I’m restless. Every day I spend a fair amount of time
wondering if my next stop should be heading my closer to home. I’m in Mount
Gambier another night but I need to be making a decision for tomorrow and choose
a property. Meanwhile, what shall I do this morning. I check the things to do
on TripAdvisor and decide that while it’s still cool thismorning, I’ll head
down to Mount Schank and check that out.
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| Mount Schank Rim Trail - 1068 steps |
The trail up to the rim of the extinct
volcano is on the shady southern side of the cone. The sign suggests that the 1
km trail can be completed in 30 minutes one way. Seats are provided along the
way to give a break from their count of 1038 steps on the limestone track. The
track is interesting. It’s easier than steps, but the limestone blocks alternate
in thickness so that you get a good grip as you walk. Mount Schank, is a refuge
for native grasses which have almost completely disappeared from the south east
of South Australia.
The views from the rim of Mount Schank are as impressive as was
promised. I speak briefly with a couple
who arrived earlier and are now heading back down. And another friendly chat is
had with a nice young man I’d spoken with in the parking area. I guess it’s not
surprising that viewing the crater puts me strongly in mind of Lochnagar Crater
in France. After procrastinating and wasting time for a while, one half of my
mind saying I don’t have time or physical resources to walk another hour (2.4
km) around the rim and the other calling siren like that I may as well while I’m
here, I just set out for a bit of a look. Before I know it, I’m committed.
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| Rim and Crater, Mount Schank |
I’m
half in South Australia, half in France as I walk along the rim track. At places
the track is comfortably broad and in others it’s a narrow picking of footsteps
on the edge of a drop off between ragged volcanic rocks. In France, our little
group of four walked around the slippery clay rim path (as it then was) in
driving sleet. A very memorable experience. Mount Schank is much larger of course and
rather than being associated with the detonation of many tonnes of ammonal
under crowded trenches of soldiers it is one of the camp fires abandoned by the
Giant Craitbul back in the day.
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| Rim Track narrow section, Mt Schank |
Scientists reckon the volcano erupted only
about 5000 years ago. Wouldn’t it be inconvenient if it suddenly decided to
explode again while I’m walking. I’m not walking very quickly and I’m watching the
young bloke, easily identifiable in his hi vis shirt complete his rim circuit
and pick his way down into the crater. He’s down and back and long gone by the
time I get back to the track back down to the car. My visit has taken about 1 ¾
hours, so add a little loitering using facilities and procrastinating, I’d say
the signs have it about right for a leisurely visit.
Next I waver. I’m super keen to get to Tantanoola Cave having
read that it’s the most highly decorated cave on the Limestone Coast. I was
planning to get there for the first tour, but now I’m called by Cape
Northumberland. I didn’t stop there yesterday because I was getting a bit tired
and just wanted to get to Mount Gambier. I’m halfway back there now, so I figure
I’ve got time for a quick squiz there and then still time to get back to Tantanoola.
Wow. I’m surprised by how much I enjoy Cape
Northumberland. I wasn’t going to worry about walking out to the point but a
man whose knees are pretty much stuffed, and who walks with a stick, sparks up
a conversation with me as the rest of his party heads up the path that has some
steps. It’s brilliant he says and it’s an easy walk, don’t miss going down
there! OK, that’s quite a recommendation
so I head out, with the old road to myself. It’s a very impressive spot, as is
the viewing platform closer to the car park. I’m fairly hard to please for
coastlines really but this, like the Bay of Martyrs, encourages lingering. Does everywhere have a feature they name Camel Rock? This one's even more camel-like than the similar feature at the Giant's Causeway.
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| Camel Rock, Cape Northumberland |
I
should start heading to Tantanoola and I start the car with that intention, but
the spirit of this place takes control and turns my steering wheel the couple
of turns to head down along Surfer’s Way. I could easily spend all afternoon
exploring along the coast. Sense prevails though because I like caves a lot and
I REALLY want to see the Tantanoola Cave today.
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| Along Surfers Way, Cape Northumberland |
About half an hour later I’m pulling up in the car park at
Tantanoola Cave. I’ve just missed a tour but they run every half hour so to
kill time the lady there encourages me to do the walk up onto the ridgeline. It
doesn’t look that exciting and by the time we’ve chatted for a little while I’m
thinking it’s too late, but apparently 15 minutes is enough for the walking so
I set off. And the walk really isn’t terribly exciting except for a couple of
things 1. Wallabies hang out along there and 2. There’s and abundantly flowering
bush.
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| Wallaby, Tantanoola Cave Reserve |
Now lots of native shrubs are said to attract insects and that’s nice but
this is the first time I’ve seen just how attractive to insects they can be.
This thing is alive with buzzing insects and butterflies. I have an interest in
native bees so this is really pretty exciting. They are so active and fast I
can’t get a good image or a good look at them to look up what they are but I am
none-the-less delayed by simply standing there in wonder. One eye on the time,
I drag myself away and get back just in time to take this tour with just myself
and the guide.
