The Blue Lake
Mount Gambier is home to the Blue Lake which puts on a real show in late November, when the water-colour changes from a steel blue-grey to a brilliant turquoise blue. While numerous theories have been put forward to explain the annual transformation, a chemical reaction caused by temperature, calcium carbonate and blue wavelengths of light is a common explanation.
Take a guided tour with Aquifer Tours and travel in a glass panelled lift down the original dolomite well shaft, from which water was originally extracted, through a tunnel to see the Blue Lake at close proximity.
The 3.6 kilometre road and walking track around the circumference of the lake provides access to many viewing points, the most popular being the underpass between the Blue Lake and the Leg of Mutton Lake. Walk up to Centenary Tower, 190 metres above sea level, for a remarkable view of the city and surrounds. The tower is open when the flag is raised.
The Mount Gambier Crater Lakes complex comprises three craters - Blue Lake, Valley Lake and Leg of Mutton Lake - and is a significant site within the Volcanoes Discovery Trail.
The Valley Lake, situated in the largest of the three craters, is very popular all year round. The Wildlife Park & Boardwalk, with lookouts, nature walks and boardwalks over the Valley Lake surface, shows indigenous species of flora and fauna in an environment very similar to the way it originally would have been found in the area.
The Leg of Mutton Lake now dry, is situated in its own smaller crater. Surrounded by many varieties of deciduous trees it is popular for its walking trails. This lake has had a history of varying water levels and was recorded as being dry as early as 1859.
Nearby is the Adam Lindsay Gordon Monument, erected in 1887 to commemorate the scene where Gordon daringly rode his horse over the fence onto a narrow ledge above a 70 metre sheer drop to the surface of the Blue Lake.
