The rain continued on and off during the night and in the morning. Renee & Eamon managed to play some putt-putt golf between showers, while Mum & Dad packed up the van. An interesting start to the day was the Corella control which has been implemented in this area. Corella birds are considered pests - there are up to 3,000 around this caravan park and swimming lake alone. They make a terrible racket (not as bad as cockatoos mind) constantly, and damage property etc. So the council have a licence to cull them. This morning between 7-9am, a couple of shooters were out in the oval next to us and shot about 30 birds that were feeding on the ground. It seems cruel, but apparently other methods haven't worked over the last 14 years or so.

We left Naracoorte and headed south towards Mt Gambier, with a few stops along the way. First up was the Bool Lagoon - apparently lots of bird life, but the weather was closing in, so we quickly departed - looked a good spot for camping though. Next up was the Rymill Winery, which couldn't come soon enough as the rain was absolutely bucketing down on the Riddoch Highway. We did a spot of wine tasting and came away with a dozen - it's a beautiful looking winery within the Coonawarra Region, of which there are so many to choose from!

Somehow, we heard on the radio/TV that there was a big horse race meeting at Penola - the Coonawarra Vignerons Cup, so we had a great afternoon watching the horses prepare, placing our bets and cheering at the winning post. We ended up square after 7 races, so not a bad afternoon.

We made our way to Mt Gambier, set up camp and went for a walk to the beautiful Blue Lake lookout. It's formed by an extinct volcano and its colour is a deep turquoise blue in the summer months. We walked via the Cactus Garden (with a crazy variety of cacti plants) to the underpass to the Leg of Mutton Lake crater, then up the Rook Wall steps to a great lookout, and back to the caravan park via the Adam Lindsay Gordon Monument.