Day 7 - Mount Gambier to Carney Lake Road

19.1 km

Temp 22°

Breakfast at 0730 in private function room.  No toast but there was cereal and tea which was ok.

Pre walk briefing at 0820 in the breakfast room and Gus minder handover.  Departed at 0830 from the hotel and walked through the suburbs. It was road bashing until morning tea 1042 at the 8.7km mark (easy enough walking and we set a good pace). We weren't expecting the bus to be at the morning tea area but it was there (we were stooged by the guides). Everything was set up as usual and it was a good location. 

Off again at 1135 along a 
limestone road which we nicknamed 'the yellow brick road'.  Similar to yesterday there was the song challenge and during a short break Mark broke into a dance routine. We all started doing the hokey pokey in the middle of the road (not a busy road) and very shortly after we finished a truck came over the crest, to quote Nick "we scattered like ravens off road kill".

We had lunch at just before 1300 (14.5km mark) in a pine forrest. Darren and Cathy had set it up again and it was a really good area to sit and relax.  A good feed and the usual brilliant banter.

We set off again at 1350 on the final leg for today. It started as a forrest track and then at the 16km mark it became a sandy track and very shortly after that it changed to a native forrest corridor. Easy waking and really nice to get into native bushland. 

A short while later (17km mark) we came to another limestone road. We turned left and followed this for about 2km. We passed a cottage which provided accommodation. Reached the finish at the bus at 1455; the last section was done at a cracking pace. 

The bus left at 1505 to the sunken garden. This is a sink hole that has been turned into a garden. It is an amazing place. We went down the stairs and walked around the garden. A group of possums lives in the small tunnels of the sink hole and a it is shaded they will come out looking for food (we didn't feed them).

We got back to the hotel hotel at about 1630 and we had nearly 2 hours to ourselves. We were back on the bus at 1815 and off to dinner at the Federal Hotel. Great meal and very good value. We got back to the hotel at about 2045.