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| Pillar in Tantanoola Cave |
Access to the Tantanoola Cave is easy. REALLY easy. It’s
just a short walk, say 15-20 metres from the door of the ticket office, then
you open the door to the cave and step inside. That’s it. It’s that easy and
the whole cave is visible. There’s some path where you can move around without
steps and a small area where there’s a couple of steps but it’s completely
accessible. Tantanoola is one of 1300 registered caves on the Limestone Coast.
Being to close to the surface the rate of growth in the crystal is erratic and much
dependent on rainfall. The crystal is an unusual colour in places. This is due
to the difference in the minerals captured, this being a dolomite cave. After about
10 minutes of presentation by my guide I have some time to just wander about
admiring the formations in complete wonder. This must surely be as spectacular a
cave as exists anywhere on earth and certainly one of the quickest and easiest to view. I can't believe I never heard of it before. As the time for the next tour approaches, I
make my way out, spend a little more time on the displays in the visitor centre
and get on my way.
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| Glencoe Wooshed with Truman Windmill |
Along the way to the cave, I noticed a sign to Glencoe Woolshed.
I like a good woolshed so I’m inclined to wander back there for a quick look
next. It’s about 35 minutes back to Glencoe Woolshed, a bit of a false start as
I find that I need to go back to the general store in Glencoe to get the key.
This is a very unusual woolshed indeed. I have never even heard of a stone
woolshed before. In many ways it is typical in it’s overall facilities, central
race and pens with swing doors for the shearers to claim their next beast, long
rows or stands for the shearers and shutes for the sheep to be scooted back
outside. At the far end are the wool tables where the fleece is classed and the
rough dirty edges are removed and of course baling facilities.
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| Pens and the board, Glencoe Woolshed |
But what I don’t
understand is the underfloor ventilation or lack thereof. The floor of woolsheds is slotted so that as
the sheep drop their pellet like manure or urine, it just goes through the
slats in the floor onto the earthen floor beneath the shed. An active woolshed
us usually powerfully pungent as a result. But most sheds I’ve seen have been
raised on piers with open sides and good air flow to the under floor. Here,
being stone, this is obviously not the case. None of the information panels seems
to address this issue. What the information does cover includes the roles of various
shearing team members and, sadly, a series of quotations from reminiscences or
historical records of the gradual demise of the traditional way of life for the
Boandik people.
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| Street Art, George St Millicent by Mimby Jones Robinson |
Key returned to the General Store it’s now about 3:30 pm. So
what now? I decide to head over for a bit of a look at Millicent and a visit to
Lake McIntyre. It’s 5 o’clock by the time I am in town and prowling around trying
to photograph some of the street art and local landmarks. I’m too late for the National
Trust Museum, but it any case it's probably time to head on out to the lake.
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| Dotterl Hide, Lake McIntyre |
There’s not many people or cars around so a nice seat
overlooking the lake and its assembled waterfowl is welcome for a short time.
Superb Fairy Wrens hop up to catch insects around the stem of a small shrub,
constantly piping to each other keeping in contact as the extended family forages
in the undergrowth.
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| Superb Fairy Wren. All you can say from this is that it's not an adult male. |
Ultimately I decide to walk the loop around the lake and check
out the bird hides. It’s an easy, level walk and taking my time, this consumes
about an hour. There’s a lot of Straw Necked Ibis, a couple of Black-winged
Stilts, Australasian Grebe and Pacific Black Ducks. A few Pied Cormorants too.
There’s not a great volume of water in the lake at the moment. The bird hides
are nicely done.
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| Mostly Straw Necked Ibis |
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| Lake McIntyre |
Back in Mount Gambier I’m not ready to call it a day just
yet, tomorrow’s a pretty full day so I’m keen to tick off the remaining
essentials here this evening. I have read that there’s illuminations on the
wall by the Cave Gardens, so I head over there and take a wander until those
commence. Close to where I’m parked there’s another sign from the Admella Discovery
Trail. There was another of these in Millicent. This trail has its own website
and from my experiences today, I’m keen to include exploring this whole trail when
I get back this way again.
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| Roses at the Cave Garden |
The Cave Gardens are pretty with lovely roses, as perhaps one
might expect in South Australia. The water features so prominently promoted are
not operating. Am I too late or are they switched off for other reasons? I wander
the street down past the art gallery and along Commercial Street East and loop
back via Watson Terrace and the Gardiner Fountain, admiring the beautiful streetscape
created by the large number of beautiful buildings. The Gardiner Fountain is
also not running which is disappointing. Interestingly the Gardiner Fountain
was donated to the community by Sir Robert Helpmann’s grandfather.
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| Abelia at the Cave Garden |
Back at the sinkhole I spend a little time walking down
along the path, but stop short of going all the way down. A large bank of
flowering Abelia is acting as a shelter for some New Holland Honeyeaters and
they flit back and forth across the abyss. Although it is not a native plant,
Abelia is certainly beloved of honeyeaters and other nectar loving creatures.
The light is failing, and I get to the point of not really
wanting to hang around any longer. Off to collect some take away from Southern Thai
Café which was very nice. The restaurant has a very nice ambience but I’m keen
to just chill out now. Never did make it to the possums at Umpherston Sinkhole.
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