An open channel runs from the wetland to the ocean.

I took Kathleen, Jim and Maggie there this afternoon. We didn’t go diving, but enjoyed the “ponds outlet” walk of 2.4km.

This trail runs through coastal vegetation and wetlands adjacent to the pond’s outlet into the sea.

The clear water can be seen flowing through the dunes along the beach. The walk then joins a boardwalk to a wetland lookout.

According to the Department for Environment and Heritage: “Piccaninnie Ponds is one of Australia’s most beautiful and spectacular freshwater cave diving and snorkelling spots, with visibility exceeding 40 metres in the crystal water.”

Camping is allowed in the conservation park. Unfortunately the beach appears to be popular with motorsport enthusiasts. The noise is quite out of place, not to mention the potential environmental impact.

I have never really done anything solo with Jim, who is less outgoing than Maggie, and this holiday seemed a good time to remedy that.

The Glenelg River flows into the sea at Nelson, 35km from Mount Gambier. It’s a fairly large estuary and the river is tidal and navigable 40km inland.

The cruise goes from Nelson to Princess Margaret Cave, stopping there for 90 minutes so people can tour the cave if they wish.

Much of the countryside is largely unspoiled, forming the Lower Glenelg National Park. The river carves through an impressive gorge for much of the distance.

There are shacks along the river at Nelson, which is in Victoria, and at Donovans (pictured, South Australia. These are leased from the State Governments and can’t be used as permanent dwellings.

People can hire houseboats, which we might do one day. The river traffic is much less than the Murray and I saw no snags.

Jim enjoyed the cruise. He kept a lookout for pirates on the way there and claims he saw tigers in the forest.

The boat was fully booked, thanks mainly to a group of more than 30 Jewish people. It’s unusual to see Orthodox Jews in country Australia, so they were probably passing through on holiday.

Jim was full of questions at the start of the tour, including wanting to know why some people (the Jews) were wearing hats on a cloudy day.

It was surprisingly cool, just 22 degrees after 38 yesterday, although the official maximum was 26.7 at one minute after midnight.

Compared with state leaders Ted Baillieu and Troy Buswell he’s doing a pretty good job in unenviable circumstances.

I didn’t hear his budget reply speech, but reading the news summary it sounds quite good.

Nelson has got a long tough road ahead of him to restore the Liberal Party’s fortunes. He can’t simply wait for Rudd to stumble, he needs to develop an alternative vision.

Cutting the fuel excise by five cents a litre has been criticised as populist. But isn’t that what politicians should be trying to do … be popular?

Of course, they also need to be responsible and that’s an arguable proposition in relation to the petrol excise. But that’s also the job of politicians … to argue and formulate policy.

At least Nelson is having a go. The Liberals were totally rattled after the election defeat and it’s in the national interest for them to regroup and form a strong opposition.