Best Wildlife and Nature Stays in Mount Gambier
Families and couples who plan the day around koalas rather than cafes get the most from wildlife and nature stays in Mount Gambier. Two properties sit within reach of the volcanic lakes: Comfort Inn The Lakes is a five minute walk from Blue Lake and a short drive from Valley Lake Conservation Park, while Nightcap at Federal Hotel Mt Gambier sits a few minutes from Blue Lake Reserve on the town side. Both keep the crater rim close without putting you out in the paddocks. From the Princes Highway the turn into town is straightforward, and the car stays parked once you arrive.
Mount Gambier wears its volcano openly. Streets end at the edge of a sinkhole, the main street has a collapsed cavern in the middle of it, and the town's best-known feature changes colour with the season. It is a working South Australian regional centre rather than a resort town, so evenings are quiet and the outdoors carries the day. The lifestyle runs to early starts, long walks around craters and afternoons in the caves, with the coast at Port MacDonnell an easy run south.
Stays in Mount Gambier
The pull here is geological rather than coastal. Mount Gambier sits on a dormant volcano, and the crater lakes, sinkholes and limestone caves are close enough together that a stay near Blue Lake covers most of them on foot or with a five minute drive. Travellers who base themselves on the lake side of town spend less of the day behind the wheel and more of it walking the rim track, which is the whole point of coming to the Limestone Coast in the first place.
Comfort Inn The Lakes suits travellers whose main objective is the water itself. The property sits five minutes on foot from Blue Lake, which means the rim walk can be done before breakfast without moving the car, and Valley Lake Conservation Park is a two minute drive further on for the kangaroos and emus. Umpherston Sinkhole, where the possums come out at dusk, is another five minutes by road. Rooms are air-conditioned with a fridge and tea and coffee facilities, and there is a bar and a garden on site. From the Jubilee Highway the approach is simple, with free parking at the door.
Nightcap at Federal Hotel Mt Gambier reads differently: it is a pub stay on the town side, four minutes by car from Blue Lake Reserve and two from the Riddoch Art Gallery. That suits a family who want the nature during the day and a restaurant and bar downstairs at night, without a second drive to find dinner. There is an indoor children's playground on site, which earns its keep when Limestone Coast weather closes in, plus free parking and family rooms. Mt Gambier Airport is fourteen minutes away, so this one also works for a fly-in start to a wildlife loop.
Nature around Mount Gambier is not a single park you drive to and leave. It is Engelbrecht Cave running under the streets, Cave Garden dropping away in the middle of the shopping strip, Mount Schank standing on its own south of town, and the karst springs at Piccaninnie Ponds on the way to the coast. Both stays put you inside that spread rather than beside one edge of it. The trade-off is honest enough: neither property is a lodge in the bush, so anyone hoping to wake up surrounded by forest should keep driving toward the Glenelg River instead.
A traveler's takeA two night stay tends to settle into a rhythm here. The rim track at Blue Lake before the wind picks up, then Umpherston Sinkhole in the late afternoon when the possums start moving through the hydrangeas below the viewing platform. Dinner at the pub, and the drive south to Port MacDonnell saved for the morning, because the light over the Limestone Coast is better early and the road is empty.
Wildlife & NatureComfort Inn The Lakes
★4.1Five minutes on foot from the Blue Lake crater rim
Why guests love itComfort Inn The Lakes is a four-star inn that suits couples and families who want to walk to Blue Lake. It is five minutes on foot from the crater rim and two minutes by car from Valley Lake Conservation Park. Rooms are air-conditioned with a dining area, refrigerator, tea and coffee facilities and private bathrooms. There is a bar, a restaurant, a garden and a tour desk, and parking is free. I would choose it for the walk to Blue Lake.
Wildlife & NatureNightcap at Federal Hotel Mt Gambier
★3.9Pub rooms with an indoor playground, four minutes from Blue Lake
Why guests love itNightcap at Federal Hotel is three-star pub accommodation on the town side of Mount Gambier, four minutes by car from Blue Lake Reserve. Family rooms, air-conditioning and free parking are included, and an a la carte restaurant, a bar and an indoor children's playground are on site. Rooms have a television, refrigerator and tea and coffee facilities. I would choose it for the indoor playground and the easy drive to Blue Lake.
Local tips
- 1Walk the Blue Lake rim track early, before the wind comes across the crater and the tour coaches arrive from the Adelaide side of the highway.
- 2Head to Umpherston Sinkhole at dusk rather than midday, when the possums come out into the sunken garden and the light is far kinder for photographs.
- 3Drive to Valley Lake Conservation Park in the last hour of daylight if you want kangaroos and emus, since the animals sit out the heat earlier in the day.
- 4Book Engelbrecht Cave ahead in summer school holidays, because the tours run to a fixed timetable and fill quickly once the caravans are in town.
- 5Keep a jacket in the car even in January, as the wind off the Limestone Coast turns the crater rim cold long before the town does.