A Sinkhole and a Blue Lake

 

Making the trek to Alice Springs more about the journey than a sprint, we set out on a leisurely pace, and decided to stop when we saw something that might be of interest.

As we passed through the town of Mount Gambier, a Point of Interest sign directed us to the “Umpherston Sinkhole”. Who could pass up a sinkhole?

Now, as we will see, this is no ordinary sinkhole. A beautiful park surrounds this geographic anomaly, and, as this is my first physical sinkhole visit, I suspect this one is very unique.

The Welcome Sign

For those of you reading this on something smaller than a 52 inch screen, the sign reads:

“Welcome to Umpherston Sinkhole

This park is the remnant of a late 19^th century garden of which the sinkhole was the focal point. The garden was developed by James Umpherston on part of his property known as The Caves…

The park has been developed by the City of Mount Gambier in accordance with Umpherston’s original intention to establish the sinkhole for the enjoyment of visitors and the townspeople of Mount Gambier.”

We read the sign, went past the limestone statue,

Photographic Evidence That I Read The Sign

And what a sight!

This is huge! And what a great way to develop something that could be ugly and unsafe into a beautiful, useful place.

From inside:

There was a lovely platform and seating area, too, as well as a bbq/picnic area. I thought it would be a popular place for a wedding. David thought it was completely inappropriate for that kind of ceremony. “It started in a sinkhole, can’t get much lower…” Maybe I should set up a poll. Discuss.

Driving a few kilometers down the road, we are pointed to Blue Lake. Now, back in 1992, David and I had the pleasure of bicycling around Crater Lake as part of our Cycle Oregon route, and so we have seen the biggest, baddest blue lake there is. So, we were game to see the Aussie version. Up the observation tower we climbed:

The Struggle Is Real

To see:

Maybe it was the cloudy, sprinkly day, but this little guy was blue, but not very photogenic.

And with that, we hit the road again, excited to see what next random stop we will make.

G’day mate,

Nancy