of a camping spot in the State Forest (dogs allowed). This was a good site with fireplaces, walking tracks, toilets, picnic tables, etc all available. 2 vans had already been there 3 days & planned on another 4 days. We decided to spend 2 nights here.

The drive back into Portland was only about 15 minutes.

Wednesday 28/10/09

We are going to do a bit of driving around today – the Visitors Information Centre has told us that there is a nice drive out to Cape Bridgewater & one also out to Cape Nelson Lighthouse so we will give that a go. The drive was okay but as for standing out watching the waves break over the rocky outcrops, etc – today wasn’t really the day to do it – it was rather cold & quite windy.

We were going to do the Tram tour but because of the weather decided against that. We spent an interesting time viewing the Maritime Museum.

Thursday 29/10/09

Port Fairy is going to be our first stop today & we will decide whether to stay here or continue on to Warrnambool once we get there.

Port Fairy is a historic seaside village. The town is sort of old world character with a lot of the old architecture retained. We had a wander around the streets & also took a walk out to Griffiths Island. This Island is home to a colony of Mutton-Birds. Apparently the best time to see them is at dusk – so we missed that sight.

We have decided not to stay here & have now booked in to Killarney Beach Camping Reserve. There is the Warrnambool Show on this weekend so caravan parks etc are heavily booked. This is a great spot – not far from the beach. Another plus is the washing machine is free to use!

My eye is playing up – think some grit has got in behind the contact lens! Hope it clears up or I’ll be off to get some medical advice in the morning.

Friday 30/10/09

Bugger! My eye is swollen & weeping so we will have to go and get some advice from an optometrist or doctor. Was able to get into the optometrist at 12.30. He was very concerned & said I needed some antibiotic drops but he couldn’t prescribe them for me. He kindly phoned his GP & got me an appointment at 2.30pm. By this time I was really struggling with the eyesight & the glare. Anyway the GP has prescribed the antibiotic drops which have to be put in every 2 hours for the next 48 hours!! Then every 4 hours till it has cleared up completely.

Not a fun day & very hard to go sightseeing around the place.

Saturday 31/10/09

Gosh both Pat & I are so tired. Don’t know how he managed it but Pat seemed able to wake up every two hours to wake me up to put the drops in my eye!! Eye doesn’t seem to have improved too much.

We have decided to spend another 2 nights here as I have to go back to the optometrist on Monday at 10am.

Anyway we are off for our roll up of bowls again this morning. This time we have visited the Warrnambool City Bowling Club. They have also, in the past six months, put in synthetic greens. These were quite good to play on. I certainly played blind but still enjoyed getting out there.

After our roll up we had a drive out to an Irish Town called Koroit, before coming back to the van where I mainly slept the day away (except for the 2 hour wake up for drops).

Sunday 1/11/09

Another new month!! Another broken night’s sleep!! Eye feels a little better. So what is the plan for today? Pat is keen for me to not over do it with the eye so we won’t do too much. A drive to Tower Hill. Tower Hill is a dormant volcano believed to have erupted 30,000 years ago. There were many walks to be done around the Tower Hill area, but walking wasn’t on our agenda today. We were lucky enough to see 2 koalas relaxing in gum trees. We also decided to take another drive to Port Fairy.

As we are going to go and stay on Carol & Wayne’s front lawn tomorrow, we came back to the caravan park to give the inside a good clean up & Pat to clean the outside of the van.

I am also trying to rest this darn eye.

Monday 2/11/09

Back to the optometrist this morning. Eye is on the improve but he has told me if it isn’t right completely in a couple of days I had better go to an eye specialist. From there we did a shop & a bit of a drive around, then back to the van to hook up & go to Carol & Waynes.

Great to see them again. We are going to spend tomorrow with them as well.

Tuesday 3/11/09

We have put our Melbourne Cup bets on and will watch the race later today. Let’s hope we have picked a winner.

Nov 2, 2009

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