Warwar - the Blue Lake

After the excitement and drama of the Great Ocean Road, the past week has been a bit quiet. Except for the temporary loss of one Labrador - that part wasn't quiet at all. Mostly we've been sheltering from the weather, braving the conditions just long enough to stretch our legs before heading back inside for a hot chocolate.

We spent a few days in Warrnambool and Port Fairy, which is Gunditjmara country. From what we could see beyond the windscreen wipers, both towns were pretty and somewhere we'd like to return to, maybe in summer.

From there we headed across the border into South Australia and set up camp in Mount Gambier, Boandik country.

Mount Gambier is at the very western end of the Western Volcanic Plain and is probably most famous for the Blue Lake (Warwar), which is one of four volcanic lakes in the area.

Two of those lakes, the imaginatively named "Leg of Mutton Lake" and "Brownes Lake", dried up as the water table dropped. The Valley Lake is pretty, but just your average lake colour.

The Blue Lake sits just outside the town centre and there's a walking track of a bit over four kilometres around its circumference. It's a very still and clear body of water, and is Mount Gambier's water supply. There's nothing very mystical behind its azure blue colour - just something to do with its clarity, the position of the sun and some other scientific factors that were lost on our simple brains.

It was fairly blueish when we wandered around it this morning, but apparently it's best in summer. Oh well.

Here are a few photos taken at Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Mount Gambier. It's a pity wind can't be captured on an iPhone. These photos would be spectacular!