We’re determined to visit a new place in the Mount Gambier district every weekend. Today we drove 28km to Port MacDonnell, the southernmost town in South Australia, population 650.

It was proclaimed a port in 1860. Ships anchored a mile out to sea and supplies were taken by launch to and from the jetty.

We saw a stone race where sheep were washed before being taken aboard.

Port MacDonnell has a village feel with a good mix of historic buildings and modern homes. There’s a hotel, bakery, cafe and a couple of seafood shops.

As the nearest beach to Mount Gambier we expect to visit there occasionally during summer, not that it gets very hot all that often in these parts.

The beach is nothing special, but looks okay for a cooling dip.

I haven’t planned a list of the places we intend to visit, but reckon if we go to everywhere of interest within 50km of Mount Gambier it will take at least a year.

Extend the distance to 100km and triple that number. A bit further and there are some major towns to explore such as Portland, Hamilton and Robe.

Just from the short visit to Port MacDonnell I was enticed to plan future trips to Mount Schank, Dingley Dell, Carpenter Rocks and Blackfellows Caves.

Mount Schank is an extinct volcano. Dingley Dell is a cottage where poet Adam Lindsay Gordon lived in the 1860s.

Gordon is one of Australia’s most famous poets and lived in this area for many years. There is a statue of him in Melbourne and he is the only Australian to have his bust in Westminster Abbey.

From Whispering in Wattle Boughs:

Oh, gaily sings the bird! and the wattle-boughs are stirred
And rustled by the scented breath of Spring;
Oh, the dreary wistful longing! Oh, the faces that are thronging!
Oh, the voices that are vaguely whispering!