First paid camping in Australia

And it's not really "camping"... it's just somewhere to park for the night and be able to use some nice hot showers!

Friday morning, we tried to get an earlier start. It was a great spot to overnight in the village of Tantanoola! Still, it was probably 9:30am before we actually got on the road!

And, we didn't have that far to drive...

Scenery along the way.

We had a couple of things to try to accomplish on Friday. We were going into the small city of Mount Gambier (pop 22,000) because the area offers quite a few sight seeing opportunities. But we also needed to get some laundry done and Bundy was due for an oil change and maintenance service.

On the way into the city, we stopped and filled the diesel fuel tank at $1.46 AUD per liter ($1.36 CAD per liter, or $3.86 USD per gallon).

Then, we stopped at the local Ford dealer where I figured that service might be pricey, but I just wanted to get it done. Didn't matter because they were too booked to do it.

Next up, we found a laundromat. One large load, washed and dried including detergent cost $8 AUD ($7.50 CAD, $5.75 USD).

While the laundry was being done, I looked up some nearby auto mechanics. There was a guy across the road, located behind two different auto parts suppliers and I walked over to talk to him. Sure enough, he could book us in at 2:30pm in the afternoon. When talking about the price, he suggested I could probably save some money by buying the oil and filter at the auto parts place and he would just charge the labor. Good enough for me!

So I went to buy the oil and filter, to find out that our 3.0 liter diesel takes 7 liters of oil. And, here in Australia they use mostly synthetic oil, which of course costs more money. The oil alone was $83 AUD ($77.50 CAD, $58 USD) and the filter was $12.75 AUD ($11.90 CAD, $9 USD). Tax included.

Oil changes are not cheap in Australia. I actually had a good idea of the cost ahead of time because I had seen the service invoices from the last two times Bundy had this work done.

We had some time to spare before the appointment, so we headed up to Blue Lake... the beautiful volcanic lake here at Mount Gambier.

A superb fairywren.

This bird just wouldn't sit still! I took about a dozen photos in order to come up with this one!

A red-browed finch.

Blue Lake at Mount Gambier.

Blue Lake was caused by a volcanic eruption about 5,000 years ago. There are a couple of other smaller lakes and sinkholes in the area as well. Blue Lake has a road and walking path around it that is about 5 kms (3 miles). We decided we had enough time after lunch to do that walk.

The other side of the lake is farmland.

And more farmland. 

Sometimes it's tough to remember this is June!

Many of the deciduous trees are changing color. 

We went back into town and dropped Bundy and Joyce at the mechanic. They asked us to return around 3:30 or 4:00pm.

Just down the road, we visited the Cave Garden Sinkhole, located right downtown.

Hmm... where do those stairs go?

Way down there!

But that's as far as you could go. I wish we could have gone exploring down below.

Main Street, Mount Gambier.

The old hotels in these towns are beautiful.

The old railway yards have been transformed into a park.

We stopped and did a little shopping on the way back to the mechanic. Including buying some real Canadian maple syrup!

Nice dark Quebec maple syrup!

It was a little bit expensive, but we love our maple syrup!  It was $6.30 AUD for 250 ml. That's the equivalent of $23.50 CAD per liter... almost twice what we pay in Canada. But hey... you can justify anything you want!

Back at the mechanic shop at 4:00pm, and Bundy was ready to go. They did the oil change, lube job, a complete inspection, and fixed a squeaking noise I had asked them to look at. Something to do with adjusting the clutch bearing. Total labor and tax was $98 AUD ($92 CAD, $69 USD). Not bad, and now it's done. Bundy should not require any more service or maintenance during this trip.

Mount Gambier is a bit of a tourist town and there is no free camping as such in the town area. We probably could have risked an empty parking lot somewhere, but we both were in need of good hot showers and the fairgrounds have unserviced sites available at $15 AUD ($14 CAD, $10.50 USD) per night.

So that's where we went.

And the showers were FANTASTIC. The outside of the bathroom building looked about 50 years old. So we didn't have high expectations. But the inside had been recently renovated and they were super clean! And nice hot water and lots of it, flowing from rain water shower heads. Even Ruth was impressed, and it takes a lot to impress Ruth with clean bathrooms. After all, it should be the norm that bathrooms are clean. Very nice.

And so we are happy here with our first paid overnight spot. Might even have another shower in the morning!

Here's our approximate route so far since we picked up Bundy and Joyce just north of Adelaide...

The odometer says we've done 575 kms (357 miles) so far.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we will see some more things here in town. Then, we will make a detour north towards Grampian National Park. Several people have said we will love the hiking there, so we think it will be worth the extra drive. Then, we will come back down to do the Great Ocean Road.

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