Day 93 Warrnambool to Mt Barker

Our last day in Victoria began at 0530 with a charming little bird singing outside the caravan.  Oh what I would have given for a 12 gauge shot gun.  I made my mandatory trip to the ablution block which had magnificent underfloor heating.  Thankfully I was able to get back to sleep.  I have woken up today with a raging sore throat though.  I guess that serves me right for using public transport in Melbourne.

We actually packed up in pretty good time, and started off towards Mount Gambier.  The rain was falling steadily this morning, and driving wasn't the most fun.  Because I was feeling poorly, Lisa offered to drive and took the wheel until we reached the border.

We stopped here and had some lunch, and took a couple of photographs of the border to prove that we were on the way home.  We tried to gobble down as much fruit as we could before having to throw out the rest of our fruit and veg for quarantine.

Shortly across the border into South Australia, we drove into Mount Gambier, and in a stroke of good fortune, the rain cleared off long enough for us to have a look at Blue Lake.

Parking at the lookout was a bit tricky, but we managed to get the caravan sorted and strolled across to the crater to have a quick look.  The lake was miraculously blue, as the name suggests, which was a miracle considering how much rain we had encountered during the drive across.

We also managed to pick up our first injury of the day.  Emma running down the stairs with her lunch in one hand had a big slip on some loose gravel and unfortunately lost her bun...which was amazing as she had been poking at it for about 40 minutes. 

No first aid kit required for this bruise though, nothing that a quick hug couldn't clear up for her.

She would be the first today.

Onward we drove to Kingston S.E. to get a glimpse of the big lobster.  On the way though, we stopped at the sundial park to have a look at the Analemmatic Sundial.  They have a standard one as well, but this one is a sundial of human involvement.  You pick roughly the date, and stand with your feet together on the base and you can tell the time. 

It was really 2:15pm whilst we were there.  Not bad for a shadow.

Just in case the Analemmatic Sundial was lying, we checked it against the standard old fashioned wedge in the middle sundial which also read 2:15pm.  Pretty cool for a simple thing.  Especially considering we had all forgotten to turn our clocks back half an hour when we crossed the border.

The real point of stopping in Kingston S.E. though was to get a look at the BIG Lobster.  The BIG Lobster, affectionately known as Larry the Lobster, was not to be so large in the initial planning.  A minor misread of the scale had Larry constructed at 17 metres high instead of 17 feet.  Only out by a factor of 3, but Larry is definitely one of the BIGger things that we have seen on the journey around.

The drive out of Kingston S.E. took us up past the Coorong which is a series of lakes shielded from the ocean by sand dunes.  The area is a huge environmental conservation area and is a rookery for thousands of pelicans. 

There is a viewing area that we stopped at to see if the pelicans were in the house.  Unfortunately, the pelicans roost on the small islands that dot the waterway, so they were a bit too far away to see without binoculars, but it was a very pretty area, and with a bit of digital trickery we were able to confirm that there were pelicans on the islands.

One of the children failed to heed several warnings to return to the car, and was able to have a nice refreshing afternoon jog to catch up.  I think he will listen next time.

We also got our second injury of the day with Rowan taking a dive off the loose surface and down a hill on the nature walk.  Unfortunately Lisa had the camera, and we weren't fast enough to get his photo before he composed himself and scurried off ahead of us again.  He is a trooper.

It was dark before we arrived in Mount Barker, which is not the one in WA for those of you who are confused.  We stopped to catch up with Tania who put on an amazing dinner spread for us, and treated us like royalty. 

The kids have a bed inside the house for a couple of nights, and hopefully we will be able to sleep in tomorrow morning. 

It is now 0300, and I am awake in the caravan waiting for cold and flu tablets to kick in so I can go back to bed.  I haven't been able to sleep through the sinus congestion HOORAY!  I haven't woken up Lisa though, so hopefully she is rested tomorrow...erm...today.