Friday March 14, 2014

A lovely rest day today.   We decided to cycle to Blue Lake and around the Town, Ralf estimated to see all the sites we would be cycling about 15 kms.  He was pretty close with his estimate.  We removed all the panniers and had a nice ride.

Blue Lake, Leg of Mutton Lake and Valley Lake were lakes all created by volcanoes.

Leg of Mutton Lake was planted with eucalyptus from all areas of Australia, European hardwoods and North American pine species.  With falling water table levels over the last century, the original lake has disappeared.  As you can see by Ralf\’s photo the colours are changing, it is going into the autumn season here.

Blue Lake has a strange phenomenon, in the winter it is gray and in a few days in November it changes to an incredible turquoise blue.  During March it gradually changes back to grey.  Fortunately for us it is still a stunning blue with a tinge of turquoise around the edges.

There is a very scientific explanation why it turns blue in the summer, in a nutshell it is because the calcite and humic substances which are present in the water fall to the floor of the lake.  During the summer, the surface waters have the humic substances removed and hence the natural blue colour of the water is more evident.

We met a nice couple who were on a belated honeymoon. His description of the lake was \”It looks like a giant plug hole in the Art Department sink, it leaves a blue bit with turquoise around the edges\”.

We also went to the second major sinkhole in the area.  This garden was created in 1884 by the then owner James Umpherston, it fell into disrepair but was restored by the Woods and Forests Social Club.

New plantings provided a mix of native and exotic species.  Umpherston’s original vision of the sinkhole as an attractive and popular recreational area was once more a reality.  The City of Mount Gambier obtained the site in 1994 and is responsible for all maintenance.

There were signs warning of bee activity.  This was one of four hives that Ralf got a photo of.  This one is the size of a basketball.

Both bikes got cleaned today as well, although it is forecast for rain tomorrow.

Mount Gambier is a really nice City, but needs more bike lanes!