Naracoorte

Leaving Mt Gambier on Good Friday 2 April we drove due north through extensive heavily forested areas until we reached Penola with its vast tracts of grapevines and wineries at the heart of the Coonawarra wine region. We continued north to Naracoorte which apart from being famous for the World Heritage listed Naracoorte Caves surprised us with its size and heritage.

The following day we drove back to Penola to visit a few of the wineries cellar doors. After browsing around town and locating the original schoolhouse established by Sister Mary MacKillop we made our first stop at Koonara Wines where, after some judicious sampling, we purchased a few bottles of Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc. We also visited Katnook Estate, DiGiorgio Wines and Coonawarra Wine Gallery where we bought another couple of bottles of Semillon Sauvignon Blanc.




On Easter Sunday we visited the Naracoorte Caves complex where our first tour was of the Victoria Cave with its extensive fossil deposits which earned the cave complex its World Heritage status. Next we toured the Alexandra Cave with its more spectacular formations of straws, stalactites, stalagmites, helactites, columns, flowstone and shawls – we’re becoming quite knowledgeable now! We also took a self guided tour of the Wet Cave with it enormous caverns. On the way back to town we visited a gallery with its displays of various articles including furniture made out of beautiful red gum timber.