Day 35 - Killarney Beach

A driving day in reality.

We weren't sorry to leave The Coorong. It was a poor camping area to start with and the conditions ended up being unpleasant too. To cap it off, Sue started the day with an upset stomach.

We made several stops in the first 100kms, before my Mum's cornflour and water remedy kicked in.

Lunch was at Mount Gambier, after finally getting to see the Blue Lake, one of three volcanic crater lakes. The Blue Lake is the biggest and supplies Mount Gambier with a constant and plentiful water supply. Its size makes it almost impossible to photograph, so my iPhone panorama feature came in handy. We had lunch beside the Valley Lake in a rather nice park.

After lunch, we pushed on to our campsite at Killarney Beach, located between Port Fairy and Warnambool.

It proved to be dreadful. A council park located around the local cricket oval, it was packed by dog owners and other pets - including a chicken coup complete with three hens and a rooster. It has power but the sites are small, barely accommodating a van let alone it's accompanying car. The amenities are easily the worst we have ever seen. Old, filthy and stained would be the most pleasant things I could say about them. There was a laundry and the washing machines were free but apart from power, nothing else was supplied ... no water, no drainage points.


In my shower cubicle, I had the two unique experiences. First, my cubicle was complete with a water bubbler. Second, it has an asbestos warning label, saying the walls of the shower cubicle were unsafe if damaged in any way, including peeling or flaking paint. My cubicle was more peeling than paint but at least the walls were wet which should have rendered the risk inert.

There are another set of showers set above the beach which is behind the caravan park but they are cold water only. At least are clean and constructed sometime this century. At $24 a night, with no water and filthy showers, they were only one dollar less than the lovely campsite at Discovery Lagoon.

Oh well. We were due for a bad one sooner or later.

On to Melbourne tomorrow and a few nights with old friends.