stopping over in Mt Gambier ......

We recently had a one night stopover at Mt Gambier on our way to Kangaroo Island.......

Mount Gambier is the second most populous city in South Australia with a population of 25,200.

Located on the slopes of the mountain of the same name in the south east of the state approximately 450 kilometres south-east of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border, it is the most important settlement in the Limestone Coast region and the seat of government for both the City of Mount Gambier and the District Council of Grant.

The peak of the inactive volcano, the first place in South Australia named by European explorers, was sighted in 1800 by Lieutenant James Grant from the survey brig, HMS Lady Nelson, and named for Lord James Gambier, Admiral of the Fleet. The peak is marked by Centenary Tower, built in 1904 to commemorate the first sighting, and at 192 metres above sea level the landmark is the city's highest point.

The city is known for its geographical features, particularly its volcanic and limestone features, most notably its Blue Lake, parks and gardens, caves and sinkholes.

There is much to see in the area and well worth spending the time to do so. Unfortunately we only had the one night prior to continuing on our journey towards Kangaroo Island.

The blog post we did in February on 'planning' our journey to KI is located HERE.

I was anxious to see the accommodation we had booked at THE TOWER INN and to see if the expected 'customer service' was still there.  We had also received an email a few days prior to arriving to say they were "looking forward to our visit" and if there was anything else we required to let them know.

So this type of 'extra service' is quite foreign to Australian travel and it was a nice touch..... on arrival the receptionist was very pleasant and helpful and on entering our room it was as we 'expected' as we had booked the "Superior Deluxe Queen Suite" at $130.00 pn.  During May & June the price for the same room is $118.00, we paid the 'extra' due to it being Easter.  Our room was quiet, very clean, comfortable and well appointed with all the facilities that were available in the room which included a microwave, iron etc.

We would recommend staying here as it is quite central to the township and tourist attractions as well.
Helpful URL's ...

planning our journey to Kangaroo Island

Mt Gambier Tourism

The Tower Motor Inn


next blog post will be on staying at Cape Jervis Station!

the journey to Kangaroo Island

the journey to Kangaroo Island .... well the one that we have planned!

A month or so ago I started organising our next vacation. We are planning on Kangaroo Island seeing as it is about the only place in Australia we have not been to!

Our plan is to leave home on the Saturday and head down towards Mt Gambier staying there overnight to break the journey and allow us more time to see the South Australian Coastline from Mt Gambier, via Robe to Cape Jervis.

Cape Jervis is where we board the SeaLink Ferry to Kangaroo Island.

We are staying in Cape Jervis on the Sunday night as the ferry departs on Monday morning at 9:00am.The Saturday night happens to be the Easter Weekend and it was a total pain to locate any accommodation as I mentioned in a previous blog post titled: neither simple, easy or low cost! Most places I contacted either directly or thru Zuji, Trip Advisor etc all required a minimum of three nights booking due to it being a 'holiday weekend'. Some of them didn't even bother to return my messages! After much frustration I called The Tower Motor Inn at Mt Gambier direct, what a pleasant experience that turned out to be. I had been on booking.com and knew the lowest price that the Superior Room was selling for, so when I asked him how much would he sell the room to me for, he gave me a higher price!  Told him the lowest price I had seen and he offered me the room at the same price and then proceeded to 'sell' me the Superior Deluxe Suite at a greatly reduced price and for the one night! ..... this man knows how to sell a room and he certainly knows about 'customer service'!

Impressive.

Thank you Gary Walters!

The Tower Motor Inn also had good reports on TripAdvisor, so hopefully our stay will live up to our expectations!  Will certainly let you know either way.  I gave him the cc details and the confirmation by email arrived by the time I put the phone down.

Must admit this is the sort of 'customer service' we should all expect and receive, but sadly it rarely happens in Australia.

Superior Deluxe Room at The Tower Motor Inn at Mt Gambier

Our next place for accommodation was to be around the Cape Jervis area as we had booked the SeaLink Ferry for the 9:00am crossing.  Again, we kept hitting brick walls due to the two or three night minimum booking.

Eventually we came across the Cape Jervis Station and Cottages.  Lovely receptionist on the phone, very helpful, especially with me asking many questions and then after the booking realised I had booked the wrong date!  Had to call her back and request the change .... she was very pleasant about it and told me it was a good learning experience for her too as it was her first day on duty. I certainly hope she is still there as she is more than just a good asset to their business.

We found this to be a little expensive at $175.00 with breakfast, but again, we had no choice due to the dates traveling. Will keep you up to date on the value after we have stayed!

though most of the comments on TripAdvisor are good:

We had booked for one night prior to going over on the morning ferry but ended up staying for two nights as the ferry was cancelled due to terrible weather (next time I will get travel insurance!). Accommodation was great B & B style in the homestead. Electric blanket was a blessing as it was freezing. Had dinner both nights and was lovely home cooked style with a lovely bottle of Shiraz from Kangaroo Island. The hosts were very welcoming and nothing was too much trouble.

Stayed here overnight for an early ferry to Kangaroo Island. The owners were very welcoming and showed us to our room with en-suite. The room was in the older homestead. We were the only people in that part of the complex. There are a variety of ways to stay on the property. They have caravan and motor home sites, log cabins and stone cottages. It is a working farm and the breakfast eggs were from the farm. Delicious. Nice and quiet, I did not hear any traffic noise myself.
Good to note the extra travel Insurance needed, am glad we have purchased ours already!

The downside - for Cape Jervis Station - was when I tried to get on to their website for some images and extra information, it kept coming up with the following message:

Now that is a very bad move for their business, either they need a better service provider or they need to extend their coverage!

I still managed to get a few images of the property and surrounds thru google maps and off TripAdvisor as seen below:

The Monday morning will see us up bright and early heading down to the Ferry Terminal at Cape Jervis to get the 9:00am Ferry ....

from Google Maps, view from the highway after leaving Cape Jervis Station

from Google Maps, view from the highway just before entering Cape Jervis.

and hopefully an hour or so later we are on our way to Cape Borda Lightstation !

My next blog post will be on our return journey from Kangaroo Island, Cape Jervis to Middleton and on to Naracoorte before returning home.

Make sure you subscribe to this blog for follow up posts on our journey to and from Kangaroo Island.

.