Mount Gambia, South Australia

The Umpherston Sinkhole

A fascinating place

Sandstone and dolomite architecture

Beautiful buildings in the city

Port MacDonnell




Cave Garden



Blue Lake

Not turquoise but still blue today

It's hard to imagine that 30 million years ago Mount Gambier was covered by a warm shallow ocean. The remains of the sea creatures accumulated in a pile on the sea floor and over time turned into limestone.

The Umpherston Sinkhole garden is a fascinating place and in the centre of the town is the Cave Garden. I immediately fell in love with the beautiful heritage and private homes made of limestone and dolomite. The dolomite is a very attractive light shade of pink and is still used in buildings today but I believe it's very expensive and I can understand why.

The Blue Lake is a volcano which erupted about 5000 years ago and is the town's water supply. It has a 5 kilometer circumference and is 30 metres deep. The lake changes colour during the year - between November to March it turns a beautiful turquoise blue, but not today.

Port MacDonnell is a short drive away and well worth a look. They have an extensive lobster fishing fleet and the local fish shop was selling 2 kilo lobsters for $35 a kilo, the cheapest we have seen so far.