Day 6 - Port MacDonnell to Mount Gambier

24.1 km

Temp 22°

Up early to finish packing as we are checking out today and moving to Mount Gambier. The bus left at 0800 to collect Nick.
We had a time zone change when we crossed the border into SA.

We arrived at the start in Port Macdonnell at 0817. A great day for a walk with a temperature of 15° and no rain forecast. One pilgrim, Cathy, injured herself yesterday and won't be walking today (sprained ankle that she had X-rayed at Mount Gambier hospital). We had the pre walk briefing and change of minder for Gus then headed off at 0825.

We stopped on the outskirts of Port Macdonnell for a group photo at the wave sculpture before continuing along sealed roads.

About 3.5km onto the walk we stopped outside a factory yard that was a "collectors" paradise. The stuff in this place was amazing and the long fence was topped with pairs of old shoes.

At 3.7 km we turned off into a laneway and started walking towards Mount Schack. The lane is a wide area between two paddocks and has public access. The track had sections of limestone pathway which was easy to walk on but very bright on the eyes.

We stopped for morning tea at 1055 (8.6km) and sat under a clump of pine trees. We headed off again at 1120. The temperature at 1200 was 22°, it was still a good walking temperature. Robert, ex music teacher, kept us amused with tunes that were from random conversation, very funny and a great way to walk.

We got to the Mount Schank car park at 1300 and we stopped for lunch (14.5km). Again Darren was there with things set up for us.

After lunch, at 1355, we did a walk to top of Mount Schank. Mount Schank is an extinct volcano which you walk into (we stood at the rim). It's an amazing place and intertwined to see how almost perfectly round the rim is.

At 1440 six of us started again. It started out as a limestone road which is good to walk on. At 18.3 km went through a gate and headed up hill on a dirt track, another lane between fencelines. This path turned left and continued along to Sinclair Road (23.3km). The laneway had some areas on it which were long grass and we were all concious of snakes, luckily we didn't see any.

We walked along Sinclair Road limestone road) for about 1km and met the bus at the finish at 1633. We got onto the bus and went to the ice cream shop, we all had ice creams before getting back on the bus for a visit to the Blue Lake.

We checked into the motel at 1735. This place is great, I have a large room and I had the best shower I've had since the trip started. We had dinner at hotel at 1830. We had phoned our orders ahead this morning so everything went well. I had King George whiting which was great (it's been a while since I've had that in SA). Back to rim about 2100 and preps for tomorrow.