Tonights blog post comes to you from Portland, Victoria.
Yesterday we were still in Mt Gambier and found a whole lot more to do before we left this morning. In the morning we headed to Umpherston Sink Hole and were blown away by the fantastic garden that it is. Mr Umpherston decided back in 18 something that he would turn it into a public garden and did exactly that. It is magnificent and would make such a gorgeous wedding venue. We have been very impressed by the level of maintenance of the tourist attractions around Mt Gambier. As we had promised the kids we took a picnic lunch and returned to the Valley Lake Recreation Area. Erin and I had a great time feeding the ducks, geese and one lone black swan - they all were more than happy to come and take the bread directly from our hands. Two and a half loaves of bread later they had all had their fill and were not in the slightest bit interested in the offerings of the next person ten minutes later!!
After lunch we decided to take a short trip to the coastal town of Port Macdonnell. We did stop at the base of the walking track up Mt Schank, another volcano, but just as we arrived so did the rain and we decided not to do the trek. Thankfully the rain stopped when we arrived in Port Macdonnell, but the wind was icy cold. We agreed that the tourist drive was our best option and headed off. We made a quick stop at Shelly Beach but had to leave there in a big hurry when E was stung/bitten by a blue jellyfish. We weren't sure if it could have been a blue ring octopus so left in a big hurry to have it identified, with E under strict instructions to let us know immediately if she started to feel funny. A visit to the local fishing bait and tackle store, followed by the pharmacy assured us that it was a jelly fish and not an octopus and that the vinegar which they provided would be sufficient. The local chemist also provided some "special medicine" in the form of a Ferrero Rocher!!!
After having been assured that E wasn't going to go into anaphalactic shock we decided to finish the tourist drive. The next stop for us was at the site of the old Cape Northumberland Lighthouse. Brrr, not a place I would want to live. It was freezing. We also thought it was pretty cool that we had found the most southerly place in South Australia, and have the photo to prove it! Unfortunately, to E's disappointment we did not spot any fairy penguins at the local colony, and after a quick stop at the local playground we headed back to Mt Gambier.
Evening saw us heading out yet again to Umpherstons Sinkhole as we had been told by the Visitor Centre that it was worth a visit at night to feed all the possums that emerge from the limestone walls. We were somewhat concerned though when we met some people in the car park who had just been down who told us to make sure we had some food in reserve as the possums chased them up the stairs!! The kids thought the whole experience was fabulous. There were at least a dozen or more possums who were more than happy to take food from our hands. Even C got to pat and feed one! And yes, they did chase us up the stairs!!
This morning saw us packing up and heading out of town with our house in tow. We made a very interesting stop at the Princess Margaret Rose Caves between Mt Gambier and Nelson. It is another very beautiful spot, in the Lower Glenelg National Park. R even wanted to pull up stumps and camp there! We were lucky enough to be the only visitors at the time so got to have a private tour of the cave. It was awesome!! The kids were very interested and even asked lots of questions. They did think it was pretty cool when the guide turned all the lights out to show us how dark the cave is. After our tour of the cave we decided to do the short hike to see the lookout over the Glenelg River from the top of a cliff. Very beautiful. We were also lucky enough to see several kangaroos and emus as we drove out of the park.
The drive from Nelson to Portland is not particularly interesting as there is only so many pine plantations you can look at before they lose their novelty!! On arriving in Portland we headed for the caravan park that we thought we would stay at - NOT!! Just the gate was enough for us to decide we were absolutely not staying there. Thankfully there is more than one park in Portland and our next option looked much more promising. It is quite nice, we are one of only a few vans in the park and are conveniently placed right between the playground and the amenities block.
After setting up home and having a cuppa and a play we decided to go for a bit of a drive around the town to check it out. We found quite a big breakwater that you can actually drive on and managed to get our timing spot on. A large ship was being piloted with two tugs into the port and we got to stand at the end of the breakwater, all of about 30 meters from the ship coming into port and watch it being manouvered by the tugs. Quite amazing to watch, albeit icy, icy cold (a point obviously not noticed by the insane group of people surfing next to the breakwater!!). We then went for a bit of a drive around the fishing wharf and got to see some of the trawlers up close. After which we went for a little lookie around the industry section of the port area as this is of particular interest to R. Last stop was to collect some dinner before home for hot showers, PJ's and hot milk drinks. We have an action packed day planned for tomorrow so watch this space.......
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