*McKenzie Falls
*McKenzie Falls
This past Monday marked the birthday of the Queen (of England) and the Australians celebrated with the day off. So we decided to take a short break over the long weekend. After much indecision, we picked Grampians National Park as our destination. I chose it for it's cost, location and rumored beauty. It's about 3 hours northeast of Melbourne by car.
To break the drive up and because it was supposed to be cool, we stopped over in Ballarat on Friday night. Ballarat is where the Victorian gold rush started and flourished in the 1860's. We stayed in the city and walked out to Sovereign Hill, which according to the guidebook, "was Australia's most interesting outdoor museum". I'll say. No photos were taken if that tells you anything. Downtown was worth while though and I'm glad we can say that we stopped.
*Downtown Ballarat, Victoria
Saturday afternoon we made our way out to Halls Gap, one of the small towns right outside of the park. We picked our budget accommodation because they advertised that "kangaroos and emus eat the grass right outside your door every morning".
*Outside The Grampians Motel
That sealed the deal for John and I, but most Australians I've spoken with seem to think they are pests (see photo). We got super close to them this time and I think John took 40 photos, even more when you include the shots of emus.
*In a Hall's Gap residents yard
*Roo on the Menu
So most of the weekend was spent taking short hikes around the park to see the sights and chasing after the wildlife...literally. We had reserved a spot on a beginners rockclimbing trip and were directed that it would only take 30 minutes to get there. An hour later down a red dirt road we're still not there and I see and emu cross our path. John screamed, "EMU" and sped up for a moment. He then realized our 2-cylinder Hyundai was not insured for off-roading and slowed down. We caught up with the emu and John gave chase, but the emu was too darn quick and no photos were captured.
*EMU!
*On the trail to The Balconies
*In The Grand Canyon... the Australian One
Since it was a long weekend, tons of other tourists were out-- the majority of motels/lodges had no vacancies. All the hikes that we went out on were pretty crowded, except one...
*Partay at The Grampians
Weather predictions were for clear and cool, and Sunday fit the bill. We got out to "the" hike and every other tourist was there, so I said, "Let's turn around and come back tomorrow, there's way too many people here to enjoy it". Monday morning arrives foggy, overcast, cold and raining, but we soldiered on. After over an hours strenuous trail we arrived at the Pinnacle, we were the only ones at the top. Please compare the photos.
*The Pinnacle on a clear day
*The Pinnacle on the day we went
Yes. It's the same place.
*The Balconies (center, in background)
*Roos in Hall's Gap
