16th to 19th July Grampians

Day 13 - 16/07/12 Ariah Park to Shepparton  420 km

It was wonderful to have breakfast cooked for us. Les had cereal first, then both Les and Joy had a cooked breakfast. But we were very restrained – only scrambled eggs, bacon and tomato, when we could have also had sausages, mushrooms and toast with jam, fruit, yoghurt etc, etc.

We planned to leave by 9am, but when we went to pay for the accommodation, we ended up chatting to the people who were staying in the other carriage, and then with the owners, so we didn’t get away until 9:30am.

Because we didn’t really have a long way to go today, we decided to take some back roads rather than the direct route. First stop was Ganmain. The Ganmain Bakery was marked on the map, so we thought it would be a good place to stop for morning tea. But it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. We still bought a couple of slices, but we drove on to Matong to actually eat them and have our cuppas.

Driving onward we took another back road – this time to go via Urana. There is a lake there that we thought might be good to see. It was quite interesting, but not as interesting as the emus we saw beside the road!

We had lunch at a little place called Berrigan, and made it to Shepparton before 4pm, which was good, as we wanted to check out what was for sale at the SPC Ardmona factory shop. If you are ever going through Shepparton, it is definitely worth stopping at the shop, as the savings that can be had are pretty good. We spent about $90 and saved about $40 or $50 or so. It isn’t just SPC Ardmona things that are for sale – they also sell Cadbury chocolate, Heinz soup, Arnott’s biscuits, Finish dishwasher tablets, and heaps more.

We checked into the motel around 4:30pm, and spent some time on the internet, as we had free wi-fi. Neither of us really wanted to get dressed in decent clothes to go for dinner, so we found a takeaway pizza place and ate our pizza back in the motel room, whilst watching Masterchef.

Weather today was overcast and cool, with patchy rain most of the way.

Day 14 - 17/07/12 Shepparton to the Grampians  361 km

Another overcast day, but at least it isn’t raining.

Why is it that breakfast at motels is so expensive? We hadn’t brought our plastic bowls with us so couldn’t do our own breakfast with the cereal we had, and we refuse to spend so much for just a bowl of cereal and a juice. So, it was off to McDonalds, thinking Joy would be able to get cereal there – last time we had breakfast at McDonalds, they did cereal, but then that was some years ago. Now, no such luck – or maybe it is just in Shepparton that they don’t? Anyway, she had to settle for the hotcakes – tragic!

By the time we’d finished breakfast, it was just after 9am, so we were almost on schedule for departure. We thought we’d be able to have morning tea somewhere along the way, but after getting through Bendigo, there were no picnic areas to stop at. It was 11:45 before we found somewhere, and that was in Maryborough.

The weather had started to clear, and we had sunshine with scattered clouds. It made the lambs look lovely and white.

We had to slow down at one point to let an echidna cross the road.

Lunch at Stawell in the park. We had to prepare and eat our lunch in the car – not because of the weather, but because the swans and ducks swarmed around us as soon as we sat down. There was no way we’d have been able to have our lunch in peace.

We also did the grocery shopping in Stawell, as the shopping in Halls Gap is very limited and very expensive.

Arrived at our cabin at 3pm, and we love it!

We have views across to the mountains, and outside the front door is a bush that is home to a chirpy little bird.

There are kangaroos and emus everywhere.

And we can sit at the dinner table and look at the view.

Once we’d unpacked, we went into Halls Gap to get an update on which walks are closed (they had serious flooding here and some roads and walks were damaged). Joy also took the opportunity to have a cappuccino (what a surprise!). We had the pleasant surprise that the coffee shop has free wi-fi, so we will probably take advantage of that later in the week.

Once it was dark, we could check out the night sky – there are so many stars up there, and out here where there isn’t any ambient light, you can even see the Milky Way.

Dinner on the lounge in front of the TV, but without the open fire going, as it simply wasn’t cold enough to light it.

Day 15 - 18/07/12 The Grampians  67 km

We were planning to have a reasonably early start today, as one of the walks we wanted to do said it was best in the early morning as you would see the kangaroos. But, despite these good intentions, we didn’t get away from the cottage until around 10am. The weather was fine but cool – perfect walking weather.

We still did the “morning” walk, which was Fyans Loop, from the Brambuk centre (an indigenous information centre). After a false start, that we are blaming on poor signage, we enjoyed the walk, and saw enough kangaroos and emus to keep us happy, despite not getting there at the “best” time.

Back at Brambuk, we had morning tea, and checked out the photos of the Grampians after the fires in 2006 and the floods in 2011. It was absolutely amazing! In January 2011, they had 300mm rain in 3 days. They are still trying to recover from that, but only doing what needs to be done to make things safe. Let nature do what nature does.

Since Joy had been treated to a cappuccino at morning tea, it was only fair that Les be treated to a waterfall. So, it was off to walk to Clematis Falls. It was a pleasant walk, and worth it for the falls at the end. On the walk we saw a beautiful bright red and brown little bird, but it must have been shy because it wouldn’t stay around long enough to have its photo taken.

Lunch back at the cottage, then off for another short walk – this time the Serenity Walk that goes from down in front of the cottage. Took about 10 minutes.

In the afternoon, we went to Reed Lookout and The Balconies. On the way out from the cottages, Joy’s eagle eye spotted one of the little red and brown birds. After scaring Les by yelling out “STOP” at the top of her lungs, she managed to get a photo.

Reed Lookout and The Balconies are best seen in the afternoon so the sun is in the best spot. We got there just as a mini-bus-load of Italian tourists arrived, so after checking out Reed Lookout…

…we walked briskly to The Balconies. We also wanted to miss the rain that was threatening. We had The Balconies to ourselves (back in the old days you could walk out on the bottom level and they were called “The Jaws of Death”).

We made it back to the cottage at around 6pm – a long day! Still not cold enough to light the fire, but we ate tea on the lounge in front of it anyway.

Day 16 - 19/07/12 The Grampians  120 km

We definitely had an early start today as were up at 6:15 am as we wanted to head up to Boroka Lookout to watch the sun rise. As we headed away for the cottage at 6:25 am it was looking good as we could see stars in the sky. The lookout is about 25 km from the cabin and with all the kangaroos and other wildlife plus the windy road we took it easy but as we turned off the main road onto the lookout road we got our first patch of fog. The further we went the worst it go. When we arrived it was fog everywhere.

 The sun was due to rise at 7:35 but on the lookout it made no difference so at about 8:00 we gave in and headed to MacKenzie Falls for breakfast and a walk to the bottom of the falls. This is one of Les’ favourite waterfalls as he has a full size poster print at home from a shot her took back in the 80’s (remember cameras with film in them….)

View from Top

  View from bottom of Falls

The walk is 2 km return but is “steep and strenuous” (extra dessert tonight!). You can see the damage the 2011 floods did to the bridge at the bottom of the falls.

Back to the car park for morning tea and then we drove out to Zumsteins which is one of the more popular picnic areas however the flood has all but wiped out the picnic area. The Park workmen were there working on repairs today but they have lots to do. We also saw a deer in the picnic area which was a bit of a shock.

We wanted to go to Burong Falls but had not brought the map that the info centre had marked it’s location on, so we tried a well signposted road that headed in the right general area and 9 km later we were there.

Then back to Boroka Lookout and the fog had cleared by now…

… and then home for lunch. Quiet afternoon reading, knitting, doing the blog, etc (and watching the fog roll back in over the lookout which we can see from our cabin).