Naracoorte to Warrnambool

Friday 25th August

We were leaving Victor Harbor today, and on our first stop was Old Tailem Town, a Pioneer Village which is full of historic buildings which have been moved to the site. There are over 100 buildings, and while it is getting a bit decrepid, I felt it added to the charm, making everything feel older and more authentic. It was a great place to wander around and take photographs, and the couple running it were very friendly.

On the drive to Naracoorte we had a couple of brief stops, seeing the Coonalpyn Silo Mural and the Landrover on a Pole in Keith – always good to stretch your legs on a long drive!

When we got to Naracoorte we visited The Sheep’s Back museum which was very well presented, and had some interesting exhibits, and then we headed for the Naracoorte Caves, which have World Heritage Status due to their fossil record.

We went through the Wonambi Fossil Center which had some animatronic exhibits, and then walked through the Stick-Tomato cave which had some fantastic rock formations as well as an open section which was full of ferns.

We then had a guided tour through the Victoria Fossil cave, which again had some amazing rock formations, as well as some fossils from where prehistoric animals had fallen into the cave. They also had some recreated fibreglass skeletons of some extinct megafauna whose bones have been found in the cave.

Saturday 26th August

From Naracoorte we drove to Mount Gambier and then had a bit of an explore. Our first stop was the Cave Gardens in the middle of town, which were some gardens in an old sink hole with a large cave at the bottom that you can look into.

Then we headed to another sink hole, Umpherston Sinkhole which was enormous and you can walk right down into it, amongst the lovely gardens.

Next we drove around the Blue Lake which is in one of the extinct volcanic craters of Mount Gambier. In the summer it turns a bright blue, so unfortunately we didn’t see that, but it was still a lovely spot.

After that we walked up to Centenery Tower which had a fantastic view over the area, although we couldn’t climb the tower as it wasn’t open yet. Although, I was still recovering from the steep climb up to the tower, so I wasn’t too upset!

By that time our next stop was nearly open, so we headed to Tantanoola Caves which is one of the most spectacular caves I have ever been in to. It’s very small, but you walk in and ‘Bam’ the beauty of all the rock formations just blows you away. Everywhere we turned there was something else to see.

Then it was a drive to our final stop for the trip, Warrnambool. We visited the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and had a walk around all the old buildings and exhibits which was very interesting. After a bit of a break, we headed back for the evening sound and light show there, which was really well done.

Sunday 27th August

Today we headed home. We made some brief stops at some of Warrnambool’s lookouts, and then the trip was over!