Caves, Lakes & a tribute to Billy, Mt Gambier

Thursday the first of March... An early morning walk around the Bool Lagoon, some brekky (this time without any explosions) and we were on our way south.
The kids got their early morning exercise on the way, trying to round up some rogue sheep who'd escaped from their paddocks - without any luck... but they had fun trying...

The kids trying to round up a sheep

We stopped to look at some carvings out of trees, in Father Wood Park, the man who helped Mary MacKillop set up the order of St Joseph. The carvings were amazing. The mind boggles at the time, patience and workmanship that would have gone into them.

Wood carvings, Coonawarra

The next stop was at Coonawarra Jack's, a winery, we stopped for a cuppa while Richard cranked up his computer.
We were amazed at how many wineries we have kept afloat from the Coonawarra region..  big names like Penfolds, Wynns, Jamiesons Run have given us many good nights over the years.

40 minutes south-east and we had arrived in Mount Gambier, the second biggest city in South Australia.
We booked into a Caravan Park and headed towards the tourist destinations, and there are many.
We were amazed to learn that Mount Gambier is built alongside a dormant volcano and also boasts the longest main street in Australia.
We then checked out an amazing sinkhole, which has been turned into a beautiful garden and picnic area..

Richard & the kids in the sinkhole, Mt Gambier

Mt Gambier is also full of underground caves, some filled with underground lakes, so we went on a cave tour. Richard was keen to do a cave dive but you need a cave dive license, which he doesn't have.

It was then on to the Blue Lake, which was once the crater of the volcano. It's called the Blue Lake for its amazing blue water...

The Blue Lake, Mt Gambier

I then went for a Chinese massage, which my lovely husband booked me in for, and it was good!!!!

When I returned to the caravan we set off on a mission to the local football club.
One of our reason for stopping in Mount Gambier, other than to see the sights - was to take some photos of a wonderful friend Billy Cocks, who to this day is a legend in the football circles of Mount Gambier.

Billy, who died late last year, was a captain and coach of the Mt Gambier Team in the 50's & 60's, leading them to several premiership cups.
Armed with the camera, we walked into the South Gambier Football Club and sat at the bar hoping to spot some pictures of Billy on the wall.
Richard dropped Billy's name and before long, we were jokingly shown the door. Billy was from the North Gambier Club on the other end of town.
Everyone knew of him and we felt bad to walk out, so we had a drink with the opposition, just to be courteous, before we continued on our Club Crawl to the other side of town.
The North Gambier Club was training and their clubrooms weren't open for drinks but we did go into the locker rooms and met a few fellas who knew of the legend.

So, no pics of Billy in his hey day but some great chats about the man, his footy prowess and legend that lives on....

The kids in the North Gambier locker room

Dinner was at the Mount Gambier pub. Tomorrow we'll decide whether to move on, or stay on.