Thursday was still bleak and cold. Best to do touristy stuff that is more indoors and driving, so off to the Lady Nelson Visitor Centre.   Not only the information centre but for a small fee you can wander through their interactive displays from the time the coast was born, through to the early settlers, the impact on local Aborigine plus a full scale of the (small) Lady Nelson brig which brought Lt Grant to this part of the world and when he first sighted and named Mt Gambier.   Definitely worth a look and so well done.

A bite for lunch and then a drive around the Crater Lakes area.   This takes in the Blue Lake, Valley Lake, Leg of Mutton and the now dry, Brown Lake.

This whole area is just beautiful, botanic type gardens, masses of huge park areas, and on top of the volcano which is Mt Gambier, is the Centenary Tower.   A memorial, built around 1900, to commemorate 100 years since the naming of Mt Gambier.   Bill actually agreed to walk up to the top.   The walkway was a little steep, then steeper, steeper and then it felt like almost vertical for the last 100 odd metres.   I can now finally say that Bill walked up a mountain with me – the very first time!!!

The view was absolutely stunning with signage showing how the craters were made so it was easy to see exactly how this landscape was formed.   Again, these signs and the information was very well done.

He didn't really complain, and he did appreciate the views I know, and on the way down I mentioned it was the first mountain he had climbed with me.  This really didn't mean much at the time as he recalled the steepness, out of breath etc.   I told him next time I would take him up a big hill in a wheelchair.   He didn't think that so funny, but I did.   I told him I could make it really exciting for him by letting the wheelchair go at the top so he could find his own way down.   Didn't think that was so funny either, but I did!   I was on a roll, couldn't help myself.   So I told him that he would totally fine, until he hit a pothole and flung out of the wheelchair at high speed.   Did he find that funny?   We are not amused!   I am nearly wetting my pants seeing the scenario in my mind and laughing like an idiot. Jeez I crack me up.   Bill just kept saying 'you are a sick puppy'  and another unprintable and favourite term of endearment (Alice & Eoin you know what I mean).

Everything done for tourism in Mt Gambier is incredibly professional and well done.   We are so impressed by the whole city!   The old houses are so well maintained even though privately owned, the streets and recreational areas are so beautifully kept and are used a lot by locals and visitors.

And so it is now Easter and we have decided to stay on, as I reckon we were pretty damn lucky to get this great spot on the long weekend.   Every man and his dog from SA and Victoria descended on this beautiful place.

Seems the golf club next to the caravan park, has 18 holes for the price of 9 on Good Friday.   A game of golf for the man with me walking only 12 of the 18 holes, the sun shining now and really a most beautiful course.    We had dinner there which was as awesome as their course.

Saturday and Sunday was cold, windy and bleak so again the touristy stuff needs to be indoors or driving from place to place.

We took in the ‘Main Corner’, a relatively new civic building, in the centre of town, which is their cultural and community complex.   Here again the tourist is extremely well catered for.   Several floors of excellent interactive feature taking you back to the early days with great footage screening on the walls, together with big island benches with giant touch screens allowing you to view history.   They also had created an identical replica of an area of the Naracoorte caves, about 100km away.   I have seen a photo of the this particular cave and to my uneducated eye, this is perfectly replicated stone by stone, carving by carving and to scale.

There was a movie screening in a separate theatre entitled ‘Volcano’ an award winning movie taking the viewer on a journey through the region showing graphically how the land was formed through seismic activity.   The special effects were amazing and we sat mesmerized by what we saw.   It put everything in perspective having seen the craters and tubes up close and personal.  

Again, a not-to-be-missed place to visit.   But I suppose only if you enjoy this sort of thing.