Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(cnr Bay Rd & Watson Tce; 24hr)
F
A 50m-deep sinkhole right in the middle of town,
with the odd suicidal shopping trolley at the bottom. You can walk down into it, and
watch the nightly Sound & Light Show (8pm) telling local Aboriginal Dreaming stories.
Engelbrecht Cave
CAVE
( 08-8723 5552;
www.mtgambiersa.com.au/attractions/engelbrecht-cave
;
Jubilee Hwy W, off
Chute St; tours adult/child/family $12/8/34; tours hourly 9am-4pm, to 3pm winter)
A mean-
dering cave system running beneath Jubilee Hwy and 19 local houses! Tours last 45
minutes and take you down to an underground lake (call for cave-diving info). There's
also a cafe here.
Umpherston Sinkhole
CAVE
( 0429 349 328; 2160 Jubilee Hwy E; admission free, guided tours adult/child/family $9/4/20,
self-guided tours adult/child $5/free; 24hr, tours 9am-9pm summer, 10am-4pm winter)
F
Once 'a pleasant resort in the heat of summer' on James Umpherston's long since subdi-
vided estate. It's free to check it out, or you can take a self-guided or guided tour.
Sleeping
Park Hotel
( 08-8725 2430;
www.parkhotel.net.au
; 163 Commercial St W; d from $140;
)
In Mount Gambier's western wastelands, this old corner pub has spent a fortune
renovating its three upstairs rooms. Polished timber floors, double glazing, marble bath-
rooms and coffee-and-cream colour schemes − a really slick product.
Colhurst House
( 08-8723 1309;
www.colhursthouse.com.au
; 3 Colhurst Pl; d incl
breakfast from $170; )
Most locals don't know about Colhurst − it's up a laneway off a
sidestreet (Wyatt St) and you can't really see it from downtown Mt G. It's an 1878 man-
sion built by Welsh migrants, and manages to be old-fashioned without being twee.
There's a wrap-around balcony upstairs with great views over the rooftops. Cooked
breakfasts, too.
Old Mount Gambier Gaol
( 08-8723 0032;
www.hmgetaway.com.au
;
25 Margaret St;
dm/tw/d from $26/60/80; )
If you can forget that this place was a prison until 1995
(either that or embrace the fact), these refurbished old buildings make for an atmospheric
and affordable stay. There's a regulation backpacker dorm in one building, or you can up
the spooky stakes and sleep in a former cell. There's a bar with occasional live bands.
Blue Lake Holiday Park
( 08-8725 9856, 1800 676 028;
www.bluelake.com.au
; Bay
Rd; unpowered/powered sites from $31/36, cabins/units/bungalows from $98/120/180;
)
Adjacent to the Blue Lake, a golf course and walking and cycling tracks,
