We spent today in Naracoorte and have now seen all of the attractions featured on their brown tourist sign! We started the day at the World Heritage Listed Naracoorte Caves. With time to fill before our tour booked for 10.15am the above ground loop above the Alexandra, Blanche and Bat Caves. There are a number of above ground openings to the caves which means that even people who do not want to go underground can experience the caves at Naracoorte.
After our above ground experience we drove down to the Victoria Fossil Cave for our guided tour. Our guide was passionate about the caves and made our tour very interesting. I was particularly taken with a new explanation about stalactites and stalagmites. Apparently the word roots mean that one, the stalactites, are the drippy ones and the others, the stalagmites, are the dripped on ones!! The cave is an absolute treasure trove of fossils with literally metres of fossils piled up in the cave. Palaeontologists have been able to piece together a rich history of the fauna and megafauna that roamed this era millennia ago.
site before driving back to the Wonambi Fossil Museum. After some lunch at the Cave Caf we took the walk through the Cave. Apparently the name is supposed to capture the characteristics of the two entrances – the stick entrance and the bush tomato entrance. Even after exploring the cave we were struggling to understand these associations? It just seems like a very strange name!
From the we headed out to the Bool Lagoon. Hmmn, Bool Lagoon is one of the largest and most diverse freshwater lagoon systems in southern Australia. However, it is a seasonal wetland and March is not the right season to see any of the 150 species of birds that visit the area. Apart from some magpies, crows, mud larks and one the lagoon was pretty much sans birds!
We drove out to the Big Hill lookout for a panoramic view across the lagoon and spied what might have been a little bit water way out in the middle. Next we hiked out into the lagoon on one of the (rather rickety) boardwalks which gave us a different perspective, but didnt offer up any more birdlife!
way back into Naracoorte we happened upon Struan House. Its not open to the public, but we snuck through a hole in the fence to take a photo! The magnificent sandstone mansion was built by John Robertson between 1873 and 1875 in the Italianate style that was fashionable at that time. The mansion was christened ‘Struan House to recall distant Scottish Struan, the seat of the Robertson clan chief.
After a quick stop back at the motel we donned our bathers and headed out to the Naracoorte Swimming Lake for a swim. We found that it is not quite a lake as such, but then its not quite a swimming pool either! The bottom of the lake is concrete, but then it has a sandy beach too. The main thing was that the water was cool and refreshing on a warm afternoon.
As by the staff at the Sheeps Back Museum yesterday afternoon we tried the Pearl Continental for dinner tonight. It offered an eclectic selection of pizza, kebabs and Indian food. Three out of four of us had decided we were going to have the kebabs only to be informed that there were no kebabs tonight
when the waitress came to take out order! So, we all ordered Indian food which was delicious! Definitely some of the best Indian food we have eaten anywhere. Yum.
Needing a few more steps to reach or goals today we took a twilight tour of Naracoortes churches. We made our way up the hill to the Anglican and Catholic churches before heading in the direction of yet another church spire that we could spy through the trees. This one, the tallest spire, belonged to St Andrews Presbyterian Church.
