A MAGNIFICENT BLEND

You’ll be amazed at what you’ll discover on the roads less travelled from the Southern Grampians to the Limestone Coast

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LINDA BLOFFWITCH

When you’re travelling between Melbourne and Adelaide, many travellers generally take either the coast road starting from Geelong, or the Western Highway through Horsham and over the border into SA. But for this trip, we were taking neither; preferring to choose a less likely touring route in between that would take us through the wool district around Hamilton, and the inland roads of the Limestone Coast. After a late start leaving a caravan park in Melbourne’s CBD, we made our way to the busy Princes Highway before turning onto a much quieter Hamilton Highway which sits in between the Grampians and the coast. This route provides the perfect drive for any holidaymaker, as not only is there a significant amount of less traffic than the alternative major highways, but you are surrounded by beautiful gum studded paddocks as you pass through this rich pastoral region.

Being in no rush to get back home to SA, we made our first night stop only two hours west of Melbourne. Derrinallum is a small country town offering a range of services for the RVer, including a couple of excellent freedom camps to choose from close to town. With both sites offering lakeside camping, we felt spoilt for choice, but ended up choosing to stay at the beautiful Deep Lake Recreation Reserve for a few days. Not only were good amenities provided, but it was surprising to be able to set up on green grass during summer months. To top things off, the weather here was perfect, so we cooked up a storm on the reserve’s excellent barbeques, and the lake provided ample opportunities to sit and watch the visiting waterbirds and stunning sunsets.

Further along the Hamilton Highway, you reach the town of Hamilton, the major hub for supporting the surrounding sheep grazing and agricultural industries. With the town having a long history, the many grand buildings of yesteryear still stand tall today, so take the time and have a look around at these, and also at the town’s stunning landscaped gardens.

Continuing along the Dartmoor- Hamilton Road, it almost felt like we’d taken a real back road as there was very little traffic, and this made the journey even more enjoyable as we had plenty of time to admire the surrounding landscape. But before we knew it, we had arrived at the intersection of the Princes Highway again where traffic increased tenfold as we turned towards Mt Gambier.

MT GAMBIER

If you haven’t been to Mt Gambier before, this is a destination in its own right, and you could easily spend a week just here with all its attractions. Our plan was to stay a few days to look around, so we checked in at the Blue Lake Holiday Park and had a quick walk around the park to get our bearings. To Grant’s delight, we’d timed our visit perfectly with an historic car rally, where numerous vehicles of bygone days glistened in the afternoon sun. And with Grant having such a keen interest in vintage cars, that was pretty much the last I saw of him for the afternoon!

A visit to the information centre is generally always one of the first things we do when staying somewhere, and we found the one in Mt Gambier to be full of local and regional information that we used to both plan our stay and plan ahead. So around town, it goes without saying you need to visit some of the local caves and sinkholes, as they provide a great insight into the geographical background of the region. On this occasion, one attraction we visited was the popular Umpherston Sinkhole with its stunning sunken landscaped gardens. The many bench seats provided that are scattered around the place enabled you to not have to rush your visit, and just enjoy the gardens and what they offered.

Another attraction for your must visit list in Mt Gambier is the Blue Lake. This was always going to be on the cards for us given our caravan park was located only a hop, skip and jump away. The water was a stunning blue when we were there which we learnt changes depending on the time of year. So if you’re thinking the Blue Lake would make a great place for a swim, you’ll sadly need to think again. The lake’s water is naturally filtered underground through limestone, meaning it’s the perfect source for Mt Gambier’s drinking water.

Now while still in Mt Gambier, one of the best budget attractions we stumbled across was the short film, “Volcano” at The Main Corner complex. This free film explains the incredible story of the eight major volcanic eruptions which created Mt Gambier and surrounding areas, and is an excellent introduction to understanding this volcano capital of Australia.

NARACOORTE

When leaving Mt Gambier and travelling towards Adelaide, you generally have two choices of routes. If you follow the Princes Highway along the coast, you pass through the seaside towns of Beachport, Robe and Kingston as you make you way to the Coorong. But choosing to travel inland on the Riddoch Highway, you visit the town of Penola, the Naracoorte pastoral district, and the Coonawarra. I’ll put it out there, but we think the Coonawarra would be one of the best wine regions in Australia. So with that said, I think you can guess which route we took!

It just so happened that the country show was on the weekend we were passing through Naracoorte which we weren’t going to miss. We love a country show at the best of times as it’s an opportunity to get involved with the locals and is our small way of being able to support the community. As usual, I lost Grant around the machinery and vehicle exhibits while I wandered through the cooking and handi-crafts pavilion. As I have a strong interest in cooking, it was pleasing to see so many exhibits in the children’s cooking section which were of such a high standard.

Around Naracoorte, if you’re looking for a local and excellent bush style camping facility that includes showers, toilets and some power, you can’t go past Black Cockatoo Bush Camp located 15 minutes north east of town. We first visited here several years ago for our first freedom camping experience when purchasing our van, so we couldn’t resist going back for another stay. Hosts Ken and Liz were still as welcoming as ever, and their campsites here are well spaced out in the gum studded paddocks. And there aren’t too many freedom camps like Black Cockatoo Bush Camp these days where they actually bring firewood to the guests! This camp is an excellent choice to use as a base camp for day trips as you’re not too far from the Coonawarra wine district or coastal towns.

HEADING HOME

Unfortunately it was time to head towards home, but not before adding a few bottles of wine to our collection. The soil along the Riddoch Highway at Coonawarra which measures a strip of 15kms x 2kms does wonders for red wine production, and produces a lovely style that we are very fond of! With nearly 30 wineries to choose from, we chose to have a few tastings at Wynns on this visit before coming away with enough to top up our reserves.

Turning onto the Dukes Highway at Keith, we continued to the sleepy town of Coonalpyn before making a last minute decision to turnoff and stay overnight at the northern end of the Coorong at Meningie. With caravan park sites here backing right onto Lake Albert, it was a fantastic way to toast what has been an incredible couple of weeks as we watched a sensational sunset. So the next time you’re planning to travel from Melbourne to Adelaide, why not travel this magnificent route that has loads to offer - it might have been our first time going this way, but we loved it so much that it definitely won’t be our last.