Lake walks around Mount Gambier: Ron takes a stroll around the "Volcanic Lake" in the South east region of South Australia

It doesn't matter how often you see it the mysterious and dramatic blue of Mount Gambier's Blue Lake or 'maar' as the experts call it, always leaves the visitor wanting more.

The Blue Lake has long been a tourist drawcard. It's all part of the Kanawinka Volcanic Trail - a name that stems from the local Boandik people whose dreaming stories describe the massive explosions which caused all this. For them this volcanic crater and the others nearby like Mount Schank and the ever popular Valley Lake, were once giant ovens used by creation beings who roamed the ancient landscape.

Today the craters or 'maars' provide a series of highlights on a network of trails skirting the southern boundary of this picturesque city of some 25,000 residents.

Those in the know head all the way up to the town's famous Centenary Tower to get their bearings. A locally made video in the tower tells the story of the Kanawinka Volcanic precinct which extends from the limestone coast region of South Australia all the way into western Victoria.

The Centenary Tower platform offers a great vantage point from which to take in the local sites with glimpses of the Lake Bonney Wind Farm, the famous Blue Lake and the town's other major playground the Valley Lake. And to the southeast, Mount Schank which is acknowledged as Australia's youngest volcano. It's believed to have erupted between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.

Lieutenant Grant, on board the Lady Nelson, spotted Mount Schank and what he called Gambier's Mount back in 1800. A century on and the locals decided to build this to commemorate the event but like so many major community projects not everything went according to plan..

Bob Peters: "It related to a lack of public funding. It was built with public funding but they didn't open the building until the 27th of April 2004."

In geological terms, the shake rattle and roll which created the various crater lakes is relatively recent and skirting each is a walking trail taking the intrepid hiker into ever-changing country. Along the way, the occasional hut offers shelter to the army of walkers who know this area well.

While the Centenary Tower gives you a great overview of the various walking trail options, it's not until you get down on the tracks like the Blue Gum Trail that you realise just how varied the plantings are.

Scattered throughout the area are historic plantings which in their own small way helped transform Australia. Around the aptly named Leg of Mutton Lake you look over some of the most important plantings in Australian forestry history. It was here that our forestry fathers planted all kinds of exotic and native timbers to see what would grow and they found the Californian timber pinus radiata was perfectly suited to Australian conditions.

Bob Cowen: "It's the major plantation species and there's a huge industry around pinus radiata and of course, that's now extended to all other states. It was the first forest department in the British Empire."

From the now dry Leg of Mutton Lake we make our way back to the Mount's biggest drawcard… and once again we encounter that shimmering, mysterious blue created about 30,000 years ago by forces which have created an amazing volcanic trail.

Bob Cowen: "We are recognised as being part of the third largest volcanic region in the world. The tenth most significant but certainly the third largest. So it's an extensive area."

One of the most extensive and one of the youngest volcanic precinct's in the world with each crater and the tower which overlooks them offering numerous stories and memories for walkers to take with them.

For detailed maps of the Blue Lake walking trails contact the Lady Nelson Visitor Centre on Jubilee Highway East.

Mount Gambier Walks
Blue Lake & Valley Lake Walk
Maps Lady Nelson Visitor Centre
Jubilee Highway East